Singing the Land: Hebrew Music and Early Zionism in America. Eli Sperling. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press. 2024.
Reviewed by Inbar Shifrin
To a Jewish American, which anthem would hold greater importance: “The Star-Spangled Banner” or “HaTikvah?” According to Eli Sperling’s book Singing the Land: Hebrew Music and Early Zionism in America, the answer is both. One anthem affirms American patriotism, while the other represents a connection to Israel. This complex example illustrates the central question Sperling seeks to answer in his book: How did Hebrew songs play a role in fostering Zionism and a yearning for the land of Israel within American Jews without encouraging immigration to physically build Israel?
Sperling’s book sheds light on the process American Jewry underwent regarding their connection to Zionism. While not all American Jews were Zionists initially, in the decades preceding the 1940s and the establishment of Israel many American Jews came to view Zionism as part of their Jewish identity, and still chose to remain in the United States (though some did emigrate). Sperling argues that the use of Hebrew songs was a key affective factor in this shift toward a sort of non-migratory Zionism. [1] These songs, deployed by specific individuals and organizations, helped intertwine the ideals of actively supporting Zionism and the Jewish pioneers (Chalutzim) in Israel with notions of American patriotism.
Singing the Land is an important archival work that examines the pre-1948 period in American Jewish history. Sperling connects the dots between a range of themes regarding Hebrew songs, such as their role in communal gatherings, Jewish educational institutions, and more. According to his preface, Sperling stumbled across an impressive amount of archive documents of “Zionist-themed-Hebrew musical works” (xv) originating from the United States, which compelled him to explore the subject further. This resulted in a detailed book that reveals the behind-the-scenes efforts of prominent figures and organizations such as Avraham Zvi Idelsohn, Henrietta Szold, the Goldfarb family, the Jewish National Fund, and others. In each chapter, Sperling delves into a different group of individuals who had similar ideas regarding the importance of Hebrew and Zionist culture and Jewish education in American. In doing so, Sperling highlights their use of Hebrew and Zionist songs as a central tool in their efforts.
Sperling evaluates the use of Hebrew songs through different methods. One approach is his analysis of Hebrew songbooks published in America. This analysis includes examining the selection of songs, their order, and their division into specific subjects, such as “Zionist holidays, Hebrew (Secular), Chalutzim [pioneer] songs, Love songs, Folk songs,” and “Sacred songs.” Through this process, Sperling interprets the ideals and ideologies that may have guided the publishers in selecting and organizing the songs. For example, the inclusion of Tu Bishvat (the fifteenth day of the Hebrew month Shvat, which celebrates trees and nature) among Jewish American holidays highlights an effort to strengthen the connection between American Jews and the physical land of Israel. Another method Sperling uses is the examination of letters and newspaper articles from the period. He argues that these sources can illuminate the ideologies behind the use of specific songs in particular contexts.
Sperling’s focus on specific individuals in each chapter is another strength of the book. This helps the reader to develop a deeper understanding of the key figures and actors in the field: who worked and collaborated with whom, and how certain songs became central to American Jewish repertoire. One of the stronger parts of this book is its focus on Avraham Zvi Idelsohn (particularly in chapter 3) and his career development in the United States. Idelsohn was still considered an expert on Hebrew and Zionist songs, but his work within Hebrew Union College, a Reform Jewish institution, shifted his framework toward principles valued by this denomination, offering a valuable glimpse into how external circumstances shape a scholar’s research. On one hand, Idelsohn’s 1925 songbook The Harvest Festival: A Children’s Musical Celebration, lacked any references to the Zionist goal, due to the non-Zionist tendencies of the reform movement at that time. [2] On the other hand, Sperling shows a connection between the book and the change in Zionist perception in the Reform community, when they chose to use the songbook in their education system. Sperling sees that as something that affected the Reform movement in their transition to become more positive about Zionism. Another strength of the book is its detailed documentation of dated examples that highlight how, during the pre-state period in the U.S., American Jewish communities sang Hebrew songs together as a central group activity. Sperling demonstrates that this practice was widespread across various contexts and settings, such as synagogues, Jewish educational institutions, and protests. Moreover, the examples show how these songs were often performed alongside the American national anthem, reinforcing both Zionist and American identities.
Throughout the book’s examples, Sperling emphasizes that one reason Hebrew songs were an effective tool for fostering a connection to the land of Israel is that it was not necessary to fully understand the words in order to feel included in the experience. He explains: “The sounds and interactive experience of singing Jewish prayers or Hebrew songs in this sense could even serve as a substitute for the meaning of the actual words […] the sounds of the songs and the experience of singing them together” (p. 17). This quote describes the practice of singing songs from the land of Israel in the same manner that the pioneers in the land of Israel did. Singing them like that helped American Jews to imagine the pioneers and even identify with them. In this way, Hebrew national culture was used to create a connection between Jews in the U.S. and the pioneers through the feeling of inclusion.
Since some of the communal singing of Hebrew songs occurred in synagogues and in congregational settings, I wonder how it interacted with and affected cantorial practice in synagogues at that time. Did the practice of communal singing “like in Palestine” affect the performance of liturgical texts as well? Was there a difference between performing Hebrew songs and liturgical repertoire when sung in a congregational setting? What did cantors and rabbis think about this practice? Did it change between areas and congregations? Discussions about prayer and its connection to religious practices were missing from this book, and I was left curious. There might be no mention of these questions in the documents that Sperling found, but I would have loved to know more. It would also be interesting to compare the use of those songs in Israel and Jewish centers other than the United States. Centers such as Europe before 1939 or in large Jewish communities in Arab countries before 1948. What place were those songs (and maybe songbooks) played in those other Jewish centers? A less optimal aspect of the book’s presentation is that musical examples are provided as links, mostly to the website Zemereshet. Yet these examples were not formatted as clickable links in the online version, and readers of hard copy need to type them in manually. This makes it difficult for readers to access the music examples.
Overall, this book—while concentrating specifically on music—sheds light on the way Zionism was incorporated into American Jewish life in a manner that is still present today. Especially after the events of October 7th, 2023, this book delivers another explanation of how devastating it was to see the example of Jewish safety and the positive fortress of Jews being attacked. Within the Hebrew songs of Palestine, the pioneers became epic heroes, and the Hebrew songs told their stories. The characters about whom the songs were written were a source of inspiration and pride for Jewish communities throughout the United States, representative images of Jews defending themselves and fighting for their cause.
In the field of Jewish music, Hebrew songs hold an interesting role. They are not liturgical songs, but they are also not entirely secular since they contain themes of both Jewish daily life and holidays. Therefore, they convey the tension of the complicated Jewish identity that can be both religious and national. In this book, Sperling reveals more about the connection between those songs that were written in the land of Israel for people who lived there and the use of those songs in congregations and communities outside of the land of Israel, in the US, where that use helped cultivate American Jewish Zionism. Singing the Land is a great book that would be an interesting read for scholars who are curious about the influence and use of Hebrew songs in institutions and communities in the US. It would be also interesting for those who want to know more about the influence Israel has and the connection between Israel and American Zionism.
Inbar Shifrin is a PhD student in the Musicology department and a fellow at the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies at Brandeis University.
[1] Also known as “Palestinian songs.” They would later become known as “Shirei Eretz Yisrael (Songs of the Land of Israel).”
[2] However, a decade later, those same songs were used in a Zionist context in the Reform movement. Idelsohn did not live to see this change.