30 August 15 • 2019
jn
Hearing The
Inner Music
M
usic is a fascinating thing.
Everyone loves it, but
what is music? What takes
ordinary sound and converts
it into something transforma-
tive, something that can make
you smile, something that can
make you cry?
Read the lyrics of your
favorite song. On paper, they
seem dry, one-dimensional
and flat. Set them to music
and they become alive, the
portal through which you can
soar to the highest heavens.
The special quality of music
can be heard but not seen.
Even though we may not
understand it, we know it; we
feel it, and we connect with it.
I find it fascinating that the pri-
mary Jewish prayer, found in this
week’
s parshah, begins with the
word Shema, listen. It’
s as if God is
telling us: “It’
s not enough for you to
understand Judaism; it’
s not enough
for you to look Jewish; I want you
to be in tune to the inner beauty of
Yiddishkeit. I want you to hear the
music and sing Judaism.”
Indeed, there is a story told about a
Chasidic master who was walking with
his students. At one point, he directed
attention to a distant tavern, where
people were dancing. The students
were so far away they could not hear
the music but could only see the peo-
ple dancing to its beat.
“
Are those people crazy?” the rabbi
asked. “Why are they all jumping up
and down, running this way and that
way?”
“Rebbe,” the students replied, “they
are not crazy; they’
re dancing to
music.”
“Yes, indeed,” concluded the mas-
ter. “So it is in life. To be a Chasid is
to hear the music, to understand the
inner rhythm and harmony of God’
s
universe. We are joyous because we
are in tune with God’
s music, the
spiritual undercurrent that lies under
it all. When you hear the music, you
sing and dance.”
I write these words as we prepare
for our “Strings of the Inspired
Soul” event, a concert in the
Berman Theater dedicated
to the 25th yahrzeit of the
Lubavitcher Rebbe, of righ-
teous memory. The event
will feature seven melodies of
the Rebbe. Each one will be
played, explained and taught.
We will hear the music, feel its
power and be inspired by its
delicate beauty.
The Torah teachings and
religious renaissance the Rebbe
gifted us are well known and
have been widely document-
ed. But the beauty, depth and
inspiration of these precious
songs are still being discovered as we
plumb their spiritual depth, listening
to them again and again.
The word Shema appears dozens
of times in the Book of Deuteronomy,
the final book of the Torah. Perhaps
Moshe is telling us, “You have read
the first four books of the Torah;
now internalize it; listen to its inner
song and make that song your own.”
How appropriate that we read the
portion of Vaetchanan right around
the 15th of Av, deemed by the sages
as the happiest day of the Jewish
calendar. The Talmud lists seven
joyous events that happened on
this day. However, the most famous
among them was that the maidens of
Jerusalem would go and dance in the
vineyards, hoping to catch the eye of
their beshert.
Amazingly, this comes less than a
week after Tisha b’
Av, the saddest day
on the Jewish calendar. In the span of
one week, we run from one extreme
to the other. If that’
s not reason to
break out into joyous song, I don’
t
know what is. ■
Rabbi Kasriel Shemtov is spiritual director of
The Shul in West Bloomfield.
spirit
torah portion
Rabbi Kasriel
Shemtov
Parshat
Vaetchanan:
Deuteronomy
3:23-7:11;
Isaiah
40:1-26.
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