Israel Meyer Japhet
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Israel Meyer Japhet (7 March 1818—10 November 1892) was a teacher,
choir director A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which sp ...
, and grammarian. He was choir director at the Realschule (Adass Jeschurun) in
Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...
under Rabbi
Samson Raphael Hirsch Samson Raphael Hirsch (; June 20, 1808 – December 31, 1888) was a German Orthodox rabbi best known as the intellectual founder of the ''Torah im Derech Eretz'' school of contemporary Orthodox Judaism. Occasionally termed ''neo-Orthodoxy'', his ...
, and composed music for synagogue use, many pieces of which are still in use today.


Biography and career

Israel Meyer Japhet was born in
Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the district of the same name and had 201,048 inhabitants in December 2020 ...
, Germany.Macy Nulman, ''Concise Encyclopedia of Jewish Music'', (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1975), p. 124. Nearly all sources including authority files list his year of birth as 1818. A family tree from his descendants on JewishGen.org states his year of birth being 1812. See http://data.jewishgen.org/wconnect/wc.dll?jg~jgsys~ftjppedcure2~980559. Heinemann states his birthdate as 7 March 1818, or 29 Adar. His parents were Meyer Japhet (1782–1866) and Deborah Weinberg (1783–1843). At age 17, he attained his first position as a choral director and religious teacher in
Wolfhagen Wolfhagen () is a town in the district of Kassel, in Hesse, Germany. It is located 12 km southeast of Bad Arolsen, and 23 km west of Kassel on the German Timber-Frame Road. In 1992, the town hosted the 32nd Hessentag The Hessenta ...
. Subsequently, he held a similar position in Gudenberg, where he came into contact with Rabbi Mordechai Wetzlar. Wetzlar had a strong influence on Japhet's development and outlook.Heinemann, p. 241. From 1852-1892, he was choir director and religious instructor for the
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 ...
congregation in Frankfurt am Main. For his works on grammar he used new methods of teaching in his textbooks. In Germany, the
Reform movement in Judaism Reform Judaism, also known as Liberal Judaism or Progressive Judaism, is a major Jewish denomination that emphasizes the evolving nature of Judaism, the superiority of its ethical aspects to its ceremonial ones, and belief in a continuous searc ...
was having a great effect on synagogue music. Composers such as Solomon Sulzer and
Louis Lewandowski Louis Lewandowski (April 3, 1821 – February 4, 1894) was a Polish-Jewish and German-Jewish composer of synagogal music. He contributed greatly to the liturgy of the Synagogue Service. His most famous works were composed during his tenure as ...
, wanting to emulate the use of music in churches, incorporated organs and mixed choirs into the liturgy of the Reform, and developed an elaborate compositional style. (Orthodox
halakha ''Halakha'' (; he, הֲלָכָה, ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws which is derived from the written and Oral Torah. Halakha is based on biblical commandm ...
forbids the use of
women's voices A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or Adolescence, adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female hum ...
and the use of musical instruments on the
Shabbat Shabbat (, , or ; he, שַׁבָּת, Šabbāṯ, , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the week—i.e., Saturday. On this day, religious Jews remember the biblical storie ...
.) Japhet introduced choral singing as well, since he agreed that the use of a choir provided a revitalization of synagogue prayer. In keeping within halakha, his choirs consisted solely of men and boys. Aside from halakhic issues, Japhet felt that instruments and elaborate compositions could not compare with the feelings inspired by simple melodies and music. He felt that tunes used by previous generations can be a source of great inspiration, and retained many known liturgical tunes. His liturgical musical compositions were favored because of their simplicity (making them easy to sing), and because so many were based on existing synagogue tunes that were like folk songs. When he published his musical compositions, ''Shire Jeschurun'', the introduction had commendations from noted composers such as Ignaz Lachner,
Giacomo Meyerbeer Giacomo Meyerbeer (born Jakob Liebmann Beer; 5 September 1791 – 2 May 1864) was a German opera composer, "the most frequently performed opera composer during the nineteenth century, linking Mozart and Wagner". With his 1831 opera ''Robert le di ...
,
Louis Spohr Louis Spohr (, 5 April 178422 October 1859), baptized Ludewig Spohr, later often in the modern German form of the name Ludwig, was a German composer, violinist and conductor. Highly regarded during his lifetime, Spohr composed ten symphonies, ...
, and others. Japhet died in Frankfurt am Main.


