Kee Tavoh
September 4, 2014

Deuteronomy 28:47: because thou didst not serve the LORD thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, by reason of the abundance of all things

The Babylonian Talmud, in tractate Arakhin (Estimations), speaks of the value of music:

R. Mattenah said: [It is derived] from here:

"Because thou didst not serve the Lord thy

God in joyfulness and with gladness of

heart."

Now which service is it that is ‘in

joyfulness and with gladness of heart’? —"

You must say: [the intention of the Torah using the word] Shirah means song.

But perhaps it

means the words of the Torah, as it is

written: The precepts of the Lord are right,

rejoicing the heart? — They are described

as ‘rejoicing the heart’, but not as

‘gladdening [the heart]’.

The Levites sang psalms accompanying the offering of the daily sacrifices in the Second Temple. Here, the Babylonian Talmud takes the opportunity to praise singing as the service of God done with joy and gladness of heart. The Rabbis question, "Might it be referring to Torah study?" when it says the service of God done with joy? The Rabbis quibble, protecting their love of Torah but also emphasizing that song brings a special service to worship, referred to here as "the service," a shorter form of the service of the heart. (avodah she-balev).

The Rabbis have a keen appreciation of the elements of worship, which in Judaism is very complex. The structure of worship is comprised of many levels, including the simple meaning of the words and sentences, the rubrics that organize the different sections (e.g.: Shema and its blessings, Amidah, Torah service). Add to that the inclusion of biblical citations in every prayer as poetic insertions, and we see that Jewish prayer has simultaneous working parts, all of which are intended to add meaning.

But here the Rabbis emphasize another layer: the melody. Stating that the songs of the Levites accompanied the sacrifices, one Rabbi goes so far as to claim that without the singing the sacrifices would not have been acceptable. The clear meaning for the time period is not that the sacrifices would not have been accepted by God, but the necessity of singing to bring prayer to its highest level.

The High Holy Days are upon us. What is your level of participation in worship? Do you sit and listen, or do you pray along? If you pray, do you also sing, or at least attempt the melody even if you don't entirely comprehend the words? Do you focus on the meaning of the phrases and let some of them sink in to the depths of your soul, motivating you to evaluate this past year?

On Rosh Hashanah most Jews will hear the penetrating sounding of the shofar. It's broken cry is intended to pierce our marrow, forcing us to reevaluate how we have lived and to reconstruct the pieces of our shattered souls. But what then raises our voices to heaven? Might it be the melodies that bring those broken parts back together in a new order so that we might begin the New Year with a reconstituted spirit?

Perhaps this year our prayers will emanate with song from the depths of our being to the heights of heaven.