[Avodah] The Vilna Gaon and Secular Wisdom

[Prof. Levine]

The following is from pages 148-149 of Judaism's Encounter with
Other Cultures: Rejection or Integration?

Given what the GRA said below, one can only wonder why music is not
taught in all of our yeshivas. For the record, a friend of mine who
is the secular studies principal of a Mesivtha in Brooklyn wrote to
me that his school does have a course in music appreciation. YL

R. Israel of Shklov (d. 1839) wrote:

I cannot refrain from repeating a true and astonishing story that I
heard from the Gaon's disciple R. Menahem Mendel. It took place when
the Gaon of Vilna celebrated the completion of his commentary on Song
of Songs. . . . He raised his eyes toward heaven and with great
devotion began blessing and thanking God for endowing him with the
ability to comprehend the light of the entire Torah. This included
its inner and outer manifestations. He explained: All secular wisdom
is essential for our holy Torah and is included in it. He indicated
that he had mastered all the branches of secular wisdom, including
algebra, trigonometry, geometry, and music. He especially praised
music, explaining that most of the Torah accents, the secrets of the
Levitical songs, and the secrets of the Tikkunei Zohar could not be
comprehended without mastering it. . . He explained the significance
of the various secular disciplines, and noted that he had mastered
them all. Regarding the discipline of medicine, he stated that he
had mastered anatomy, but not pharmacology. Indeed, he had wanted to
study pharmacology with practicing physicians, but his father
prevented him from undertaking its study, fearing that upon
mastering it he would be forced to curtail his Torah study whenever
it would become necessary for him to save a life. . . . He also
stated that he had mastered all of philosophy, but that he had
derived only two matters of significance from his study of it. . . .
The rest of it, he said, should be discarded." [11]

[11.] Pe'at ha-Shulhan, ed. Abraham M. Luncz (Jerusalem, 1911), 5a.



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[Yitzchak Schaffer]

...
all the branches of secular wisdom, including algebra, trigonometry,
geometry, and music. He especially praised music, explaining that most
of the Torah accents, the secrets of the Levitical songs, and the
secrets of the Tikkunei Zohar could not be comprehended without
mastering it

I've always wondered how much of "music" would fall under this banner.
The Gra was contemporaneous with Mozart, so he presumably had access to
Classical-period music. I think Baroque music was out of favor at that
time, and Bach (for example) was relatively obscure. Not sure about
Medieval/Renaissance music. I suppose it depends on how much the Gra
would have delved into then-historical music.

But in the end, what is "it" that informs understanding of the Tikkunei
Zohar? Musical forms and compositional styles are so varied, and I would
guess that the Levitical songs were a good way off from anything
happening in Europe in the Gra's time.

[Micha Berger]

Post by Yitzchak Schaffer
I've always wondered how much of "music" would fall under this banner.

Sorry, I should have combined this with the previous post.

Note the quadrivium: arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy. Music was
seen as applied arithemetic -- the simpler the ratio between two notes,
the more they fit together in the same chord. Although sometimes you want
that tension. Similarly, astronomy was handled as applied geometry.

Anyway, I think we're talking about music theory, which has certain
universal truths whether speaking of a shiras haLeviim, klezmer, a minuet,
jazz or today's top 40.

As for drift... The Maharil taught that the "miSinai" tunes (guzma)
actually had an ancestry tracable back to the Leviim. Not the same
tunes, but the same musical tradition. If we look at the modes of music
generally used in Ashkenazi and Sepharadi music (as well as klezmer),
there are strong parallels.

In Sepharadi music, the underlying idea is maqam, which is not only
the mode (the kind of scale it's in) but also a feel for which motifs
"fit". In klezmer, the nearly parallel idea is called "sheiger".

That the Farsi call Maqam haMayun (the Royal Mode) is what
Sepharadim often simply call Tefillah. It is the same mode
as the most common one in Ashkenazi Music, "Ahavah Rabba",
named for the most-memorable tefillah in that mode. Klezmorim
would also call it Freygish, since it's a modified Phrygian mode
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrygian_dominant_scale>. That's not to
say the maqam and the shteyger are identical; they tend to use different
motifs.

