In this final week of the Omer, as we prepare to celebrate Shavuot together beginning on Sunday, May 16, we are honored to offer voices from the Wise community to reflect on Torah, prayer, and their relationship with the Divine.
Today is the 45th day of the Omer.
“When the people heard the sound of the shofars, the people shouted with a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, and the people ascended and entered the city.” (Joshua, 6:20)
To me, this text is proof that Torah, prayer, and music have been intertwined with Judaism since the very beginning. Musical instruments are mentioned over 250 times in the Tanakh, and there are yet hundreds more mentions of singing.
When I read this text, I read the power of music as I understand it. Just as Joshua broke down physical walls with the sound of his shofar, music has the unique ability to break through our own spiritual, intellectual, and emotional walls. Throughout the ages, Jewish musicians and composers have found various modes of expression, of pain, of sorrow, of joy, of hope. Our people have sounded our prayers through communal niggunim (simple wordless melodies originally popularized by Hassidim in the 18th century), ornate choral music by composers such as Louis Lewandowski or Solomon Sulzer, the passionate Chazzanut (Cantorial music) of “Golden Age” Cantors such as Yossele Rosenblatt or Moshe Koussevitsky, the guitar strumming folk songs of Debbie Friedman and Rick Recht, and more.
Jewish learning is a lifetime pursuit, as is the study of music. But a melody can pierce even the most hardened heart in an instant. A song can be a vessel or an entry point into our rich Jewish heritage, and our rich catalog of sacred text.
I have always identified with a teaching that suggests that prayer is our way of talking to God, and sacred text is God’s way of talking to us. For me, singing, praying, and studying Torah on a regular basis, is the way that I feel like we can continue the dialogue, and therefore the covenant between God and the Jewish People.
— Josh Goldberg, Cantorial Intern