The Bible in Israeli Folk Dances* Written by: Matti Goldschmidt * Translated by:  For many Central Europeans whose thinking has mainly been influenced by Christianity, Israel is the “Holy Land”, in which religion has played an especially important role since time immemorial. Jews are considered to be extremely fond of dancing, both traditionally and contemporarily. In fact, more and more folk dances are being produced in Israel today and folk dancing is still more widespread than in hardly any other nation. A considerable number of the Israeli folk dances that have spread throughout the German-speaking countries of Europe were (as is known) influenced by the Bible. Thus, at a quick glance, one might be tempted to think that Israeli folk dancing is characterized by a special proximity to the nation’s religious customs and biblical foundation, and that it is to a considerable extent permeated by the religious motives of Judaism. In reality, however, things appear quite different if one takes the time to examine the range of the over 4,000 Israeli folk dances that (until) now exist 1. Biblical lyrics, which this article will attempt to examine closely, can only be found in a very limited number of the songs to which the folk dances have been set. First of all, in Israel folk dancing is simply a popular pastime. As a pastime, attending a public dance is generally non-ideological. That is to say, the act of dancing itself is not intended to express a particular ideology – at least not intentionally. Instead, dancing offers most participants the opportunity to engage in social contact while getting a moderate degree of exercise at the same time. In this respect, it is not surprising that the lyrics and content of the songs for the individual dances get pushed into the background and that the music and especially the rhythm assume the dominating role. Furthermore, if one considers the fact that religion is - even for secular Jews - a part of the daily lives of the Jewish population of Israel, and that, due to this fact, Jewish citizens who are not religious have a relatively casual attitude towards the Jewish religion as such, it is not surprising that the average folk dancer in Israel sings along with lyrics that are familiar to him without giving it a second thought. This may certainly apply to lyrics taken from the Bible and even to certain texts considered being holy. Singing along with, say, a Psalm at a folk dance does not transform the evening into a religious event2; at best, it reflects the broad social spectrum among the folk dancers of Israel. One must not forget that the contemporary Israeli folk dance has its roots in the secular and socialistically orientated kibbutz movement 3. Just like any other people, the Jews living in the British protectorate of Palestine were concerned with having, among other things, their own dances and songs. Over the centuries, the old dances had gradually been lost because the people had failed to pass on descriptions and notations of them. (The first evidence of written dance descriptions can be traced back to the late fifteenth century at the earliest.) Because of that, the Jewish dances of biblical times, that is, biblical dances, cannot be reconstructed today (not any more so than “a dance from Antique Crete or ancient Greece could be reconstructed”4). Thus, the people had to create dances of their own “against all the laws of development of folk culture the world over”5. In the beginnings of Israeli dance, around 1940 /6, people attempted to incorporate authentic roots, especially those of their own culture, into dances that were at first conceived primarily as stage dances and only later became accessible to general dance enthusiasts in a mostly simplified form. For the greater part, these dances consisted of elements of dances originating in the various native countries of the Jewish immigrants (for example, Romania or Russia) and the culture group of the East European (Hasidism) or Yemenite Jews (the latter with several subdivisions7). Elements of other ethnic groups