“Tantsn Is Lebn”: Dancing in Eastern European Jewish Culture

Extract

The study of Jewish wedding dances, as represented in this volume, is a new and exciting endeavor. There are untold riches of dance customs and wedding celebrations to be found among the Jewish peoples of the world. A better understanding of these customs will help illuminate the complex nature of Jewish dance traditions and the importance of dancing in Jewish social life.

This paper will discuss the wedding dances performed by the Jews of Eastern Europe. It is ironic that although the majority of Jews in North America are of East European heritage, this dance tradition is probably the one about which we know the least. The reasons for this are complicated, but one of the most important factors is that the dance tradition did not adapt very well to Jewish life in the New World, unlike, for example, food traditions. The foodways of East European Jewish culture have persisted voraciously in New World communities. In fact, in many parts of the country, Jewish foodways have had a profound influence on the culinary repertoire of non-Jewish America. In contrast, the dancing that was part of traditional Jewish social life in Eastern Europe has dwindled, surviving primarily in the Jewish wedding and other rites of passage.