Hebrew Lullabye 

At the beginning of the 20th century several Jewish students at the Conservatory in St. Petersburg resolved to create Jewish national art music to rival the Russian nationalist school from which they were excluded due to prevailing anti-Semitism. In doing so, the members of the Gesellschaft fur Yiddishe Folksmusik (Society for Jewish Folk Music) were among the first to create a "secular" form of Jewish music, one whose only place was on the concert stage (rather than in a synagogue or life-cycle celebration). Hoping to build an audience among the Jewish peasants who were unaccustomed to sophisticated concert music, they started by creating "arrangements" of familiar folk songs. This 1914 composition, "Hebrew Lullabye" by Joseph Achron, "borrows" a ubiquitous tune (which was itself the inspiration for Goldfaden's "Rozhinkes Mit Mandlen") and adapts it for performance by violin and piano.

Hakol Yoducha 

The Diaspora Yeshiva Band has adapted a variety of contemporary musical styles to demonstrate their belief that all kinds of music can be viewed as "Divinely inspired," and more importantly, that there are many musical styles that can be used to praise God. "Hakol Yoducha" is taken from the daily morning service, and expresses the fervent belief that a time will come when all will know the Lord and will sing His praises - whether or not they will all adapt the "Philadelphia sound" popular during the 1960s, as the band has done in this setting of the text.