This book is about the most perfect Jewish living book I can imagine. It’s very short, and a quick read. But O.M.G. this story, y’all. I can’t even find this book on Goodreads, but there are a couple of used copies on Amazon. I doubt it’s in print, but it really should be. It’s a book not written by an expert on Jewish music. Just a student of the subject who really loves his teacher’s work, and every ounce of that passion and love comes across in the pages. I was sucked in and couldn’t put it down.
I heard on the Jewish Charlotte Mason Facebook group that there was a great children’s book about Hava Nagila and the story of its creation. I quickly found only one book titled Hava Nagila in our library system and ordered it, not at all considering whether there might be multiple books on this topic. (I’m going to blame that obvious oversight on newborn sleep deprivation – this was in the very early days.) It’s not a children’s book, though it could certainly be read to children. In fact, I think this could be a great inspirational story for elementary and middle school-aged kids.
I’m recommending it as #MotherCulture, but I think it’s a great read for anyone Jewish. (It probably requires too much prior knowledge for me to recommend it to non-Jews as a general rule.)
In a nutshell: the song Hava Nagila, you know, the most famous Jewish song on earth, was written by a 12 year old boy. TWELVE YEARS OLD. As a homework assignment!! And was not at all recognized for it. It spread through his class and to their families and then to the shuls of those families, slowly all over the world. It was generally attributed then (and now) as a “traditional” song, but it’s not. He created it around the turn of the century. The only downside of this book is that there’s almost no mention of years, especially in the early parts of the story. So I could only estimate the timeline as the story progressed, which I didn’t like, but I was willing to forgive because the story is so good.
Moshe Nathanson went on to a great body of work as a Jewish educator and cantor in the flagship synagogue of the Reconstructionist movement in Manhattan. He profoundly influenced American Jewish education by training hundreds (was it thousands? I forget) of Jewish day school teachers in Jewish music in the early 20th century and even wrote the book on Jewish music education that was used at the time. (Is it still used? I don’t know.) He even taught my father-in-law at his yeshiva as part of a traveling Jewish music educators program! Yet my FIL had never heard any of these accomplishments, just that he was a talented cantor and teacher. He must have been as humble as the book author asserts, since he could have capitalized on his connection to Hava Nagila, but even today, many (most?) people don’t know it’s a modern song with a known composer.
Oh yeah. He also wrote the song we use for bentching. Another song always attributed to the ether as a “traditional” tune. No big deal.
And there’s still more to the story. Check it out. Really.
I’m not normally the “omg!!!11!” exclamation point person, but this book made me one. I highly recommend it for a quick, easy, and downright enjoyable read. It even gave my cold, dark heart the warm fuzzies.
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