were less successful; that is to say, they were not given the slightest consideration. On the subject of the inclusion of the most varied of elements from the two latter above-named ethnic groups, it must be noted that in particular the traditional separation of the sexes in Yemenite dance, for example, or the exclusion of women (who, after all, make up around 50% of the population). In Hasidic dance did not correspond to the needs of the bulk of the population, not to mention the fact that Hasidic dance is intended as an expression of religious devotion and thus was a priori left out of the secular sphere of Israeli dancing. In addition to the dance traditions already listed, people eventually gave consideration to the Bible when choreographing the new dances. This happened for three reasons: * Firstly, several of the festive events held over the course of the year on the kibbutzim, the agriculturally oriented social communities, were based on Jewish holidays, references to which can clearly be traced back to the Bible, for example Shavu’oth, or other holidays based on religious backgrounds, for example Tu Bi'Sh’vat. * Furthermore, dancing in Jewish tradition and history is mentioned in writing. Some of these texts have been proven to be over 2500 years old. * Finally, the avant-garde among the Hebrew songwriters, that is, the composers and lyricists (who were often one and the same person), searching for roots that went back as far as possible as well as totally authentic material, chose to use song lyrics that came directly from the Bible8 . (The simultaneous benefit of not having to write lyrics from scratch is hardly worth mentioning.) That is why it cannot be denied that modern, contemporary Israeli dancing has borrowed from the Bible on several occasions. In addition, Benjamin Zemach (whose essay, originally composed in Yiddish, dates back to 1940) sees in “Jewish folk dancing”, with its closed harmony and singleness of form, a realization of the fact that “the Jewish concept of monotheism tended to mold diverse parts into one great unity”9. In the end, that is exactly what happened. A wide variety of influences resulted in the Israeli folk dancing we know today, even though, because of its clearly secular sphere, it is most likely that biblical and, above all, theological elements were integrated unintentionally. On the whole, one cannot overlook the fact that the founders of today’s Israeli dancing were concerned with a unifying, national, cultural component with a clearly non-religious character. The shape of Israeli folk dancing arose from the need for a means of expressing cultural and national independence like that felt by any other people. This has been verified by, among others, Gurith Kadman, who sees the source of Israeli dancing as being in the “earth, labour and the resurgence of the Jewish nation”10. One can only begin to realize why many Central European dance groups believe that the Bible11 generally influences Israeli dancing. Allow me to briefly summarize the foreseeable reasons for this. * It was not until the 1960s that the first Israeli dances were introduced - at least in larger numbers - into Germany via Holland. This period also included various seminars given in West Germany by Rivka Sturman, whose dances, as we will see later, have an above then average, share of religious texts. * The relatively easy dance sequences appealed to a wide audience, the religious texts to sacred and liturgical dance groups among others. Furthermore, unlike the newer Israeli dances, the music and character of the dance sequences corresponded to the tastes of all-around folklore dancers. * While the dance scene in Israel “became independent” - for example, it no longer revolved around the kibbutz, but rather the municipal recreation center; the dances became more complex, the Middle Eastern influence increased in step with the demographic structure, etc - Central Europe stood still in its development as far as Israeli folk dances were concerned. The Central European dance groups did not want or were not able