Kol Nidre Service with full performance of Max Bruch’s Kol Nidrei, Opus 47, and sermon by Rabbi Roland B. Gittelsohn, "The Most Dangerous Sin: A Day of Atonement Sermon," September 23, 1958. Wyner Archives of Temple Israel of Boston.

Item Information

Title:
Kol Nidre Service with full performance of Max Bruch’s Kol Nidrei, Opus 47, and sermon by Rabbi Roland B. Gittelsohn, "The Most Dangerous Sin: A Day of Atonement Sermon," September 23, 1958. Wyner Archives of Temple Israel of Boston.
Description:
This is a Kol Nidre service at Temple Israel led by Rabbi Roland B. Gittelsohn, with other congregational readers. In part one, Rabbi Gittelsohn announces that it is customary for the rabbi to stand before the open ark to ask to be forgiven for his sins in front of his congregants; they stand when he opens that ark and recites a prayer. He then asks the congregants to turn to the beginning of the evening service for the Day of Atonement on page 128 of Union Prayer-Book and reminds those present that the Kol Nidre prayer will “as has become our custom,” be deferred to a later point in the service. The rest of the recording includes various readers reading the traditional prayers, followed by the choir, for the evening Yom Kippur service. The recording ends just after the singing of the Al Cheit with a prayer on page 153 of the Union Prayer-Book. Part two begins with a full solo performance of Max Bruch’s Kol Nidrei, Opus 47, and the singing of a prayer. Rabbi Gittelsohn’s sermon argues that the most dangerous sin is moral neutrality, which makes even worse sins possible. Its two most frequent forms, he posits, are: first, ethical relativism, the theory that there are no objective criteria for distinguishing right from wrong; and second, the mistaken idea that it is possible to be ethically indifferent or neutral without causing harm. Gittelsohn provides examples of both, but focuses primarily on segregation, arguing that people, including President Dwight D. Eisenhower - who, when asked about the 1954 Brown v. Topeka Board of Education Supreme Court case, refused to endorse it - make the worst possible surrender to moral neutrality. Gittelsohn ultimately concludes that the “effectiveness of our atonement” depends “on our efforts to move out of moral neutrality." Part three includes the second half of Rabbi Gittelsohn’s sermon, in which he argues that the most dangerous sin is moral neutrality, which makes even worse sins possible. Its two most frequent forms, he posits, are: first, ethical relativism, the theory that there are no objective criteria for distinguishing right from wrong; and second, the mistaken idea that it is possible to be ethically indifferent or neutral without causing harm. Gittelsohn provides examples of both, but focuses primarily on segregation, arguing that people, including President Dwight D. Eisenhower - who, when asked about the 1954 Brown v. Topeka Board of Education Supreme Court case, refused to endorse it - make the worst possible surrender to moral neutrality. Gittelsohn ultimately concludes that the “effectiveness of our atonement” depends “on our efforts to move out of moral neutrality." Choral music performed by the Temple Israel Choir, Herbert Fromm, conductor.
Speaker:
Gittelsohn, Roland Bertram, 1910-1995
Musical director:
Fromm, Herbert
Composer:
Fromm, Herbert
Creator:
Congregation Adath Israel (Boston, Mass.)
Date:
September 23, 1958
Format:
Audio recordings (nonmusical)
Location:
Temple Israel of Boston
Wyner Archives
Collection (local):
Past Voices, Audio Recordings, 1934-1979
Subjects:
Reform Judaism--United States
Jewish sermons--United States
Synagogue music--Sabbath services--United States
Yom Kippur
High Holidays
Synagogue music--High Holiday services
Segregation in education--United States
Segregation--Law and legislation
Race discrimination--United States--History--20th century
United States--Race relations--History--20th century
Holidays--Religious aspects--Judaism
Places:
Massachusetts > Suffolk (county) > Boston
Extent:
1/4" audio tape and 1/4" open reel tape (3 recordings)
Permalink:
https://ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/ark:/50959/gh93kn10z
Terms of Use:
No known copyright restrictions.
This work is licensed for use under a Creative Commons Attribution No Derivatives License (CC BY-ND).
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Language:
English
Hebrew
Preferred Citation:
Kol Nidre Service with full performance of Max Bruch’s Kol Nidrei, Opus 47, and sermon by Rabbi Roland B. Gittelsohn, "The Most Dangerous Sin: A Day of Atonement Sermon," September 23, 1958. Audiovisual Collection, Wyner Archives of Temple Israel of Boston.
Notes (object):
Part 1 (26 min., 21 sec.)
Part 2 (33 min., 02 sec.)
Part 3 (31 min., 26 sec.)
Notes (funding):
This project was supported by a Recordings at Risk grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR). The grant program is made possible by funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Notes (historical):
Rabbi Roland B. Gittelsohn (1910-1995), social justice activist, Zionist, and writer, was Senior Rabbi of Temple Israel from 1953-1977 and Rabbi Emeritus thereafter. He served as founding rabbi of Central Synagogue in Rockville Center, NY from 1936-1953. During WWII, he became the first Jewish Marine Corps chaplain, and, in 1945, he delivered a moving, oft-quoted eulogy on brotherhood at Iwo Jima. After his retirement he was a co-founder of ARZA (the Association of Reform Zionists).
Herbert Fromm (1905-1995), Temple Israel’s organist and Music Director (1941-1973), was a German-born conductor and composer forced to leave Germany in 1937. A prolific composer of religious music, much of which became part of the standard synagogue repertoire, and secular works, he also published many articles and essays and several books.
Identifier:
TI-AV-90060.001
TI-AV_90023.001
TI-AV_90024.001