The Diaspora Yeshiva Band ( he, להקת ישיבת התפוצות) was an Israeli

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pa ...

Jewish rock Jewish rock is a form of contemporary Jewish religious music that is influenced by various forms of secular rock music. Pioneered by contemporary folk artists like Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach (musician), Shlomo Carlebach and the Diaspora Yeshiva Band, ...

band founded at the Diaspora Yeshiva on

Mount Zion Mount Zion ( he, הַר צִיּוֹן, ''Har Ṣīyyōn''; ar, جبل صهيون, ''Jabal Sahyoun'') is a hill in Jerusalem, located just outside the walls of the Old City (Jerusalem), Old City. The term Mount Zion has been used in the Hebrew ...

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

, by ''

baal teshuva In Judaism, a ''ba'al teshuvah'' ( he, בעל תשובה; for a woman, , or ; plural, , , 'master of return God]') is a Jew who adopts some form of traditional religious observance after having previously followed a Jewish secularism, secular lif ...

'' students from the United States. In existence from 1975 to 1983, the band infused Rock music, rock and bluegrass music with Jewish lyrics, creating a style of music it called "Hasidic rock" or "Country and Eastern". The band was very popular on college campuses in the early to mid-1980s, and was well known in Jerusalem for its Saturday-night concerts at

David's Tomb , alternate_name= Makam Nabi Daoud; Cenacle , image = Jerusalem Tomb of David BW 1.JPG , alt= , caption= , map_type = Old Jerusalem , map_alt = , map_caption = Shown () within Jerusalem , map_size= , location = Jerusalem , reg ...

. It had a considerable influence on

contemporary Jewish religious music For the purposes of this article, “contemporary” refers to the period from 1967 ( Israel's Six-Day War) to the present day, “Jewish” refers to the various streams and traits of Judaism practiced. Many Orthodox Jews use the term “relig ...

, inspiring later bands such as Blue Fringe, 8th Day,

Reva L'Sheva Reva L'Sheva ( he, רבע לשבע, "a quarter to seven") was an Israeli Jewish rock band formed in 1994 by lead singer Yehudah Katz. They released six studio albums before disbanding around 2006. On January 7, 2014, the band performed at Zapp ...

, Soulfarm, the Moshav Band, and

Shlock Rock Shlock Rock is an American-Israeli Jewish rock band, put together in December 1985, and officially founded in 1986, and led by, singer Lenny Solomon, which parodies popular secular songs, substituting new, Jewish religious-themed lyrics for t ...

. Fifteen years after it disbanded, band leader Avraham Rosenblum revived the band under the name Avraham Rosenblum & Diaspora and produced several more albums.

Background

The Diaspora Yeshiva (ישיבת התפוצות) was founded in 1967 by Rabbi Mordechai Goldstein, an alumnus of the Chofetz Chaim Yeshiva in

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

, New York, and a colleague of Rabbi

Shlomo Carlebach Shlomo Carlebach ( he, שלמה קרליבך; 14 January 1925 – 20 October 1994), known as Reb Shlomo to his followers, was a rabbi, religious teacher, spiritual leader, composer, and singer dubbed "the singing rabbi" during his lifetime. ...

. It was originally named "Toras Yisrael", and its formal yeshiva program continues under that name. It is the only Jewish institution located on

. The current

Rosh Yeshiva Rosh yeshiva ( he, ראש ישיבה, pl. he, ראשי ישיבה, '; Anglicized pl. ''rosh yeshivas'') is the title given to the dean of a yeshiva, a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primar ...

is Rabbi Yitzchak Goldstein. The

yeshiva A yeshiva (; he, ישיבה, , sitting; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are s ...

offers programs ranging from basic Judaism to advanced

Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cente ...

– employing a methodology based on

Ramchal Moshe Chaim Luzzatto ( he, משה חיים לוצאטו, also ''Moses Chaim'', ''Moses Hayyim'', also ''Luzzato'') (1707 – 16 May 1746 (26 ''Iyar'' 5506)), also known by the Hebrew acronym RaMCHaL (or RaMHaL, ), was a prominent Italia ...

(see ) – and emphasizes '' mussar'', or character development. Its main offering is its one year post high school program. Machon Roni, a women's Torah seminary, operates in parallel. Diaspora Yeshiva was established as an

outreach Outreach is the activity of providing services to any population that might not otherwise have access to those services. A key component of outreach is that the group providing it is not stationary, but mobile; in other words, it involves meetin ...

yeshiva for ''baalei teshuva''. Unlike traditional rabbinic academies, the yeshiva reached out to young Jewish men who had never been exposed to traditional

Torah The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the s ...

study. It offered introductory and intermediate courses together with acclimation to an Orthodox Jewish lifestyle. To appeal to students who identified with the

hippie A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to different countries around ...

subculture A subculture is a group of people within a culture that differentiates itself from the parent culture to which it belongs, often maintaining some of its founding principles. Subcultures develop their own norms and values regarding cultural, poli ...

prevalent on American college campuses in those years, the yeshiva adopted a

neo-Hasidic Neo-Hasidism, Neochassidut, or Neo-Chassidus, is an approach to Judaism in which people learn beliefs and practices of Hasidic Judaism, and incorporate it into their own lives or prayer communities, yet without formally joining a Hasidic group. O ...

approach. Students were encouraged to keep their long hair and their musical instruments. Numerous students were professional or semi-professional musicians, and several musical collaborations were spawned in the yeshiva dorms. In 1975 student Avraham Rosenblum, a rock guitarist who had started his own band in New York in 1970, founded the Diaspora Yeshiva Band. The band became an outreach tool for other hippie students and, later, post-hippie seekers, using

Jewish music Jewish music is the music and melodies of the Jewish people. There exist both traditions of religious music, as sung at the synagogue and domestic prayers, and of secular music, such as klezmer. While some elements of Jewish music may originat ...

to draw them into the milieu of

Torah study Torah study is the study of the Torah, Hebrew Bible, Talmud, responsa, rabbinic literature, and similar works, all of which are Judaism's Sifrei kodesh, religious texts. According to Rabbinic Judaism, the study is done for the purpose of the ''mi ...

History

The Diaspora Yeshiva Band staged its first concert at the Beit Ha'Am hall in the

Nachlaot Nachlaot ( he, נחלאות, also ''Naḥlaʾoth'') is a cluster of 23 courtyard neighborhoods in central Jerusalem surrounding the Mahane Yehuda Market. It is known for its narrow, winding lanes, old-style housing, hidden courtyards and many smal ...

neighborhood of Jerusalem during

Hanukkah or English translation: 'Establishing' or 'Dedication' (of the Temple in Jerusalem) , nickname = , observedby = Jews , begins = 25 Kislev , ends = 2 Tevet or 3 Tevet , celebrations = Lighting candles each night. ...

1975. After that, the band became well known for its weekly Saturday-night concerts held in a room adjacent to

(located in the same courtyard as the yeshiva) on Mount Zion. These concerts attracted secular American, British, and French youth; yeshiva and seminary students; and Israeli soldiers. Band members continued to perform with the group even after they had married and begun studying in

kollel A kollel ( he, כולל, , , a "gathering" or "collection" f scholars is an institute for full-time, advanced study of the Talmud and rabbinic literature. Like a yeshiva, a kollel features shiurim (lectures) and learning ''sedarim'' (sessions); ...

. The band released its first album in 1976. In 1977 it was invited to compete in the Hasidic Song Festival, an Israeli competition that ran from 1969 to 1984 and that was broadcast on national television. Diaspora was the first yeshiva band to perform at the largely secular music event, and won first prize for its song "''Hu Yiftach Libeinu''" (He will open our hearts). Interviews in the general media followed, increasing name recognition and visitors to the Saturday-night concerts. The band was invited back for the 1978 Hasidic Song Festival, and won first prize for its song "''Malchutcha''" (Your sovereignty). The band embarked on its first North American concert tour in 1979, visiting 26 cities. It went on to tour the U.S., Canada, Europe, and South Africa on five additional tours. The band was highly popular on college campuses in the early to mid-1980s. In the 1980s,

Lynyrd Skynyrd Lynyrd Skynyrd ( ) is an American rock music, rock band formed in Jacksonville, Florida. The group originally formed as My Backyard in 1964 and comprised Ronnie Van Zant (lead vocalist), Gary Rossington (guitar), Allen Collins (guitar), Larry Ju ...

