urila

Porgy and Bess

urila 02/04/2023 אין תגובות

"Porgy and Bess" is an opera that takes place in a fishermen's village. All the participants are black and the music is that of black people.

This opera, both the lyrics and melodies, was written by two young men, Yankel and Israel. Their father, Moishe Gershovitz, was a Hazan in the city of St. Petersburg, Russia. He immigrated to America and married. They had three sons and a daughter. It was the practice of the place and time to change their names. No more Moishe Gershovitz, but Morris Gershwin, and the two sons, not Yankel and Israel, but, George and Ira Gershwin. Indeed, someone who listens carefully to the beautiful tunes, will hear Hazanut pieces. No black music.

One of the beautiful songs in the opera is called "It aint necessarily so" and deals with stories in the Bible. Each verse is another story, and the chorus line is: "It aint necessarily so.”

"Oh Jonah he lived in the whale…" – "It aint necessarily…".

"Methus lah lived nine hundred years…" – "But who call dat livin' when no gal will give in to no man what's nine hundred years?"

And also:

"Li'l Moses was found in a stream. He floated on water till Ole Pharoah's daughter she fished him, she says, from that stream".

And the chorus line "It aint necessarily so".

This matter brings us directly to Pessach’s Hagadah. Moses, lord of the prophets, the great leader who took a collection of slaves and made them into people, brought them to Mount Sinai, and led them forty years in the desert to the promised land, and was not allowed to enter because of dubious reasons.

Moses is not mentioned at all in the Hagadah.

All the Hagadah is written in the language of "us". "Saves us", "rescues us", "led us", "gave us", and more, and more.

And who is "him" and not "us"? The "evil one" of course. "What is this work to you? To you – and not to him".

But there is someone else in the Hagada that he is "him" and not "us":

"And the people will see God, and will believe in God and in Moses his servant".

Moses is still mentioned once in the Hagadah. Obviously, an unfortunate mistake of the censorship, which skipped and did not erase. Moses, although he is God's servant, still he is "him" and not "us". So, you see that the Gershovitz brothers did not reveal anything new.

In brief, someone who wishes to learn about the exodus from Egypt will go to the book Exodus. And one who wishes to tell old wives tales about the exodus, "ten plagues, … fifty plagues", and more, … will go to the Hagadah. Chag Sameach.

The lyrics of the poem "It aint Necessarily So":

http://www.songlyrics.com/gershwin-ira/it-aint-necessarily-so-lyrics/

The song: