Chapter 14 Thought Questions
- How did the "oriental" community of the yishuv feel about the importation of Western music? Why?
- Explain why the yishuv and the early years of the State of Israel made such good laboratories for the study of Jewish music. What impact did that have on later generations?
- Take the role of a European immigrant music lover in the yishuv of about 1930, and write a brief newspaper article explaining why you feel it important to develop an infrastructure of luxuries like music schools, string quartets, orchestras, and opera companies in a country that can barely feed itself.
- Take an opposing view to the above question; that is, write a newspaper article (assuming a date of about 1930) describing why such an infrastructure should remain a low priority for the foreseeable future.
- Write two letters from a resident of the yishuv to a young European musician just beginning a professional career, giving advice on what professional opportunities existed for musicians on the settlements of the East Coast of the Mediterranean and whether you would recommend emigrating to Palestine. Date the first one ca. 1920, the second ca. 1935.