drummer

Artimus Pyle Thomas Delmer "Artimus" Pyle (born July 15, 1948) is an American musician who played drums with the southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd from 1974 to 1977 and from 1987 to 1991. He and his bandmates were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fam ...

came to study in the Diaspora Yeshiva for several years. He played with the band and bequeathed his drum set to the yeshiva. In 1987 the Diaspora Yeshiva Band performed and was interviewed on

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

's Musical Passport series, ''Rock Israel'', as part of the coverage of the visit of

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were an American rock band from Gainesville, Florida. Formed in 1976, the band originally comprised lead singer and rhythm guitarist Tom Petty, lead guitarist Mike Campbell, keyboardist Benmont Tench, drummer S ...

to Israel and Egypt. Band leader Avraham Rosenblum was filmed accompanying

Tom Petty Thomas Earl Petty (October 20, 1950October 2, 2017) was an American musician who was the lead vocalist and guitarist of the rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, formed in 1976. He previously led the band Mudcrutch, was a member of the lat ...

Benmont Tench Benjamin Montmorency "Benmont" Tench III (born September 7, 1953) is an American musician and singer, and a founding member of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Early years Tench was born in Gainesville, Florida, the second child of Benjamin ...

, and

Roger McGuinn James Roger McGuinn (born James Joseph McGuinn III; July 13, 1942) is an American musician. He is best known for being the frontman and leader of the Byrds. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for his work with the Byrds. As a ...

at the

Western Wall The Western Wall ( he, הַכּוֹתֶל הַמַּעֲרָבִי, HaKotel HaMa'aravi, the western wall, often shortened to the Kotel or Kosel), known in the West as the Wailing Wall, and in Islam as the Buraq Wall (Arabic: حَائِط � ...

. The Diaspora Yeshiva Band released a total of six albums. It disbanded in 1983 as its members began pursuing both solo careers and careers in Torah learning and

Reunions

In December 1992 the band reconvened for a month-long reunion tour beginning with a performance at

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...

. It reunited again in 1996 with a show at The Town Hall in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. In 2014, Rosenblum, Simcha Abramson, Gedaliah Goldstein, Ruby Harris, and Menachem Herman performed at the HASC 27 concert at Lincoln Center.Besser, Yisroel. "We All Get Another Chance". ''

Mishpacha ''Mishpacha'' ( he, משפחה, : Family) - Jewish Family Weekly is a Haredi weekly magazine package produced by The Mishpacha Group in both English and Hebrew. History The Mishpacha Publishing Group was founded in 1984 with the publication of ...

'', March 12, 2014, pp. 48-58. That same year, the group held another reunion concert at Congregation Shomrei Emunah in Baltimore, where Rosenblum is a member.

Avraham Rosenblum & Diaspora

In 1998 band leader Avraham Rosenblum and his son, drummer Moe Rosenblum, revived the band under the name Avraham Rosenblum & Diaspora and produced the album ''Jerusalem is Calling''. The pair went on to produce ''The Diaspora Collection'' (2000), a digitally-remastered double-CD of Diaspora Yeshiva Band hits, and ''Kedem'' (2003), an album featuring solo material by Avraham Rosenblum.

Music style

The band members viewed their music as a means of expressing their newfound connection to God, the Jewish people, and the Land of Israel in a medium that they were familiar with. Their arrangements reflected the musical trends of secular American culture in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The band's repertoire included Rock music, rock,

soft rock Soft rock is a form of rock music that originated in the late 1960s in Southern California and the United Kingdom which smoothed over the edges of singer-songwriter and pop rock, relying on simple, melodic songs with big, lush productions. S ...

acid rock Acid rock is a loosely defined type of rock music that evolved out of the mid-1960s garage punk movement and helped launch the psychedelic subculture. Named after lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), the style is generally defined by heavy, di ...

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

, bluegrass,

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

klezmer Klezmer ( yi, קלעזמער or ) is an instrumental musical tradition of the Ashkenazi Jews of Central and Eastern Europe. The essential elements of the tradition include dance tunes, ritual melodies, and virtuosic improvisations played for l ...

, and

Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...

ballads. Strom describes their music as blending "a San Francisco rock 'n' roll sound with Israeli, Middle Eastern, and Hasidic music". Instrumentation included

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., drum kit, bass guitar ...

