CCAR RESPONSA
American Reform Responsa
25. Carillion Music
(Vol. LXIII, 1953, pp. 155-56)QUESTION: I would be very grateful if you would advise me concerning the use of carillon music in a proposed Temple tower. Those who have it in mind are thinking in terms of a Memorial Tower from which would be played at festival times hymns out of the Jewish background.ANSWER: The carillon is but a mechanical device to draw elaborate tones from the play on bells. Some interesting and extensive studies have been done on the origin and use of bells (A. Gattey, The Bell: Its Origin, History and Uses; G.S. Tyack, A Book About Bells). Some students of the subject are inclined to trace the origin of the use of bells to sheer superstition. It was thought, they hold, that the sound of bells had the magic power to safeguard against demons and other evil influences. They further claim that we may discern vestiges of that superstition in the use and treatment of bells all through the Middle Ages. But whatever the origin and early use of bells, it is certain that from the sixth century to the present day, bells have been closely associated with the Church and its worship. Even the Protestant Reformation, which put an end to many things it regarded as unneeded appendages to Christian worship, carefully avoided laying hands on the popular church bells. Today the ringing of bells is a preliminary to prayer in Protestant as in Roman Catholic churches. In the Church of England, the clergy is required by canon law to toll a bell before the daily service. Bells are as indigenous to worship in the church as the Shofar to the service in the synagogue. Richly equipped as the synagogue is with adequate and satisfying symbols of its own, it stands to profit little from this glaring imitation of the church.Israel Bettan
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