Diverse Attitudes of Religious Cultures in Israel towards Music and Music Education (original) (raw)

Music education (ME) is not part of the core subjects in the school curriculum in Israel. Therefore, views concerning the value of music are significant for the inclusion of ME in the school curriculum. Israeli society is interwoven from various religions with varied points of view concerning music. The article presents the types and sources of religious attitudes towards music and ME. In the Jewish and Christian religions music practices are mentioned in the holly scripts and are therefore accepted as part of both religious and secular activities. However, in the Islamic religion very few music practices are mentioned in the holly script. Therefore, Islamic orthodox authorities' interpretations of the holy script resulted in the banning of many music activities. These bans which were adopted also by the Druze religion lasted for over a millennium. The diverse attitudes of the four main religious cultures towards music have had a different effect on the possibility to study musi...