Family

Japhet married Katherine Therese Seckel (1822–1899) and had 2 children, Mathilde (1852–1931) and Samuel (1858–1954). Mathilde married Hermann Schwab (1851–1919), who would edit several later editions of Japhet’s publications.


Publications

Nearly all of Japhet's publications were reprinted in later editions (some with revisions) through the 1920s. Listed below are dates of first publication. Worldcat.org
/ref> *Pi Ollalim: Hebraische Lesefibel. Kassel : T. Fischer, 1839. *Worte der Wahrheit, oder: Der Thalmud und seine Feinde. Eine Erwiderung auf das von dem Rechtskandidaten F. Eisenberg, unter dem Titel: Dr. Frankel, der Thalmud und die Israëliten, in die Rheinische Zeitung, vom 8. Januar d.J. eingerückte Inserat. Cassel : M.S. Messner 843?*Schire Jeschurun : Gottesdienstliche Gesänge : Eingeführt in die Synagoge der israelitischen Religionsgesellschaft zu Frankfurt am Main. Frankfurt a.M. : Kauffmann **Erste Sammlung st part 1856 **Zweite Sammlung nd part 1864. (1st and 2nd parts reprinted together several times through the 20th century) *Tefilot Yeshurun : meturgamot Ashkenazit milah be-milah ... = Izraʼeliṭishez gebeṭbukh, mit ṿorṭlikhʻer iberzeṭtsung. Frankfurt am Main : Isaak Kauffman, 1857 *Einladugsschrift zu der ... Prüfung der Unterrichts-Anstalt. Frankfurt a.M. : Druckerei von F. Wörner, 1864. *Über den deutschen Sprachunterricht. Frankfurt a.M., Unterrichts-Anstalt d. Israelit. Religions-Gesellschaft, Schulprogr., 1864 *Metek Sefatayim: Hebräische Sprachlehre mit praktischen Aufgaben; nebst einem Vorkursus und Vokabularium. Frankfurt am Main : Kauffmann, 1868. (10 edition revised by Hermann Schwab, 1921) *Hebraische Sprachlehre : mit praktischen Aufgaben zum Gebrauche beim Unterrichte in der hebräischen Sprache. Frankfurt am M. : J. Kauffmann, 1878. (4th ed.) *Ha-Hagadah le-lel Shimurim = Haggadah für Pesach. Frankfurt am Main : J. Kauffmann, 1884. (Revised by Hermann Schwab, 1925). *Moreh HaKoreh: Die Accente der heiligen Schrift : mit Anschluss der Bücher emet. Frankfurt a.M. : J. Kauffmann, 1896.


References

*Heinemann, I. "I.M. Japhet: Ein Gedenkblatt zur 100. Wiederkehr seines Geburtstages," ''Jeschurun'' (March–April 1918), p. 240-244.


Notes


External links


Japhet Familie Collection
* *
Digitized works by Israel Meyer Japhet
at the
Leo Baeck Institute, New York The Leo Baeck Institute New York (LBI) is a research institute in New York City dedicated to the study of German-Jewish history and culture, founded in 1955. It is one of three independent research centers founded by a group of German-speaking J ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Japhet, Israel Meyer 1818 births 1892 deaths German male composers German Orthodox Jews Hazzans German classical musicians Jewish classical musicians Jewish composers Musicians from Kassel 19th-century German composers 19th-century German male singers