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The Jew’s Harp Guild presents:

The 15th North American Jew’s Harp Festival will be held August 3–5, 2007 at the Bay City Arts Center in Bay City, Oregon, on the Oregon coast just north of Tillamook.

The Bay City Arts Center will once again provide meals at affordable prices.

A meeting of the Jew’s Harp Guild will be held Sunday morning after the festival. The public is welcome and encouraged to attend these meetings.

If you wish to perform or give a workshop at the festival, or have other questions, contact the Guild at: [email protected]

And while wikipedia claims no connection at all with the Jews, obviously, when they started calling it the Jew’s harp in England in the 16th century — a time when no Jews were allowed in England — they meant it. They do not call it a “jews harp” but always capitalize Jew and add an apostrophe. That would seem to be an obvious reference to Jews… The instrument is cheap, portable, and most importantly shaped a bit like ancient Jewish harp. A Jew’s harp looks like a miniature version of the type of harp/lyre that Jews played millennium ago.

About the author

Rabbi Yonah

2 Comments

  • I had always heard that it was referred to as a “Jew’s harp”, because it was the kind of knick knack that many Jewish pedlars sold on their carts, back in the days when — and over in the places where — that was a profession largely taken up by itinerant Jews.