The Unlikely History of Hava Nagila

I thought the Jewish folksong Hava Nagila was hundreds of years old, and that Jews sang and danced the hora in shtels in Eastern Europe and Russia long ago. I was surprised to find out that the song itself is only about 160 years old! It's a song known by Jews and non-Jews alike, and has been sung by every famous singer of the past 50 years, from Elvis Presley, to Connie Francis, to Harry Belafonte. Here's a bit of where it came from and how it came to be one of the most recognized melodies in the world.Hava Nagila began its life as a Hasidic melody in the Ukraine. There it was sung as a nigun (wordless melody) among the Sadigorer Hasidim. Rebbe Yisroel Friedman (1798-1850) had settled there, built The Great Synagogue, and had a huge following. Around 1900, a group of Sadigorer Hasidim emigrated to Jerusalem and brought the nigun (wordless melody) with them. There it might have remained, had it not been for one man, Avraham Zvi Idelsohn,the father of Jewish musicology.Idelsohn was trained as a cantor in Russia and also studied classical music in conservatories in Berlin and Leipzig before settling in Jerusalem around 1905. As a passionate Zionist, Idelshon sought to collect and preserve the folk music of Jewish communities from around the world, while still seeking to pioneer a new style of modern national music that would unify the Jewish people as they returned to their homeland in Palestine. To that end, he arranged and composed many new Hebrew-language songs based on traditional melodies. Among them was Hava Nagila.Hava Nagila really caught fire in the U.S. in the 1950's. The Jewish folkdance, the hora, was danced while people sang. The title of the song means "Let us rejoice," and that is exactly what people are doing while singing and dancing. Most people, even Jews, have no idea what it means, where it comes from, or how it became so popular, but it is recognized as one of the most familiar tunes worldwide.I watched a documentary on the history of this song recently, and there were some really funny scenes in the movie. They asked African Americans in a New York deli, "What is Hava Nagila?" Some thought it was a food, most had no idea. The documentary showed a South Korean choir singing Hava Nagila, and an Egyptian exotic dancer singing it too. Some people hate the song, others love it, but there's no denying that when you hear that familiar melody you want to get up and dance. Next time you're at a wedding or Bar Mitzvah and dance the hora and sing Hava Nagila and rejoice in the celebration, you'll know a little bit more about how it became so popular.

Turning Points In History: Guttenberg Printing Press

My monthly study group through Brandeis University is something I really look forward to. I missed last month, but was there for the January lecture, pen and paper in hand. Johann Gutenberg, a goldsmith from Mainz, Germany, invented the printing press in 1455, after years of working on it secret. He soon took on a partner, Johann Fust, who turned out to be the big financial winner in this new discovery. Gutenberg was not a very good businessman, and Fust ended up profiting from the invention. Prior to this invention, the Chinese had developed block printing, a method that Gutenberg expanded.

Some scholars say that Gutenberg is the most important man of the 2nd millennium. The invention of a printing press with moveable type made the Renaissance, Reformation and the Scientific Revolution flourish. Martin Luther's message was broadly disseminated during the Protestant Reformation due to the printing press. During this time, 1/3 of all books were written by Martin Luther. Many religious pamphlets, indulgencies, and books endorsing a religious point of view were distributed by both Protestants and Catholics during the Reformation. Indulgencies were papers written by the Catholic Church to absolve people from sin, for a fee. The money was used to fund the crusades! All it took was enough money to buy the paper, and you were absolved.

Prior to the printing press, ideas were either spoken or remembered. Written text was for the elite, the few that could read Latin. Books were copied by scribes, and because of this, no two books were exactly alike. The shift from scrolls to codexes was a very significant change. With the printing press came an increase in speed and range of distribution of printed matter. Costs came down, and the masses began reading books printed in the vernacular, rather than Latin. The first public library opened in 1571 in Florence, and a large reading public followed.

Sadly, this invention, which made possible the dissemination of information to the masses, seems to be coming to an end. Recently I toured the UT newspaper in San Diego, and was told by our guide, that print media will be dead, or nearly dead, in 12-15 years. I will be sad to see newspapers, magazines and books disappear. You can always go to Mainz, Germany, where Project Gutenberg is located and see the interesting history of the printing press and how it influenced the world.