שלהבות של אמונה כ״וFlames of Faith 26
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1THE SECRET OF MUSIC
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2The vitality and depth of music trigger many questions. Music seems to capture almost any mood. To express sadness and pain there are mournful dirges. To arouse the war-making ability of soldiers there are military marches. To inspire dancing at weddings and joyous occasions there are celebratory ditties. Why can the same institution express so many different facets of emotional experience? Music also has great spiritual importance.
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3The Levites in the Temple would serve God by accompanying the sacrifices with song. Clearly, song reaches great spiritual heights, for the Levites were disrupting their Torah study and prayer to sing. Why do melodies reach such lofty levels?
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4There is a tradition that Heaven contains a palace of song. According to the Zohar,466Tikkunei Zohar 11. the doors of this palace only open to melodies. King David was world Jewry’s greatest singer, and he is the master of this palace. When simple Jews sing the Psalms, King David’s songs, they too gain entry into that palace.
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5People say that the palace of teshuvah—returning to God—is near the palace of song. “They are wrong,” revealed the Rebbe of Modzhitz. “The palace of song is the palace of return. The way to return to God is song.”467Imrei Shaul, Inyanei zimrah ve-simchah, Note 15, quoting Rabbi Yisrael of Modzhitz (1849-1921). Why is song the means of reattachment to God?
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6The concept of the Sephiros as the root of reality is the reason for the uniqueness of harmonious melodies. Our world emerged from the seven lower Sephiros. Music contains a manifestation of all seven Sephiros. An emotional experience is a display of one of the seven Sephiros. Since music contains all seven Sephiros, it expresses all emotions.468Divrei Yisrael, Parashas Miketz pg. 66a. In a small way, singing displays our spiritual roots; hence the enormous spiritual significance and potency to melody. Evidence of the connection between music and the seven Sephiros is the connection Jewish sources draw between music and the number seven.
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7The Seven Notes
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8In the Jewish tradition, the number seven is associated with music. According to the Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer, there are seven major bodies of water, and the seventh is the Kinneres (Sea of Galilee), which lies east of Tiberias, Israel. The word Kinneres comes from the word kinor, “harp,” for it is a lake shaped like a harp that leads all the other lakes in song to God.469“All the bodies of water sing to God. This is the meaning of the phrase in our prayers: illu finu malei shirah ka-yam u-lishoneinu rinnah ka-hamon gallav, ‘Were our mouths filled with song like the ocean, and our tongues with praise like the multitudes of waves.’ Apparently, the ocean and its waves are viewed by Jewish thought as a great song to God, and we are saying that we too should sing like them. The Kinneres Lake is the cantor leading all the waves and oceans in their musical chant” (Tzion Ve-Arehah pg. 90). The Midrash states further that there are seven major land- masses: the six continents and the Land of Israel. The Land of Israel is the land of song. When Jacob told his sons to take some of the produce of the land, he said, Kechu mi-zimras ha-aretz, which can be translated, “Take some of the song of the land” (Gen. 43:11).470When Messiah will arrive, we will hear the songs that the stones and pebbles of Israel are singing. Then we will merit the fulfillment of the verse, Mi-kenaf ha-aretz zemiros shamanu, “From the edges of the land we heard songs” (Tzion Ve-Arehah pg. 50, quoting Isa. 24:16).
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9The seventh day is Shabbos, and in Psalms we read, Mizmor shir le- yom ha-Shabbos, “A joyous song for the Shabbos day” (Psalm 92). The wording of the verse suggests that the Shabbos day sings. Our liturgy confirms this reading when it states, Ve-yom ha-shevi’i mishabbe’ach ve- omer: Mizmor shir le-yom ha-Shabbos, “And the seventh day praises God and chants: ‘A song for the Shabbos day.’” Song is central to the Shabbos experience. It has been said that “Shabbos is a cloak woven out of the songs the Jew sings.”471Tzion Ve-Arehah pg. 89.
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10The Jewish nation has been blessed with seven great leaders. The seventh was King David. King David was the sweet singer of Israel who composed the songs that fill the Psalms and our prayer-book.472Even in the animal realm one will find the seventh associated with song. Parashas Re’eh lists seven kosher animals. The name of the seventh zamer, liter-ally, “song” (Deut. 14:5. See Tzion Ve-Arehah pg. 50).
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11Why is the seventh the organ of tunes? Because there are only seven lower Sephiros, and they appear in the seven notes of music.
