32 Adon Olams: Jewish Cultural Traditions Transcend Generations and National Borders

I’m used to the anthropological idea of cultural equivalence when talking about things like translation or kreplach versus tortellini, but I found the presumably viral listing of 32+ versions of the Jewish prayer song “Adon Olum” that showed up in my in-box today fascinating. For a ‘people’ who were almost eradicated by the Holocaust and who have only had a homeland for 60 years, it is intriguing to see cultural traditions so ingrained that they transcend national boundaries and generational influences.

We tend to have a more traditional rendition of Adon Olam at our synagogue (a la # 33–that’s my Rabbi in one of his 400+ You Tube videos!) but in honor of the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, below are 32 interpretations of this Jewish song, from a Techno version to ethiopian harp to a pretty happenin’ pop rock version.

For Jews the year is 5770 tomorrow. These Adon Olam videos, and a Passover seder my son and I attended in Brazil last April, have me amazed at the idea of culture as a set of traditions that is transferred from generation to generation, and how that can remain cohesive in spite of the influence of national borders and thousands of years.

Adon Olam is a song to herald the greatness of G-d, sung during Shabbos (Sabbath) services on Saturday mornings and festivals. It is not necessarily specific to Rosh Hashanah (for that you would eat apples dipped in honey or have honey cake to usher in a sweet new year) but the juxtapostion of so many versions from so many cultures does create a sense of global community that is warm and welcoming and full of optimism for a new start.

Kind of fun to watch them in juxtaposition to one another…

1. Moscow Jewish Choir

2. London Jewish Choir

3. Old TV version from Israel (kind of a 60’s Folk sort of thing)

4.Children’s chorus

5. Reggae Version

6.Cantorial Quintet a cappella

7. Six Cantors during a service –

8. South American version performed in Israel

9. Another Latino version with Cantorial solo

10. This is an old French Sephardic Version

11. Three tenors version