The American Society for Jewish Music (ASJM) serves as a broad canopy for all who are interested in Jewish music. Its members include cantors, composers, educators, musicologists, ethnologists, historians, performers and interested lay members - as well as libraries, universities, synagogues and other institutions. Each season the Society presents a series of varied musical programs for the general public, often working with its host at the Center, the American Jewish Historical Society. The concerts cover a wide range of Jewish music: sacred, secular, folk, concert and theater. The Society also arranges and presents lectures on Jewish music by experts in their field. In addition to the programs presented by the Society, to which the general public is invited, the ASJM encourages seminars, workshops and master classes at which students may benefit from the musical expertise of the Society's members.

Among its other activities, the American Society for Jewish music publishes Musica Judaica, a scholarly journal that is unique in it the field of Jewish music. A quarterly Newsletter is also distributed to members. To encourage a high standard of new composition and performance in all aspects of Jewish music, the American Society for Jewish Music has established the Cantor Aaron J. Caplow Composition Competition. Named for the father of the Society's Board Member, Rosalind Devon, the Competition awards prizes for new Jewish works and assures their performance in the Society's Annual Contemporary Composers' Concert.

The American Society for Jewish Music has established and maintains links similar institutions in Jewish communities throughout the world, and has developed strong ties with students and faculty members at American universities and seminaries. ASJM is a non-profit, tax-exempt organization funded through membership dues, grants and contributions.

The American Society for Jewish Music (ASJM) can trace its roots back to several earlier Jewish Music Societies and associations, first in Europe and then in America. Among the European models were the Kinnor Zion Society (1902-08) in St. Petersburg and the Society for Jewish Folk Music (1902-18), also in St. Petersburg and elsewhere within the Russian Empire. After the Revolution, members of these group published their compositions under the imprint of Juwal, Publication Society for Jewish Music (later called Jibneh) with offices in Tel Aviv and Berlin.

Predecessors of the ASJM in the United States included Mailamm (Makhon Eretz
Yisraeli L'-Mada'ey ha-Musika) (1932-39), founded by Miriam Zunser and some emigré members of the early European groups; and the Jewish Music Forum (1939-63), founded by Abraham Wolf Binder, which in turn became the Jewish Liturgical Society of America (1963-74). In 1974 the latter group was reorganized as the American Society for Jewish Music, Inc., under the direction of its first President, Albert Weisser.

Last updated: April 25, 2007.