to follow the changes (new, oriental melodies, banal texts, more complex step sequences, etc.) that had taken place in Israel over the course of approximately 20 years. * While dance groups with a purely Israeli repertoire, who also and above all took the modern Israeli folklore dance scene into consideration (such as in Berlin, Bern, Munich, Stuttgart, or Zurich), did not form in Central Europe until the late 1980s (through the influx of a number of masters of Israeli dance), outside these groups it is certain that a far larger number of the 1960s’ dances that were known up until then were passed down over the years. * Thus, the considerably smaller number of dancers of “modern” Israeli folk dances in Central Europe orientated themselves on the real Israeli folkloric (dance) culture12 and dance without closer consideration of the extensive backgrounds to the texts of each song. The more traditionally influenced groups constantly maintain the same 15 to 25 dances (such as “Ha'Shu’al”, “Tzadiq Ke'Thamar”, “Le'Or Chiyuchech”, “Mal’ach Mi'Sulam Ya’akov”, and “Ma Navu”). Since these dances do indeed have a relatively large number of texts of biblical origin and these groups possess only limited knowledge of the current Israeli folklore dance scene, it is understandable for the false impression to arise that the majority of Israeli folk dances can be traced back to the Bible at least as far as their texts are concerned. Let us now turn to the dances that are the special focus of the observations in this article, namely those whose song lyrics can be traced back to the Bible. Of the over 4,000 Israeli folk dances that exist to date, it was possible to categorize fifty-two as dances of this kind13. Without a doubt, there are an even larger number of songs with religious lyrics, such as “Ani Ma’amin”, ”Al Ha'Nissim”, or ”Dror Yikra”, however their origin is not the Bible, but the Siddur (the Jewish book of prayer) or other written sources. Therefore, these dances were not given any consideration. Also not included was, for example, Rivka Sturman’s dance “Debka Gilboa”, in which the composer, Emanuel Zamir, in a new Zionist pioneer spirit, took “Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew nor rain upon you...” (II Samuel 1:21) and in the modern lyrics made the exact opposite out of it: “dew and rain on Mt. Gilboa” (“Tal U-Matar al Hare’i Ha'Gilboa” in Hebrew); after all, water was to be used for agriculture! Of the titles that have been listed here, five were included only under limited conditions. One, “Mal’ach Mi'Sulam Ya’akov”, more or less paraphrases certain scriptures. Four other songs only contain partial quotes from the Bible (“Al Thira”, “Debka Ha'Chamor”, “Od Evnech” and “Sh’khorah Ani”). Thus, there remain forty-eight dances whose texts are taken directly from the Bible. In the overview representing the second part of this article, all of these dances or, rather, these songs have been listed in order of their appearance in the (Hebrew) Bible. For the English translation of the titles, the one written by Gutstein/ Graubart, copyrighted by the Jewish Publication Society of America, was chosen.14 As far as possible, additional information on each dance has been given, such as the name of the composer, the type of dance, the year of its debut, etc. Information on the latter was not available for all of the titles, on the one hand because of a lack of source material and on the other hand due to insufficient cooperation with the author on the part of the choreographers (for example, direct written inquiries went unanswered). A striking number of dances, namely eighteen, approximately one third, take their respective lyrics from the Song of Solomon, eleven from the book of Psalms, eight from Isaiah, and six from Jeremiah. An analysis of the debut years of the individual dances reveals that the vast majority belongs to the category of the older dances. Even a large part of the dances without a debut year being given emerged in the period of 1950-1975. It is remarkable that, of the younger-generation