Interesting - especially to one who is not Jewish. But surely the
prohibition applied only to playing musical instruments in worship on the
Sabbath not other days of the week. I seem to remember when doing some study
of Judaism that people mustn't play them during their official period of
mourning either unless they need to to earn their living. As for carrying
them - well in my neck of the woods orthodox Jews apparently consider it
unacceptable to carry an umbrella on the Sabbath or push an infant in a
pram.
For that reason we were going to have an Eruv although I don't know if it
ever got passed the planning laws. Haven't noticed it if it did.
This may seem irrelvant to the Monteverdi Vespers but I think the point is
that all religions have quite precise rules concerning the way prayers and
ritual is conducted which in the case of the Catholic Church in Italy in
1610 probably excluded using the baroque guitar during the liturgy and
offices. Anything doesn't go.
Monica
----- Original Message -----
From: ""Mathias Rösel"" <mathias.roe...@t-online.de>
To: "Lutelist list" <lute@cs.dartmouth.edu>
Sent: Monday, December 21, 2009 10:00 AM
Subject: [LUTE] Re: another day at the office take two
Well, there's Jewish tradition in between. Rich musical temple services
are described in the Babylonian Talmud, tractate Arakhin. Levites
playing all kinds of kinnorim (lyres), nevalim (harps), khatzotzerot
(trumpets), khalilim (flutes), tuppim (drum) and many others. The reason
why these instruments aren't allowed in orthodox congregations today is
that that kind of service belonged to the temple which was destroyed in
70 CE and had no double. I haven't heard about the carrying an
instrument violates the Sabbath argument, but it may be so. Quite a bit
of Jewish musical tradition was preserved in the early Christian
congregation of Rome, which had sprung out of the Jewish congregation. A
core group of the new Christian group was formed by Levites.
Mathias
"howard posner" <howardpos...@ca.rr.com> schrieb:
Sorry, left out a sentence, rendering the message rather obscure.
On Dec 20, 2009, at 11:32 AM, howard posner wrote:
> Christian practice derives in large part from post-Temple Jewish
> practice, in which, traditionally, instruments are forbidden in
> services. Alexander points out that there are Biblical references to
> instruments in the Temple, and indeed, Psalm 150, with its references
> to instruments (including nevel and kinnor, both of which are
> sometimes translated as "lyre" or "lute"), is a common part of modern
> Sabbath morning services.
Left out: But in traditional congregations, the psalm, like
everything else, is sung without instruments.
> The reasons given for it vary: some say
> it's because we're still in mourning over the destruction of the
> Temple, others that playing (or tuning, or carrying) instruments
> violates the Sabbath.
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