And similarly the other modes generally used in music by various Jewish
qehillos. There is enough in common for me to find common ancestry quite
plausible, whatever influences we picked up since from our host cultures.

More on the subject from a musical / Klezmer angle by Josh Horowitz
<http://www.budowitz.com/+Main_Klezmer_Modes.html>

R' Chazan Sherwood Goffin is on a campaign to keep popular tunes
from overrunning the minhag of miSinai tunes. He therefore has a
discussion on the topic of various modes of music and our customs
about when a chazan uses which from a more nusach / minhag / halachic
perspective (the halakhos of breaking minhag). One example of which is at
<http://www.yutorah.org/togo/roshhashana/articles/Rosh_Hashanah_To-Go_-_5770_Cantor_Goffin.pdf>
or <http://bit.ly/fsVoeb> but is a central theme in a number of his
shiurim on YUTorah.org.

-Micha

[Yitzchak Schaffer]

After a quick consultation at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadrivium

So music = the acoustical properties of intervals; but then not so much relating to applied music, and thus music appreciation as commonly taught today, or even theory, which in my conservatory education dealt with abstractions of intervalic ratios (minor third, etc.) and how to resolve them in relation and motion, not the ratios and proportions themselves ? la Pythagoros (if I understood Donald in Mathemagic Land correctly).

Maybe it would be more apt to study organbuilding :^} there at least they do deal with the math directly. Also, what "universal truths" are we talking about?

--
Yitzchak Schaffer

Post by Micha Berger
Note the quadrivium: arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy. Music was
seen as applied arithemetic -- the simpler the ratio between two notes,
the more they fit together in the same chord. Although sometimes you want
that tension. Similarly, astronomy was handled as applied geometry.
Anyway, I think we're talking about music theory, which has certain
universal truths whether speaking of a shiras haLeviim, klezmer, a minuet,
jazz or today's top 40.

[Yitzchak Schaffer]

After a quick consultation at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadrivium

So music = the acoustical properties of intervals; but then not so much relating to applied music, and thus music appreciation as commonly taught today, or even theory, which in my conservatory education dealt with abstractions of intervalic ratios (minor third, etc.) and how to resolve them in relation and motion, not the ratios and proportions themselves ? la Pythagoros (if I understood Donald in Mathemagic Land correctly).

Maybe it would be more apt to study organbuilding :^} there at least they do deal with the math directly. Also, what "universal truths" are we talking about?

--
Yitzchak Schaffer

Post by Micha Berger
Note the quadrivium: arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy. Music was
seen as applied arithemetic -- the simpler the ratio between two notes,
the more they fit together in the same chord. Although sometimes you want
that tension. Similarly, astronomy was handled as applied geometry.
Anyway, I think we're talking about music theory, which has certain
universal truths whether speaking of a shiras haLeviim, klezmer, a minuet,
jazz or today's top 40.

[Micha Berger]

Post by Yitzchak Schaffer
I've always wondered how much of "music" would fall under this banner.

Sorry, I should have combined this with the previous post.

Note the quadrivium: arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy. Music was
seen as applied arithemetic -- the simpler the ratio between two notes,
the more they fit together in the same chord. Although sometimes you want
that tension. Similarly, astronomy was handled as applied geometry.

Anyway, I think we're talking about music theory, which has certain
universal truths whether speaking of a shiras haLeviim, klezmer, a minuet,
jazz or today's top 40.

As for drift... The Maharil taught that the "miSinai" tunes (guzma)
actually had an ancestry tracable back to the Leviim. Not the same
tunes, but the same musical tradition. If we look at the modes of music
generally used in Ashkenazi and Sepharadi music (as well as klezmer),
there are strong parallels.

In Sepharadi music, the underlying idea is maqam, which is not only
the mode (the kind of scale it's in) but also a feel for which motifs
"fit". In klezmer, the nearly parallel idea is called "sheiger".