choreographers, Avner Naim is obviously the only one who chooses songs with biblical lyrics for dances. Just over the half of the dances listed are circle dances (twenty-eight), partner dances are represented eighteen times, while ten dances are danced in a line formation (including six double choreographies, three dances could not be assigned to any category out of a total of fifty-eight). Perhaps despite the expectations of mainly Christian orientated dance groups, the melodies of the songs are not predominantly calm or resonant such as in “Hinach Yaffah”, “Libavthini”, or “Th’filathi”, for example. More than one or two dances not only have accented rhythms, such as “Yehoshua” or “Ozi Ve'Zimrat Yah”, but are quite joyful and have an extremely fast tempo, like “Ve'Shavu Banim Li''Gvulam”, “Ethen Ba'Midbar”, or “Al Thira”. With an abundance of that kind, such as is given with the over 4,000 Israeli folk dances available, dance events can easily be organized along a particular theme. For example, in Israel on Shavu’oth, the day of thanksgiving, one dance to songs whose lyrics go back to the days of the Jewish pioneers before the State was founded. On what is known as Jerusalem Day (the day of the reunification of Jerusalem as a result of the Six Day War in 1967) one dances to songs whose lyrics have to do with Jerusalem, and so on. Thus, it would be quite conceivable to have a dance evening with Israeli dances whose texts have been taken exclusively from the Bible. May the following pages also provide encouragement and assistance in doing just that? bible verse title of the dance (song) English translation componist choreographer year 1 according to Genesis 28:12 Mal'ach Mi'Sulam Ya'akov An Angel of the Jacob’s Ladder Hirsh, Nurith Gabai, Yonathan 2 Exodus 15:1-2 Shirath Ha'Yam Song of the Sea Halevi, Moshiko Halevi, Moshiko 1992 3 Exodus 15:11 Mi Kamocha Who Is Like unto Thee Halevi, Moshiko Halevi, Moshiko 1982 4 Deuteronomy 26:15 Eretz Zavath Khalav A Land, Flowing with Milk Gamliel, Eliyahu Gamliel, Eliyahu 1963 5 Deuteronomy 32:13 Wa'Yineqehu And He Made Him to Suck Aldema, Gil Spivak, Rayah 1979 6 Joshua 1:1-3.9; 6:1.4-5.20; 11:4; 10:12; 12:23.16.19.15.10.20.14.24 Yehoshua Joshua Weinkranz, David Dasse, Danni 1981 7 Judges 5:31 Ken Yovdu So Perish Giv'on, U. Kadman, GurithTanai-Levi, Sara 1948 8 Isaiah 1:3 Debka He'Khamor The Donkey Debka Zamir, Emanuel Cohen, Viki 9 Isaiah 12:3 Mayim Mayim Water, Water Amiran, Emanuel Dublon, Elsa 1937 10 Isaiah 41:19 Ethen Ba'Midbar I Shall Plant in the Wilderness Shelem, Mattitjahu Levi, YankeleSturman, Rivka 1958/1959 11 Isaiah 52:1-2 Uri Zion Awake, O Zion Wilenski, Moshe Sturman, Rivka 1968 12 Isaiah 52:7 Mah Navu How Beautiful Spivak, Yossi Spivak, Rayah 1975 13 Isaiah 60:1.4 Qumi Uri Arise, Shine Ne'eman, Amitai Hermon, Shalom 1958 14 Isaiah 65:21 U'Vanu Bathim And They Shall Build Houses Admon, Yedidyah Havatzeleth, Ze'ev 1949 15 Isaiah 66:10; 62:6; 60:4 Sissu eth Yerushalayim Rejoice Ye with Jerusalem Nof, Akiva Gabai, Jonathan 1975 16 Jeremiah 17:8 Ve'Hayah Ke'Etz Shathul For He Shall Be as a Tree Planted Ne'eman, Amitai Hermon, Shalom 1953 17 Jeremiah 31:4 Od Evnech Again Will I Build Thee Peretz, AviKadosh, Naftali 1997 18 Jeremiah 31:10 Mezare Israel He that Scattered Israel Ne'eman, Amitai Hermon, Shalom 1952 19 Jeremiah 31:17 Ve'Shavu Banim And Thy Children Shall Return Halevi, Moshiko Halevi, Moshiko 1988 20 Jeremiah 33:10-11 Od Yishama Yet again there Shall Be Heard Karlibach, Shlomo Gabai, Jonathan 1975 21 Jeremiah 46:27 (28) Al Thira But Fear not Thou Ze'ira, Mordechai Karmon, Jonathan 1969 22 Psalm 1:1-2 Ashre'i ha-Ish Happy Is the Man Shevach, Uri Dasse, Danni 1982 23 Psalm 23:1-6 Mizmorim Psalms Schenker, Ben-Zion Naim, Avner 1996 24 Psalm 34:13-15 Mi Ha'Eish Who Is the Man? Chayat, B. Gamliel, Eliyahu 1979 25 Psalm 55:2.7.17 Th'filathi My Prayer Shemer, Naomi Naim, Avner 1994 26 Psalm 92:13 Tzadik Ke'Thamar The Righteous, Like the Palm-Tree Ne'eman, Amitai Gabai, Jonathan 1972 27 Psalm 118:1; 133:1; Isaiah 2:4; Psalm 118:24 Hodu La'Shem O Give Thanks unto