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FROM THE EDITORS
 
We are pleased to present Volume 21 of Musica Judaica, which, once again, eloquently attests to the extraordinary diversity of Jewish music.  We begin with Anders Hammarlund’s  fresh insight into the life and work of Abraham Baer (1834-1894), focusing on his iconic masterpiece, Baal T’fillah oder Der pratische Vorbeter.  The author explains: 
 
During my research, I became convinced that Baer’s work cannot be fully understood if seen only in its internal Jewish context.  To a certain extent it is an expression of a very specific cultural context—the emerging city of Gothenburg, representing the liberal avant-garde of Swedish 19th-century society.
 
Bret Werb’s richly detailed contribution examines fourteen Shoah songbooks. An introductory statement from one publication cannot fail to arouse our deepest emotions:
 
The following songs and poems are the only relics from the concentration camps and the ghettos that can possibly live.  Memory dies with the men and women who suffered the agony of living in these places where death was a release from the living torture of a sadist’s paradise.  Humbly then we offer the world these lyrics and poems in the hope that the world will remember the singers. Remember this:  We sang as our beloved ones went to the gas chamber.  We chanted as the Gestapo led us to the crematoria, and the poems consoled us in the miseries of the ghettos.  After all, we sang because we hoped, and we still hope that a kinder  fate will  lead us to a happier land where we can sing these songs as a memory—and a warning.
 
Our next two articles touch upon some of the complex problems which may arise in Jewish ethnomusicological research. Jeffrey Summit describes his experiences with Jewish communities in Boston and Uganda, examining “the dynamics we encounter when the participant observer is also a Jewishly observant, committed and knowledgeable participant.”  Meredith Aska McBride, another participant/researcher, writes about the evolving musical practices of Kol Tzedek, a Reconstructionist synagogue in West Philadelphia.  She explains that Mordecai Kaplan’s notion of “ritual and recreation” underpins much of the philosophy and aesthetics of this young congregation.
           
A fascinating exchange of letters between George Herzog and Israel J. Katz covers a wide variety of topics, from scholarly observations to practical matters such as research funding. One letter dated October 18, 1975 mentions the forthcoming issue of a new journal edited by Dr. Katz, to be called Musica Judaica, and Dr. Herzog writes that the new undertaking “sounds very worthwhile.”

Our issue concludes with a number of memorial articles which highlight the achievements of three important contributors to the contemporary Jewish musical scene:  Chana Mlotek, Yiddish archivist, scholar and activist, the celebrated folk singer Debbie Friedman, and Dr. Jack Gottlieb, author, noted composer and a past president of the American Society for Jewish music.  As we went to press we were deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Dr. Amnon Shiloah, a preeminent scholar in the areas of Jewish and Arabic music.

​Finally, we wish to thank all of our contributors to this issue, as well as Michael Leavitt and the Board of the American Society for Jewish music for their continuing support.
 
Arbie Orenstein and Mark Kligman
Table of Contents​
MUSICA JUDAICA
Journal of the American Society for Jewish Music
 
Volume XX                                            5774/2013-2014
 
President’s Greetings                                                   v
From the Editors                                                        viii
 
Nusach and Music: Abraham Baer, Joseph Czapek
and Der practische Vorbeter
                                               Anders Hammarlund     1        
 
Fourteen Shoah Songbooks
                                                             Bret Werb    39
 
The Participating Observer: Fieldwork in Jewish Settings
                                                Jeffrey A. Summit   117
                                                                                   
Ritual and Recreation: Agency, Exigency, and 
Pedagogy in the Musical Practices of a Philadelphia
Reconstructionist Synagogue
                                   Meredith R. Aska McBride   143
 
Letters from George Herzog
                                                     Israel J. Katz   199
 In Memoriam:
Eleanor & Chana: The Musical Mediators
                                                       Mark Slobin   249  
 
 Debbie Friedman: A Life Transcribed
                                                     Judah Cohen   257
 Visions of Debbie Friedman
                                                     Jeff Klepper    263
 Remembering Jack Gottlieb
October 12, 1930 – February 23, 2011
                                               Jamie Bernstein   281
 Jack Gottlieb – A Retrospective
                                               Joshua Breitzer   283
 
​Contributors of articles to this issue                     297
 
Musica Judaica Online Reviews (Website Link)    302
 
Information for Submitting Articles                       303
 
Membership Form                                              304
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