That the Farsi call Maqam haMayun (the Royal Mode) is what
Sepharadim often simply call Tefillah. It is the same mode
as the most common one in Ashkenazi Music, "Ahavah Rabba",
named for the most-memorable tefillah in that mode. Klezmorim
would also call it Freygish, since it's a modified Phrygian mode
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrygian_dominant_scale>. That's not to
say the maqam and the shteyger are identical; they tend to use different
motifs.

And similarly the other modes generally used in music by various Jewish
qehillos. There is enough in common for me to find common ancestry quite
plausible, whatever influences we picked up since from our host cultures.

More on the subject from a musical / Klezmer angle by Josh Horowitz
<http://www.budowitz.com/+Main_Klezmer_Modes.html>

R' Chazan Sherwood Goffin is on a campaign to keep popular tunes
from overrunning the minhag of miSinai tunes. He therefore has a
discussion on the topic of various modes of music and our customs
about when a chazan uses which from a more nusach / minhag / halachic
perspective (the halakhos of breaking minhag). One example of which is at
<http://www.yutorah.org/togo/roshhashana/articles/Rosh_Hashanah_To-Go_-_5770_Cantor_Goffin.pdf>
or <http://bit.ly/fsVoeb> but is a central theme in a number of his
shiurim on YUTorah.org.

-Micha

[Prof. Levine]

The following is from pages 148-149 of Judaism's Encounter with
Other Cultures: Rejection or Integration?

Given what the GRA said below, one can only wonder why music is not
taught in all of our yeshivas. For the record, a friend of mine who
is the secular studies principal of a Mesivtha in Brooklyn wrote to
me that his school does have a course in music appreciation. YL

R. Israel of Shklov (d. 1839) wrote:

I cannot refrain from repeating a true and astonishing story that I
heard from the Gaon's disciple R. Menahem Mendel. It took place when
the Gaon of Vilna celebrated the completion of his commentary on Song
of Songs. . . . He raised his eyes toward heaven and with great
devotion began blessing and thanking God for endowing him with the
ability to comprehend the light of the entire Torah. This included
its inner and outer manifestations. He explained: All secular wisdom
is essential for our holy Torah and is included in it. He indicated
that he had mastered all the branches of secular wisdom, including
algebra, trigonometry, geometry, and music. He especially praised
music, explaining that most of the Torah accents, the secrets of the
Levitical songs, and the secrets of the Tikkunei Zohar could not be
comprehended without mastering it. . . He explained the significance
of the various secular disciplines, and noted that he had mastered
them all. Regarding the discipline of medicine, he stated that he
had mastered anatomy, but not pharmacology. Indeed, he had wanted to
study pharmacology with practicing physicians, but his father
prevented him from undertaking its study, fearing that upon
mastering it he would be forced to curtail his Torah study whenever
it would become necessary for him to save a life. . . . He also
stated that he had mastered all of philosophy, but that he had
derived only two matters of significance from his study of it. . . .
The rest of it, he said, should be discarded." [11]

[11.] Pe'at ha-Shulhan, ed. Abraham M. Luncz (Jerusalem, 1911), 5a.



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[Yitzchak Schaffer]

...
all the branches of secular wisdom, including algebra, trigonometry,
geometry, and music. He especially praised music, explaining that most
of the Torah accents, the secrets of the Levitical songs, and the
secrets of the Tikkunei Zohar could not be comprehended without
mastering it

I've always wondered how much of "music" would fall under this banner.
The Gra was contemporaneous with Mozart, so he presumably had access to
Classical-period music. I think Baroque music was out of favor at that
time, and Bach (for example) was relatively obscure. Not sure about
Medieval/Renaissance music. I suppose it depends on how much the Gra
would have delved into then-historical music.

But in the end, what is "it" that informs understanding of the Tikkunei
Zohar? Musical forms and compositional styles are so varied, and I would
guess that the Levitical songs were a good way off from anything
happening in Europe in the Gra's time.