HOW MUSIC ARTICULATES LITURGICAL STRUCTURE, MEANING, AND PERCEPTION: THE KADDISH Boaz Tarsi* The Conceptual Territory One of the most crucial characteristics of Ashkenazi liturgical music is its text-time-occasion sensitivity. Why or when this specific musical discipline in general and this sensitivity in particular developed is not clear. It seems evident, however, that by now it has crystallized into a well-defined system. Within this system, text-time-occasion sensitivity is one of the most important qualities involved in articulating a specific liturgical experience that characterizes the Ashkenazi synagogue. “Text-time-occasion sensitivity” denotes that musical consider- ations are tightly attached to the specific text, occasion, and time in which they come into play. Thus, different preassigned musical ele- ments (e.g., scales, motifs, melodies, intervals, central tones, modes, and many others) are allocated specifically to their respective texts. In addition, different musical settings are assigned to different times of the day, occasions, holidays, ceremonies, life-cycle events, or to differ- ent calendar units—day of the week, day of the month, week(s) of the year (e.g., S’firah or Bein ha-M’tzarim), month of the year, season, and so forth. Thus the musical setting for the High Holidays is par- ticularly specific and as such, fundamentally different from the one for the Three Festivals or for Shabbat or weekdays. By the same token, the music for the morning liturgy (sha©arit, musaf ) is different from that of the afternoon or evening (min©ah, ma’ariv). Among other phenomena, these connections effect a condition in which the same text—a phrase or even one word—may be expressed musically in different ways, depending on the time or occasion when it is chanted. For example, different musical considerations apply to the word aleinu when it is sung on a weekday, on Shabbat, or on the High * I dedicate this article to Dr. Menahem Schmelzer, who has always offered the right reference, indicated the necessary source, and offered sage guidance.