Customer Reviews

Tiferet: Jewish Chants for Meditation

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

"Tiferet" means "beauty" in Hebrew, and is the level on the Kabbalistic Tree of Life diagram which corresponds to the Heart Chakra. It's also the name of the chanting group which produced this CD. Rabbi Ted Falcon (theologically on the Jewish Renewal end of the spectrum), author of "Journey of Awakening," is the spiritual director of the group. Stephen Merritt (1999 CD "Journey to Katriel") is the musical director. The group is located in Seattle, where they have, according to the album insert, "shared the experience of Jewish-centered chant and meditative melody at houses of worship and community events in the Northwest United States." This is their first CD.

The music itself is exactly what the title says: Jewish chants for meditation. These use simple words or phrases, some in Hebrew and some in English translation, that are repeated over and over, to focus the heart, mind, and soul on God. They are performed a capella by a choir of both male and female voices singing in beautiful, etheric harmonies with a New Age sound.

Using Hebrew mantras is not original to this group, of course. Jews have been doing it for centuries, in a multitude of musical genres. The words for one of the mantras on this CD, "EL NA: A Prayer for Healing," come directly from the Bible itself. It's the prayer that Moses used when he asked God to heal Miriam of leprosy. (The tune, however, is apparently original to the Tiferet group, since I have never heard it before.)

The album opens with "Singing Shalom," a variant of a David Zeller song that I myself have used for many years (mentioned in my own book, "Beyond the Ashes: Cases of Reincarnation from the Holocauust," in a story on pp. 3-4.) This segment is 7:29 minutes long, giving you enough time to relax and really get into it. At the same time, there's just enough variation in the harmonies to avoid being boring. The same can be said for "Ribono: Ruler of the Universe" (8:48 min.) which is a slowed-down version of a traditional Hasidic tune for "Ribono Shel Olam" the mantra of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov. Also included is a Shema chant that will sound familiar to students of Zalman Schachter (12:55 min).

One segment that I did not particularly care for is the "Sh'ma Whisper," where the group whispers the Shema prayer very, very softly -- so softly, that if you have the volume turned down, you can't hear it. This may work in a live gathering of meditators who can take their cues from the leader(s), but for a music CD, it's just a bunch of dead air. In fact, the recording was so quiet that, the first time I listened, I thought something was wrong with my CD player and got up to check it -- which brought me out of the meditative state. I now skip this band.

The CD is inspiring and will help you meditate in a Jewish mode, but it's also hypnotic in places, so please, people --- don't play this while driving on the freeway! As my wife said, "It's definitely not music to clean for Passover by." But, as a mellow way to begin or end your day, it works fine. Jews on the more traditional end of the spectrum, who are used to using Hasidic mantras and devekus niggunim (wordless tunes) for contemplation, may find it just too "New Agey" or even goyish (I suspect some of those "houses of worship" where they perform are not synagogues). On the other hand, if you have experienced Eastern or New Age meditation and are looking for a way to bridge that experience back to Judaism, this CD could be a useful roadmap for your journey.

How nonchalantly we snaffle sacred words to give ourselves and our petty little works an air of transcendence! This levity is a product not only of our ignorance of what such words really mean but also of our deep-seated vanity and ruthless commercialism.

It is therefore no great wonder that a phenomenal piece of pseudo-religious musical rubbish should be offered on amazon.com under the exalted name of "tiferet". Think about it, "tiferet" designates the ineffable beauty of the Godhead itself in Kabbalistic literature!

If the producers of this cd had had but one atom of reverence for the divine they would have called it "Jewish chants for meditation: a choral experiment" and that would have been quite, quite close to the facts and nobody would have expected too much from it. But to call it "tiferet"!

But let us come to the point, what do you hear on this recording?

As another reviewer has pointed out, NOTHING on the fourth track(I call it the Choir of Carps Invocation) and TOO MUCH OF THE SAME on the rest: a single Hebrew word or phrase repeated again and again with minimal melodic variation. Obviously, this chorale wanted to beat the Hindus at their own game by producing their own brand of hallowed "mantras" and thereby jump on the New Age bandwagon. Unfortunately, they fell through the floor of that awfully overcrowded vehicle.

If the singers had had sweet voices and had recorded their performance in a place with wonderful acoustics (e.g. a medieval Cistercian monastery) the result could have been acceptable and induced, if not a "heightened state of consciousness", at least a bout of irrepressible drowsiness, thereby rendering an invaluable service to countless insomniacs. But since none of these conditions was fulfilled, what you hear on this cd is as soothing and magical as a blend of army drill shouts and primary school recitations of the multiplication tables.

I could also mention the incredibly thick American accent with which the rabbi-conductor bleats the Hebrew prayers interspersed among the "mantras" but amid a musical disaster of such magnitude this is really a minor,if amusing, point.

Passerby, don't fall for the name of "tiferet"! Keep your money, and if you are looking for truly beautiful Hebrew chants, consider buying "With Every Breath".

This is called Hochma(wisdom)...

This CD is designed as support in the deepening of a meditation practice. As more people become interested in the Jewish meditation tradition, this CD will help them find a place of healing and peace.

This is just about the most unprofessional CD I have heard in a long, long time. A lover of Jewish music, especially Jewish liturgical chants, I was looking forward to a beautiful, quiet, meditative time among holy words and sounds. Instead I found I'd paid good money for something amateur at best. While some repetition of phrases on a single tone can assist meditation, the same done by a group of amateur voices who can't hold a single pitch is merely distracting. I don't think I heard a single start in which the voices all started at once - an essential for the unity of a chorus - and this was further distracting. The "scooping" of voices - common especially in older, a.k.a. over 45 or so, untrained voices, proved still further distracting. If one intends to provide an introduction to and/or a background for meditative endeavors, a professional approach is essential to minimize these sorts of distractions. I would encourage others not to waste their money. There is so much GOOD and TRUE Jewish music (I am not Jewish, btw), which, because of its ancient and reverent nature, is truly worshipful, meditative, there's no reason for a travesty like this CD. I frequently put on other Jewish-music CDs - music from the Jewish liturgy, for instance. There is one instrumental CD - Between Heaven and Earth: Music of the Jewish Mystics done by Andy Statman - which NEVER fails to provide a worshipful, reverent, deeply meditative atmosphere - spend your money on that one and forget this one.

This beautiful and unique CD makes for wonderful background music while reading your favorite spiritually enriched material. Also it will serve to sufficiently enhance the meditative state if so desired. In a time of "cookie cutter" logic, this music will provide hope for those wishing to escape the mundane.