REDISCOVER: Israel in America

The land of Israel and all that it symbolizes has long loomed large in the American Jewish imagination, but this was especially true in the years surrounding its establishment of statehood. The numerous songs and extended compositions on the album In Celebration of Israel reflect the hope, enchantment, and ideals that Jews around the world projected onto Israel as the Zionist dream became a reality.

So it seems fitting that In Celebration of Israel opens with an orchestral Hatikva that Kurt Weill composed in 1947 for an event honoring Chaim Weizman (Israel’s first president) held just days before the UN voted in favor of statehood. Known now as the nation’s anthem, the song that served for decades as the anthem of the Zionist movement began as a poem titled Tikvatenu, or “our hope.”

The album also includes several pieces that draw on songs of the Jewish pioneers and settlers in Palestine during the decades prior to statehood. Max Helfman, who, through his work at the Brandeis-Bardin Institute, helped instill in the next generation a familiarity with Israeli folk song, composed Israel Suite for a Carnegie Hall concert held one month after Israel’s establishment. More than 20 years later, Herbert Fromm would compose The Pioneers for a commission he received from the Boston Pops. His earlier Yemenite Cycle stemmed from his first visit to Israel and his revelation of its cultural diversity.

Among works inspired by Israel’s enchanting landscapes are film composer Walter Scharf’s The Palestine Suite, and two songs and an orchestral suite by Julius Chajes. Scharf’s work ranges from the pastoral first movement, “River Jordan,” to the slow, sing-song second movement and the vigorous, dance-like finale, “Celebration.” Chajes’s Hebrew Suite draws heavily on Near Eastern musical motifs and portrays Israel’s natural splendor. Old Jerusalem and Adarim are settings of Psalm 134 and a Palestinian shepherd’s tune.

Concluding the album is a programmatic concert work by Sholom Secunda. Secunda was, of course, best known for his work in the Yiddish theater and the song Bay mir bistu sheyn. And, in fact, Yom b’kibbutz originated in an unsuccessful Yiddish theater production titled Uncle Sam in Israel. Though it is meant to depict “a day on a kibbutz,” its range of imagery and emotion go far beyond what one might expect to be a simple pastoral and idealistic reflection of life in a communal agricultural settlement. It’s more than worth the eleven minutes required to take it all in.

As a land of myriad sonic landscapes and many musical traditions, Israel’s hold on the musical imagination is as strong today as ever. (Explore further in our Volume Sing Unto Zion!). The pieces included here reflect the excitement and emotion she engendered at one of her most crucial periods in history.

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