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

fiddle A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

, and

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

. The band was noted for its guitar harmonies and "virtuoso" instrument playing. The lyrics, in contrast, expressed Jewish values. Lyrics were both original and drawn from the

and

Book of Psalms The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived f ...

. The band sang in

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

, and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

. Their on-stage presence also belied the traditional rock band image: they sported full beards, ''

payot ''Pe'ot'', anglicized as payot ( he, פֵּאוֹת, pēʾōt, "corners") or payes (), is the Hebrew term for sidelocks or sideburns. Payot are worn by some men and boys in the Orthodox Jewish community based on an interpretation of the Tanakh's ...

'', and ''

tzitzit ''Tzitzit'' ( he, ''ṣīṣīṯ'', ; plural ''ṣīṣiyyōṯ'', Ashkenazi Hebrew, Ashkenazi: '; and Samaritan Hebrew, Samaritan: ') are specially knotted ritual Fringe (trim), fringes, or tassels, worn in antiquity by Israelites and toda ...

'', and dressed in the dark-colored attire typical of yeshiva students.

Influence

The Diaspora Yeshiva Band was considered an influential group in the history of contemporary Jewish religious music. Bands that name them as an inspiration include Blue Fringe, 8th Day, and

. Besides Rosenblum, other original band members who pursued solo careers include Ruby Harris, founder of the Ruby Harris Electric Violin Blues Band in Chicago, Adam Wexler, co-founder of

, and Rabbi Moshe Shur, founder of the Moshe Shur Band and Moshe Shur and Sons. Sons of original band member

Ben Zion Solomon Ben Zion Solomon is an American-born Israeli musician, best known as a founding member of the seminal Jewish rock group Diaspora Yeshiva Band, for whom he played fiddle and banjo from 1975 to 1983. A disciple of Shlomo Carlebach, Solomon and his ...

include Noah Solomon of Soulfarm, Yehuda Solomon of Moshav Band, and Nachman Solomon of Hamakor.

Personnel

The six founding members of the Diaspora Yeshiva Band were: * Avraham Rosenblum – guitar *

– fiddle, banjo * Simcha Abramson – saxophone, clarinet * Ruby Harris – violin, mandolin, guitar, harmonica * Adam Wexler – bass * Gedalia Goldstein – drums Student-musicians who played with the band at different times between 1973 and 1986 include: Beryl and Ted Glaser, Shimon Green, Isser Blum, Amram Hakohen, Menachem Herman, Yochanan Lederman, Tzvi Miller, Yosil Rosenzweig,

Chaim-Dovid Saracik Chaim-Dovid Saracik is an Orthodox Jewish Chasidish musician who lives in the Old City of Jerusalem. He professionally goes by the name Chaim Dovid. He has produced more than eleven albums and has played for thousands of people over the past c ...

, and Rabbi Moshe Shur.

Discography

Diaspora Yeshiva Band

* ''The Diaspora Yeshiva Band'' (1976) * ''Melave Malka / A Mitzva with Love'' (1977) * ''At the Gate of Return'' (1978) * ''A Glimpse of Light'' (1979) * ''Live From King David's Tomb'' (1980) * ''Land of Our Fathers'' (1981) * ''Diaspora Live on Mt. Zion'' (1982) * ''The Last Diaspora'' (1983) * ''Live at the Renaissance'' (1987) * ''Torah Music'' (New Yeshiva Members) (1991) * ''The Reunion - Live at Carnegie Hall'' (1992) * ''The Diaspora Collection'' (2000)

Avraham Rosenblum & Diaspora

* ''V'hoshienu'' (Solo Album) (1988) * ''Jerusalem is Calling'' (1998) * ''Kedem'' (2003)

References

Notes

Sources

* * * * * * * * *

External links

Diaspora Band Video ChannelDiaspora Yeshiva Tribute to the Diaspora Yeshiva Band"The Diaspora Yeshiva Band (1979)"
(video)
“Audio: Avraham Rosenblum - Diaspora Yeshiva Band & Beyond”
2011 live performance and interview {{DEFAULTSORT:Diaspora Yeshiva Band Jewish American musicians Israeli rock music groups Musical groups established in 1975 Musical groups disestablished in the 1980s Jewish rock groups Jewish folk rock groups American bluegrass music groups Musical groups from Jerusalem