Jewish Home Blessing - Jewish Doorways

  Israelite religion shared a number of characteristics with the religions of neighboring peoples. Scholars have long noted parallels between the creation and flood myths of Mesopotamia and Egypt and those found in the Hebrew Bible. The Israelite god, YHWH, also shares many characteristics and epithets with the Canaanite gods El and Baal. The Importance of Covenant The Israelites’ relationship with YHWH, however, set them apart from their neighbors. This relationship was based on a covenant binding YHWH and Israel to one another through a series of obligations. Thus, the biblical authors depicted a direct correlation between the patriarchs prosperity and their fidelity to YHWH. Similarly, the deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt into the Holy Land is cast as being conditional on the Israelites’ following YHWH’s precepts. It follows that the biblical authors attributed the misfortunes that befell the Israelites (e.g. plagues and military failures, etc.) to the Israelites’ failur...

  Jewish music stems from ancient prayer chants of the Levant some 3000 years ago. The musical notation that developed and that we find in the bible today is one of the most ancient forms of notated music, and yet it is still in current practice all over the world today. Jewish music has been constantly adapting to new conditions and yet retaining its identity in many widely differing ethnic, social and religious environments. Through its daughter religions, the music of Judaism is one of the fundamental elements in the understanding of the sacred and secular traditions of Europe and the Near East, first having influenced, and then having been influenced by, the music of Christian and Islamic cultures. The study of Jewish music encompasses many genres of religious, semi religious and folk music used in the synagogue and in the Jewish home and also art music using Jewish texts or themes. The study of Jewish music combines distinctively, the essential elements of musicology, ethnomus...