Bowen's rendition, with its salsa rhythm and screaming trumpet, carries that message of redemption from the ear through the heart directly to the feet. To Bowen, the V'ahavta is a love song from the Jewish people to God. Sung in English, Bowen's version conveys this sentiment through a modern, pop love song. At first blush, jazz in synagogues may seem untraditional, iconoclastic and even irreverent. But in fact, introducing new music to the Shabbat service is a time-honored tradition of Jewish composers.
Most Jewish music is borrowed from the cultures they live in.
The one exception is 20th-century America. The paradox of America Jewish music is that although it was composed in this country, composers like Abraham Wolfe Binder and Max Janowski drew from their Russian or Eastern European backgrounds rather than mainstream American culture. In addition to his Jazz Shabbat, Bowen composed a klezmer Shabbat that was performed at Temple Sinai last year. Often when one of his services is being sung, the congregation brings Bowen in as a guest conductor. It's one of the most fun things I do.