Jewish Banjo as Folkways

Jewish Folkways

Mordecai Kaplan describes Judaism as an Evolving Religious Civilization. It is neither just a culture, nor just an ethnicity, nor just a religion. Judaism is a breathing civilization, where each generation and each Jew contributes to its contours. Kaplan places emphasis on the Folkways (or minhagim) as an integral part of the expression of Judaism. These folkways hold just as much importance as commandments (or mitzvot).

In addition to minhagim that describe a community’s religious customs, folkways are the work of Jewish artists and musicians. But this work never remains in stasis. By combining elements from their tradition with other elements of life, Jewish artists find meaning and closeness to their people and their family. In our constant retelling and reinterpretation, we give new life to what it means to be a Jew.

Folkways are the very stuff of Jewish life, which should be experienced with spontaneity and joy, and which can be modified as circumstances require. They are the social practices by which a people externalizes its collective being.

Mordecai Kaplan, ‘Judaism as Civilization’

The Elements of Jewish Banjo as Folkways

The Images as Folkways

Jewish artists take elements from their surroundings and meld them with traditional elements. The banner from jewishbanjo.org seems to pop out from the relatively understated design from the rest of the site, perhaps even clashes a bit. As mentioned in the About page, the artwork on this site was designed by my son, Jack Fogel. Jack generally develops his designs as a collage from photos. We sat together one afternoon and he took several photos of my banjo, of me playing and other Jewish objects throughout our home.

The circles on the left and right are the head of my banjo. You can also make out the fretboard. Rather than the traditional six-pointed Star of David, there is a five-pointed star. This star is a stamped symbol of the Vega company, which manufactured my Little Wonder banjo over a century ago. The silver design on the top and bottom, as well as the Hebrew lettering come from our mezuza. But what really stands out are the red and white stripes of flowers.

These stripes come from the strap of my banjo. Soon after I started playing music, my Great-aunt Ruth Robinson gave me a classical guitar which belonged to her son, a talented and versatile musician. Unfortunately, he died far too young in the early 80s. People always told me I look like him. I don’t play much guitar, so I passed this on to my own son. But I kept the strap. Maybe its is a bit worn and outdated, and maybe it clashes a bit against my white tallit with its black stripe, but I’m proud and honored to wear it. I feel close to my cousin and I feel close to my family of Jewish artists.

Jewish Banjo Music as Folkways

You can find a few examples of Jewish banjo on the internet, like Nefesh Mountain and Rocky Mountain Jewgrass, as well as Klezmer Clawhammer. However, clawhammer for traditional Jewish music seems like a relatively unexplored form, with great potential.

When I told our cantor, Jalda Rebling about my project and the fact that I would only place music from the public domain on the site, she chuckled. I told her about the court case brought by the children of Shlomo Carlebach to protect his copyright. Why bother? Jewish music flows in and out of groups, taking on new form and new color with each person, each generation, each retelling.

And this is the quintessence of Jewish folkways. We take traditional music and meld it with an instrument like the banjo and style of playing like clawhammer to come up with a new expression of the Jewish collective being.