26 December—Now’s the time for some great seasonal music. That by definition eliminates most of it. You can read about five sevenths of the music in today’s disquisition by going back to last year’s appropriate disquisitions. In the spirit of Christmas, you can find ’em yourself.

But that’s not really necessary. Because it’s the music that matters and today’s disquisition includes all of last year’s Christmas and Chanukah music and then some: First, there’s a little Kwanzaa number with a catchy beat and not much of a lyric. It’s not that The Monitor is woke, mind you, but Kwanzaa, founded only in 1966, is secular—and that means a lot to our editorial bored.

Then there’s a stunning organ performance of the traditional Chanukah song “Ma’oz Tzur,” known in English as “Rock of Ages” (but not to be confused with the Christian hymn), recorded in 1928 at the Friedenstempel (Temple of Peace) synagogue in Berlin, which was destroyed by Nazi thugs a decade later during Kristallnacht.

The tune of “Ma’oz Tzur” comes from a 15th-century German folksong and was also used by notorious constipated antisemite Martin Luther for some of his chorales. The “Ma’oz Tzur” lyric (a typically religious poem, which we won’t burden you with) dates from the 13^th century. Or the 11^th century. Depends on who מרדכי, the presumed poet was. The elusive poet’s name is presumed because the first letters of the first five stanzas form an acrostic of a name, which transliterated to English is MORDECAI. Accident? Coincidence? Serendipity? A stretch?

Does it matter? So here’s the great holiday music: