The Modzitzer YAARTZEIT SEUDAH: Hasidic NIGGUNIM in Liquid Modernity

• In Event: Music from the Bible to the Brahmsians

Abstract

The Modzitz Hasidic dynasty, whose repertoire is widely regarded as the pinnacle of Hasidic music, remembers and celebrates their deceased leaders through YAARTZEIT SEUDAHS, gatherings of song and religious teaching held on the anniversary of a Rebbe’s death. In this paper, I consider the Modzitzer YAARTZEIT SEUDAH in the context of liquid modernity, a concept proposed by sociologist Zygmunt Bauman to describe the current state of the world in which modernity melts all solid institutions. I suggest that Bauman’s work ought to account for non-liberal religion, and that Hasidic Jews employ specific tactics to maintain the “solid” religious lifestyles that they prefer, even as they integrate many features of twenty-first century Western society into their daily lives. With thousands of pieces in its canon, Modzitz music has been chiefly maintained in by Rabbi Ben Zion Shenker, a singer and composer who was the first to release commercial recordings of Hasidic music, and has been largely responsible for sustaining Hasidic music after the Holocaust. On the anniversary of the death of each Rebbe in the Modzitz lineage, Shenker (b. 1925) leads a YAARTZEIT SEUDAH in Brooklyn featuring the music composed by the deceased Rebbe, and teachings from the books they authored. Through singing these NIGGUNIM and recalling those who composed them, the melodies become embedded in contemporary contexts and function as supports for the insular and deeply religious lifestyle of Hasidim. Furthermore, I suggest that these niggunim take on new forms through the instrumentation, technology, and settings of these gatherings, however, the melody itself is imbued with such significance that a pristine link with the past is imagined. The YAARTZEIT SEUDAH, I argue, is a useful setting for understanding the manner through which Hasidim reinforce solid religious life in the context of liquid modernity. In analyzing these events, I expand Bauman’s theory to consider the possibility of re-solidification through the strengthening of endangered institutions by those whose social ties depend on them. Taking an ethnomusicological approach, I base my argument on interviews with Modzitzer Hasidim, and my attendance at approximately twenty YAARTZEIT SEUDAHS over the past four years.

Author

• Gordon Alex Dale, The Graduate Center, CUNY