the LORD Halevi, Moshiko Halevi, Moshiko 2000 28 Psalm 118:14; 24:8 Ozi Ve'Zimrat Yah The LORD Is My Strength and Song trad. (jem.) Sturman, Rivka 1946 29 Psalm 128:5-6 Yevarechecha Bless Thee Weinkranz, David Kadmon, Giora 1980 30 Psalm 133:1 Hineh Mah Tov Behold, how Good It Is Jakobson, Moshe Sturman, Rivka 1950 31 Psalm 147:12-13 Shabechi Yerushalayim Glorify, O Jerusalem Medinah, Avihu Gov-Ari, Shmulik 1984 32 Psalm 150:5-6 Halleluyah Be'Tsiltselei Shama Praise Him with the Loud-Sounding Cymbals trad. (?) Naim, Avner 1995 33 Psalm 150:6.1-5 Kol Ha'Neshamah Every Thing that Hath Breath Amrani, Barak Levi, Yankele 1981 34 Proverbs 31:10-11 Esheth Chail A woman of Valour Halevi, Moshiko Halevi, Moshiko 2000 35 The Song of Songs 1:5; 2:2 Shchorah Ani I Am Black Grand, G. Dasse, Danni 1985 36 The Song of Songs 1:6.5 Al Thir'uni Look not upon Me Amiran, Emanuel Havatzeleth, Ze'ev 37 The Song of Songs 2:2-3 Ke'Shoshanah ben Ha'Chochim As a Lily among Thorns Hadar, Joseph Levi, Yankele 1960 38 The Song of Songs 2:8 Kol Dodi Hark, My Beloved Tanai-Levi, Sara Sturman, Rivka 1946 39 The Song of Songs 2:11-13 Hineh Ha'Stav Avar For, lo, the Winter Is Past Eilath, D. Amar, ShalomTiram, Bentzi 1980 40 The Song of Songs 2:12.11.13 Nitzanim Nir'u Ba'Aretz The Flowers Appear on the Earth Heiman, Nachum Friedhaber, Zvi 1972 41 The Song of Songs 2:16; 3:6; 4:9.16 Dodi Li My Beloved is Mine Hen, Nira Sturman, Rivka 1948 42 The Song of Songs 4:1 Hinach Yaffah Behold, Thou Art Fair Mustaki, Josef Levi, Yankele 1966 43 The Song of Songs 4:8; 1:15 Eiti Mi'Levanon With Me from Lebanon Hen, Nira Sturman, Rivka 1949 44 The Song of Songs 4:9-11 Libavthini Thou Hast Ravished My Heart Amarilio, M. Eskayo, Moshe 1971 45 The Song of Songs 5:10-11 Dodi Dodi My Beloved Is White and Ruddy Âmiran, Emanuel Sturman, Rivka 1950 46 The Song of Songs 6:1-2 Ana Halach Dodech Whither Is Thy Beloved Gone Aldema, Gil Ashriel, YoavTanai-Levi, Sara 1954 47 The Song of Songs 6:2 Yarad Dodi le-Gano My Beloved Is Gone down to His Garden Levi, Tziyonah Sturman, Rivka 1955 48 The Song of Songs 6:11; 7:12-13; 4:16 El Ginath Egoz Into the Garden of Nuts Tanai-Levi, Sara Tanai-Levi, Sara 1944 49 The Song of Songs 7:13; 7:7; 4:11; 7:12; 2:10 (also 2:13) Et Dodim Kala Time of the Friends, Beloved trad. Halevi, Moshiko 1960 50 The Song of Songs 7:14; 1:16; 8:14 Ha'Duda'im The Mandrakes Heiman, Nachum Levi, Yankele 1966 51 The Song of Songs 8:8-10 Achoth Lanu Ketana We Have a Little Sister trad. (jem.) Yakovee, Israel 1974 52 The Song of Songs 8:13-14 Ha'Yosheveth Ba'Ganim Thou that Dwellest in the Gardens Cohen-Hevron, Nissan Levi, YankeleHillman, Zvi 1972/1964 53 Second Chronicles 26:9-10 Va'Yiven Uziyahu And Uzziah Built Sarai, Jonathan Sturman, Rivka 1952 * © MATTI GOLDSCHMIDT This article is an abridged version of my book: The Bible in Israeli Folk Dancing Viersen 2001 (ISBN: 3-933512-12-3) · background information · 53 Israeli Bible-quoting dances · full texts in Hebrew and English translation · 56 dance notations · 45 photographs b/w · 192 pages price: EUR 20.00 + postage/handling orders: CHOROS Verlag GmbH., Geschwister-Scholl-Str. 5, D-41747 Viersen (Germany) phone: +49-2162-353257, fax: +49-2162-353260, e-mail: service@choros.de 1. David Ben-Asher, “What Is Folk Dancing...?”, OYDQWR/Rokdim (1999), no. 50, 50-53, here 51, also talks about 4,000 existing (Israeli) folk dances. However, it has to be considered, that - according to the estimates of the author - in the world wide dance circles about two thirds of these choreographed dances were either never or just for a very short period (i.e. a couple of weeks) danced. A list of over 4,000 Israeli folk dances was published in Melbourne, Australia, in the internet under http://alphalink.com.au/~city/idx/, outlining the name of the dance, the choreographer, etc. See also the (commercial) site http:/www.rokdim.co.il/danames.asp. 2. This seems to be also true for a, let us say, German discotheque event, playing the hit song "Rivers of Babylon" by the American (however in Germany produced) pop group Boney M. In the year 1978, this song was the no. 1 in various hitparades like in Germany, Israel, England, or other countries (except for the U.S.A). Parts of the lyrics are literally taken from the Bible, i.e. “by the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion” (Psalm 137:1) or “how shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land” (Psalm 137:4). 