This week’s Parsha Perspective is dedicated in
memory of
Rabbi Dovid ben Azriel HaCohen Katz – Yahrzeit:
9 Tishrei
According to a popular saying, major Jewish
experiences are somehow connected to food. If I may add, where there is food,
there is song... Thus, every Jewish experience is full of song.
From the High Holiday cantorial pieces to the
zemirot sung at the Shabbat table, from the teary-eyed wedding chupah music
to the energetic dancing music that follows, from the Mah Nishtanah at
the Passover Seder to night-time lullabies, the Jewish year is
indeed a musical one.
Why is song such a major player in the Jewish arena?
Rabbi Schneur Zalman, the first Chabad Rebbe
and founder of Chabad Chassidus, once commented, “Melody is the pen of the
soul”. It expresses to ourselves and to others the deepest parts of our hearts
and souls, that which cannot be expressed through the medium of finite
syllables.
Song brings emotion and depth wherever it
enters. It is a journey inward, to one's self, bringing our truest self to the
forefront of our consciousness. It's the marriage between who we are and who we
ought to be.
You don't have to be musically wired to
appreciate the power of a melody. You don't have to hold the title of a singer
in order to sing. All you need is a heart.
The greater part of this week's Torah reading of Ha'azinu (Devorim [Deuteronomy] 32:
1-52) consists of a 70-line "song" delivered
by Moses to the people of Israel on the last day of his
earthly life.
Why is Moses singing on the last day of his
life? Why was the longest piece of poetry in the Torah chanted on one of the
seemingly saddest days of Jewish history, the day that this greatest Jewish
leader of all time passed on?
Perhaps Moses wanted to leave us with the power
of song. He was leaving his flock, and until the end of times there wouldn't be
anyone like him to guide the nation. So he gave us a tool that would allow us
to find G‑d within ourselves, to create leadership even in the absence of
true leaders. He taught us how to maintain the flame of Judaism whether in the
gas chambers – where Jews sang the Ani Ma'amin ("I
believe!") on the way to their deaths – or sitting at the Shabbat table
with family and friends chanting Shabbat Z’miros!
On his last day of leadership, Moses gave us
the means to persevere: with song.
How appropriate, as well, that this Parsha is
always read just before the holidays of Succot and Simchat Torah, referred to
in our prayers as Z’man Simchoseinu – the Season of our Joy! What
better way is there to express our joy and happiness of being a Jew
than through song!
And very soon, when Moshiach comes,
we will merit to hear the greatest song of all, when we will sing and dance
with G‑d Himself in the most magnificent dance of all time…
(Excerpts from Chabad.org -
by Rabbi Levi Avtzon)
May you have a meaningful and uplifting Shabbos
And a Joyous Succot Holiday!
