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12 From Baptism to Kol NidreArnold Schonberg In the same way as his work, Arnold Schonberg's personality was controversial , mysterious, contradictory, disputed. The revolution he effected in art finally gained acceptance even in his lifetime, but some of his major works-the opera Moses and Aaron, Jacob's Ladder, The Biblical Path, Modern Psalms-remained incomplete, and their fragments were presented to the public only after Schonberg's death in some cases, while others are still waiting for a premiere which will perhaps never take place. Such also was Schonberg's thought-unfinished, fragmented, hinted at in a series of paradoxes in which the interpreter loses himself in conjectures which are in danger of betraying him: "0 Word, Word which I am lacking!" This cry which Schonberg gives to Moses is valid for Schonberg himself. It is also valid for the place which Judaism occupies in Schonberg 's thought. It is valid also for the place within that thought occupied by teshuva. THE WRITTEN DOCUMENT OF A TESHUVA What? Did I not refer at the beginning of this book to the document of July 24, 1933? Did not this document, signed by a rabbi, by Marc Chagall, and by Schonberg himself, signify that Schonberg returned to the Jewish community ? In that case, he must once have left it. On July 24, 1933, in the synagogue of rue Copernic in Paris, he returned to it. What more striking act of teshuva could be imagined? Is this document not sufficient in order for Arnold Schonberg to be described as aba'al teshuva? Is that not perfectly obvious? No, it is not obvious to everyone. The significance, the importance, and even the authenticity of the document of July 24, 1933, have been disputed . Some biographers simply fail to mention it: They deliberately ob149 150 FROM DENIAL TO REAFFIRMATION scure the salient features of Schonberg's Judaism, and sometimes his Judaism as such. Worse still, one reference to Jesus-a single one-in the Prayers composed towards the end of his life, and a reference to the Gospels in a work of his youth, have been sufficient for them to claim that Schonberg's religiosity was of Christian inspiration. Did not this Jew-bybirth convert to Protestantism at the age of twenty-four, in 1898 (an act which was duly registered and which is considered, in this case, as irrefutable )? There never was a return to Judaism, it is claimed. The Jewish themes in Schonberg's work were for him what the Old Testament is for the Christian in relation to the New: A relic which is precious but superseded (Willy Reich). Paradoxically, the authenticity of this document has been questioned by the proponents of a thesis diametrically opposite to the preceding one: the thesis of a Jewish continuity in SchOnberg's life and work. Jesus? The Gospel according to Luke? These, it is claimed, were elements of a general culture of which Christianity formed part without having any special position. Who would dare to claim that Edmond FJeg or Martin Buber or Marc Chagall were not Jewish or became Christians, simply because in their work they provided-far more than their contemporary Arnold SchOnberg -a place for Jesus and the saints of the Church? The conversion of Schonberg to Protestantism? An act of purely social significance, an entryticket to bourgeois society, at a time when Schonberg was about to marry Mathilde, the sister of his teacher and patron, the conductor Alexander von Zemlinski. But where his heart, his convictions, his religious feelings were concerned, it is claimed that Schonberg remained Jewish. "In his work," wrote Jan Meyerovits, Christianity played no role. The Jewish side of his creations is of exclusively Jewish inspiration, unlike many Jewish composers, for instance Meyerbeer, Halevy, and Milhaud, who remained true to their faith but whose works contain many Christological features. In 1933 it became publicly known that in Paris Schonberg had returned to Judaism . He himself continually vigorously denied this story and repeated on various occasions that his work proved that he had long before returned to Judaism. The ceremony of return in Paris which is so often mentioned seems to have been entirely invented by a certain Dr. Marianoff, eager for pUblicity. In fact, the document undoubtedly does exist: Its authenticity is undeniable . The original is preserved in the Arnold Schonberg Archives in Los Angeles. Professor Hans Stuckenschmidt, one of Schonberg's pupils, gave a photographic reproduction of it on page 335 of his great book...

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