[Rerelease] Yes, We've Got the Music! The Jewish Music Revolution Part I (replay)

July 25, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

In 1966, Bob Dylan invited a bearded, guitar-strumming rabbi to the Berkeley Folk Festival, and modern Jewish music was never the same. That rabbi was Shlomo Carlebach, and his appearance marked the moment a genre that had been simmering for decades finally exploded into the mainstream. But the story of how Jewish music went from the courts of pre-war Polish rebbes to the electric guitars of the 1970s is a winding one, filled with survivors, cantors, and a handful of transformative figures who changed the rules of the game.

The Old World Bridges: From Guerr to the Gramophone

Before Carlebach, there was a different kind of revolution—one of preservation. The music of the Hasidic world was largely oral, passed down from rebbe to chasid. The man who began to change that was Yankel Talmud, born in Warsaw in 1885. He joined the choir of the Gerer Hasidim, eventually leading it, and composed over a thousand songs, including the famous Shir HaMaalos march. When the Gerer Rebbe escaped Europe during the Holocaust, he sent for Talmud, who was living in Tel Aviv, and asked him to keep composing for the rebuilding dynasty. Talmud never learned to read music, yet his songs became the soundtrack of a world that had been destroyed. The Gerer Rebbe, Rabbi Mordechai Alter, once told him that Polish chasidim went to their deaths with his songs on their lips. "This is my comfort and my s

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What you'll learn

1 (00:30) **Episode Introduction & Listener Letters** - The host reads listener feedback from the previous episode on DP camps, including stories of rebuilding, the Kloisenberger Rebbe, and a survivor who nearly partnered with the inventor of Mountain Dew.
2 (05:03) **Setting the Stage: The "Yes, We've Got the Music" Inspiration** - The host pivots to the main topic, explaining that the song "Yes, We've Got the Music" by A. Rottenberg inspired this episode on the origins of modern Jewish music.
3 (08:27) **Defining "Modern Jewish Music"** - The host introduces the core question of what makes music "modern" and "Jewish," distinguishing it from old Chasidic niggunim and secular Jewish music.
4 (13:15) **The Historical Framework: Pre-War to Diversification** - The host outlines the four main time periods of the episode: pre-war, immediate post-war, the 1960s explosion with Carlebach, and the 1970s-80s diversification.
5 (14:03) **Yankel Talmud: The Bridge from Old World to New** - The host details the life of Yankel Talmud, born in Warsaw in 1885, who led the choir in Ger and later composed over 1,000 songs after escaping to Palestine in 1933.
6 (16:05) **David Werdyger: Recording the Niggunim** - The host covers David Werdyger, who was accepted into the Ger choir at age 12 in Krakow, survived Plaszow concentration camp by singing "Kel Moleh Rachamim" for the commandant Amon Goeth, and later became a pioneer of recording Hasidic music.
7 (17:56) **Ben Zion Shenker: The Modzitzer Pioneer** - The host profiles Ben Zion Shenker, who grew up in Williamsburg, became close with the Modzitzer Rebbe, and composed classics like "Asis Hu" that are now sung universally.

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Show Notes

Modern Jewish music developed from the chassidic music of old to the new sound of the Jewish music revolution led by Shlomo Carlebach in the 1960's. The music world of pre war Europe was brought over to the emerging post war world by Yankel Talmud, Yom Tov Ehrlich, the Chabad niggunim, David Werdyger and Bentzion Shenker of Modzhitz. They served as the bridge to bring classic chassidic music to the new generation.

This was followed by Shlomo Carlebach and the revolution of Jewish music in the 1960's. Baruch Chait with the Rabbi's Sons, Yigal Calek and the London School of Jewish Song, the Pirchei-JEP albums all contributed to the early flourishing of the new style Jewish music which would continue to develop in the ensuing decade.

Check out the other Jewish History Soundbites episodes on Jewish music: Shlomo Carlebach mini-series: https://jsoundbites.podbean.com/e/from-lakewood-to-lubavitch-the-early-years-of-shlomo-carlebach/

https://jsoundbites.podbean.com/e/from-all-night-learning-to-all-night-kumzitz-the-early-years-of-shlomo-carlebach-part-ii/

Chazzanus: https://jsoundbites.podbean.com/e/yossele-rosenblatt-and-the-golden-age-of-chazzanus/

Modzhitz: https://jsoundbites.podbean.com/e/chassidic-symphony-the-modzitz-dynasty/

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