Authors Posts by Rebecca Cypess
Rebecca Cypess
Rebecca Cypess is Mordecai D. Katz and Dr. Monique C. Katz Dean of the Undergraduate Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Yeshiva University. A musicologist and harpsichordist, she holds a BA from Cornell, an MMus from the Royal College of Music (London), an MA from the Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies at Yeshiva University, and an MA, MPhil, and PhD from Yale. Her recent publications include Women and Musical Salons in the Enlightenment and the edited collection Music and Jewish Culture in Early Modern Italy, which received the Ruth A. Solie Award from the American Musicological Society for an outstanding collection of musicological essays. Her work has also appeared in venues such as Tablet, Inside Higher Ed, and the Wall Street Journal.
The Shofar as a Mekonenet, a Singer of Laments
Rebecca Cypess
As the only musical instrument used in modern Jewish liturgy, the shofar possesses a humble form. Halakhah forbids the modification of the shofar’s...
“Lu Yehi”: Between Fragility and Hope
In this thoughtful essay, Cypess reflects on the melody that is carrying Israel in the wake of October 7th.
Reclaiming the Musical Past: Leon Modena and Salamone Rossi in Context
Rebecca Cypess considers the life and work of the Italian Jewish Renaissance composer Salamone Rossi, his rabbinic supporter Leon Modena, and the controversies over 17th century polyphonic music in the synagogue.
Miriam’s Song and the Persistence of Music in Dark Times
Why did the women bring musical instruments out of Egypt? In her first Lehrhaus article, musicologist Rebecca Cypess draws a fascinating historical analogy between biblical and African-American slavery to shed light on the Exodus in Jewish tradition.
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