3. Cf. Matti Goldschmidt, “Ursprung und Eigendynamik des israelischen Volkstanzes”, Tribüne 30 (1991), no. 119, 188-196. See also “Origins and Dynamics of Israeli Dance”, Rokdim Yechefim 9 (1999), no. 1, 3-9, and Grapevine 15 (1999), nos. 10-12. As it happens, years after the above mentioned article was published for the first time, I found a similar article by Zvi Friedhaber, “The Development of Folk Dance in Israel”, Israel Dance (1987/88), 33-39. 4. Walter Sorell, Knaurs Buch vom Tanz (München/Zürich 1969), 83. 5. Gurith Kadman, “Folk Dance in Israel”, chap. in Ha'Rikud, the Jewish Dance, ed. Fred Berk (USA 1972), 26-31, here 28. 6. Batia Carmiel mentions in her article “Flashback: Purim in Tel Aviv”, Eretz (March/April 1998), no. 57, 13, costume balls in the 20s and 30s featuring - literally, but without any historical basis - “Israeli folk dancing” (italics added by the author), approximately two decades before the foundation of the State of Israel. 7. Additional information can be found in an article (rather compact, however) by Israel Yakovee, “Yemenite Jewish Folklore & Dance”, Viltis 48 (1989), no. 3, 11. Cf. also Gurit Kadman, “Yemenite Dances and their Influence on the New Israeli Dances”, Journal of the International Folk Music Council 4 (1952), 27-30, or Dan Ronen, “Yesodoth Me'Masoreth Yehude’i The’iman Be'Rikude’i Am Ha'Israeliim” (Underlying Principles of the Tradition of the Jews in Yemen in Israeli Folk Dances), OYDQWR/Rojdim (2000), no. 54, 10-17. 8. Cf. also Gurit Kadman, “The Creative Process in Present-Day Israeli Dances”, Journal of the International Folk Music Council 12 (1960), 85-86, here 86. 9. Benjamin Zemach, “The Beginning of Jewish Dancing”, chap. in Ha'Rikud, the Jewish Dance, ed. Fred Berk (USA 1972), 3-9, here 5. On the subject of Monotheism/Dance cf. also Evelyn Halper, “The Jewish Dance Mystique (Part I)”, Viltis 41 (1982), no. 4, 6-9, here 8. 10. Dora Sowden, “[Gurith Kadman:] A Living Force”, The Jerusalem Post International Edition (week ending March 14, 1987), no. 1375, 19. 11. Cf. for example Kerstin Kuppig, Tanz als Ausdruck des Glaubens. Der religiöse Tanz in Unterricht, Gruppe und Gemeinde [The Dance as Expression of Belief, the Religious Dance as Instruction, in Groups and Communities] (Limburg 1995), 33: Israeli folk dances are supposedly often based “on texts of the Old Testament”, or: “the topic of a dance is often a biblical text”. 12. It is possible to speak of a uniform, Israeli folkloric (dance) culture due to the fact that, among other things, it can be traced back - in the form of identical step combinations - to one particular song per dance all over the world, such as in Melbourne, Caracas, Los Angeles, Munich, London, or Tel Aviv. 13. The author makes no claim to be exhaustive, even though every effort has been made to present a list that is as complete as possible. On the other hand, dances which at some time were created in Israel but never made it into the “dance scene” were intentionally not included. Examples of such dances are Rivka Sturman’s dances “Yarad Dodi Le'Gano” (1955), “Yismecu Ha'Shamayim” (1969), and “Le'Ma’an Zion” (1973) among others. Cf. Rina Sharett: Kumah Echa – Derech Rivka Sturman Ba'Makhol = Wake Up, Brothers – The Story of Rivka Shturman [indeed incorrectly spelled with an ‘h’], Pioneer of Israeli Folkdance), Tel Aviv 1988, 167 ff. Unfortunately, the source references there on the individual dances are marked only generally, without further information, by the word “Bible” - in some cases incorrectly, however, such as that of “Ki mi-Zion” (1967). 14. The Holy Scriptures. A Jewish Family Bible. According to the Masoretic Text, edited by Morris Gutstein & David Graubart (Chicago 1960).