from the enlightenment to the state of israel 449
treating those who died as martyrs, killed for kiddush haShem, ‘sanctifi-
cation of the Name’, in the same way as the Jews who died by their own
hands in York in 1190 rather than submit to baptism, or the victims of
the Inquisition in Spain and Portugal. Justification for seeing the six mil-
lion in this way is not obvious, since although remarkable efforts were
made by some to continue to observe such religious obligations as
prayer, purity and proper burial even in the extreme conditions of the
Warsaw Ghetto, on forced marches and in the camps, many who died
were secular in outlook, and were selected on the basis of racial origin,
not religious faith. It is nevertheless now standard for Ashkenazi Jews to
include references to the six million martyrs in memorial prayers on the
fast of Av, which commemorates the destruction of the First and Second
Temples in Jerusalem, and in the Yizkor prayer (see p. 384):
O God, full of mercy, Who dwells on high, grant proper rest on the wings
of the Divine Presence ... for the souls of ... the holy and pure ones who
were killed, murdered, slaughtered, burned, drowned and strangled for the
sanctification of the Name through the hands of the German oppressors,
may their name and memory be obliterated.^14
Most diaspora Jewish communities have also introduced prayers for
the welfare of the State of Israel alongside the loyal prayers for the gov-
ernment of the local state which have been standard in Jewish
communities since the Middle Ages (with rare exceptions – many Jew-
ish communities in Germany did not pray for the Nazi state). Liturgical
changes in synagogue worship have long been a focus for adaptation to
the modern world – and resistance by traditionalists. Many synagogues
in Germany from the early nineteenth century sought to reflect a new
sensibility towards aesthetics and decorum as found in contemporary
Christian worship. Hence an increased emphasis on music, including
the introduction of choral singing and organs by some communities,
and the elimination of much of the complex poetry and the additions
which had accreted to the regular prayers over the preceding millen-
nium, particularly in the wake of Lurianic mysticism. The aim was to
promote a greater focus on the experience of the individual worshipper.
Jews acculturated to appreciation of beauty in the rest of their lives
sought it also in the synagogue.
Synagogue music already enshrined melodies appropriated from gen-
tile sources, both religious and secular, over many centuries, so there
was nothing new in itself in the use of tunes from Beethoven or Verdi to
provide an emotional lift to the prayers. What was novel was the