About this episode

This episode explores the rich history, meaning, and musical aspects of the Jewish prayer Aleinu.

The many aspects of the prayer Aleinu There’s no other prayer in the entire Jewish liturgy as fascinating as the Aleinu with its rich history and meaning on one hand, and melodies and Mi Sinai tunes on the other. This Shabbat we’ll exam a very ancient prayer that in the Middle Ages caused our people persecution and censorship for the famous line that we no longer recite. But Aleinu is not just that. It is a prayer we recite with multiple melodies that were written in different centuries by composers with very little in common . And then, as you know, every evening minyan whether at Shul or at a house of morning congregants join in unison for the recitation of this prayer like no other prayer. Everyone knows the music…. Why? We’ll examine the concept of what Brain Scientists call “earworms”.

Topics covered

• Jewish prayer
• Aleinu
• history of prayer
• melodies
• censorship
• earworms

Keywords

• Aleinu
• Jewish liturgy
• prayer history
• melodies
• censorship
• earworms

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Temple Emanuel of Newton

Books & works: Aleinu

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