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12All the sounds on earth can be classified in this musical system. A peal of thunder might be a C note. A door creaking might be a D. We usually do not realize what note household sounds are because the octave they are in is either too high or low. A gifted musical soul, blessed with perfect pitch hearing, will be able to discern the musical note for every sound of life. Why can all sounds be classified within seven notes? The answer is that there are only seven Sephiros that appear in our realm. Music has only seven notes, just as the week has only seven days, for our realm of reality has only seven Sephiros in a fully manifested way.
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13The Sephiros can appear in many different forms. For instance, water, from chesed, can appear as a liquid, solid, or gas. Similarly the note C, which is the note of chesed can appear in different forms: hence the appearance of C in the different octaves.
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14Now we can better understand the answer to the question of music’s unique abilities to arouse the heart. The seven emotions of the heart (giving, harsh restriction, harmony, dominance, empathy, continuity/ foundation, and kingship/humility) are displays of the seven Sephiros. Since the seven notes of music represent the same pattern and embody the Heavenly Sephirah forces they have the ability to arouse these feelings.
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15The Soul of Shabbos
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16A musician needs all seven notes to produce music. Without a single note of the seven, say he possesses a guitar that cannot produce the note A, he cannot compose a tune. That is why the seventh day is associated with song.
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17On Sunday the note C is recreated, on Monday the note D. On Sunday one only has a single note, on Monday only two notes. However, on Shabbos one finally has all seven notes at his disposal. That is why on Shabbos one can sing, and the sensitive soul feels, “I must sing.” Shabbos is the day when all the seven lower Sephiros appear in the world. On Shabbos, a Jewish heart realizes that it should sing, for every note within it is being plucked by the Divine musician. In fact, the Rebbe of Lechovitz taught, “I would sooner believe that all seven oceans dried up before I would believe that a Jew who knows how to sing does not sing on Shabbos.”473Tzion Ve-Arehah pg. 90.
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18The Lands of chesed have only one note. The Land of Israel is the seventh in the series of land bodies, which is why it has all seven notes. Israel was blessed with seven types of fruits: wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives, and dates. These seven fruits correspond to the seven lower Sephiros. Israel is the place where the seven lower Sephiros are displayed in some measure. Since the seven notes of music are also a display of these forces, the land itself arouses song. Prior to its liberation, the land was called Canaan; this name contains a hidden reference to song. Canaan (כנען) is the acronym for the phrase kinor (כ) naim (נ) im (ע) navel (נ)—the sweet harp together with the navel instrument.474Tzion Ve-Arehah pg. 49.
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19The different oceans throughout the world display only one of the Sephiros. The Kinneres as the seventh body of water displays all seven Sephiros and notes of music. The seventh water body was shaped like a harp, because it is a place of song. King David as the seventh leader possessed all seven notes of the Sephiros, which is why he was the sweet singer of Israel.
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20Shabbos, Oaths, and Tzaddikim
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21Lesson One taught that an oath is related to the number seven and the arousal of all the forces of a person. From the nature of music we can better understand that lesson. In music one can sing the same note in many different octaves. So it is with the Sephiros.
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22The Sephiros are the bounded lights of Divinity. These lights appeared in the “octave” of statements of creation. Since our earthly world was created with the last seven statements, in the “octave” of physical creations we primarily experience revelations of the seven lower Sephiros. Every week, these seven heavenly forces appear in the “octave” of seven days. In each person the Sephiros appear in the “octave” of the seven emotions and behaviors (Chagat Nehim). An oath causes all seven forces to appear within the “octave” of a commitment. Since an oath is a display of the Sephiros, it arouses all seven emotional forces within the heart. Shabbos is the day when the seven Sephiros appear in the “octave” of a single day, which is why Shabbos is like an oath, in that it inspires every emotional facet of the person.
כ״ג
23Since Shabbos is the time when all seven Sephiros appear and our world is a display of the seven Sephiros, Shabbos is the channel through which new life flows to the physical universe. Shabbos and the world are like two parallel harps that only differ in size. When the Sephiros appear in the dimension of time (Shabbos) and person (the Shabbos- observing heart) they cause a corresponding revelation in the realm of world. Once the Sephiros reappear, new life arrives as well.
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24Earlier lessons taught about the tzaddik. The Sephiros and their corresponding parts of the soul475See Lesson Twenty-One. It was mentioned there that the Sephiros are like the parts of the soul in that they emerged from the letters of God’s name. Thus, keser corresponds to yechidah and the kutzo shel yud. Chochmah corresponds to chayah and the yud. Binah corresponds to neshamah and the first heh. Chesed, gevurah, tiferes, netzach, hod, and yesod correspond to ruach and the vav. Finally, malchus corresponds to nefesh and the final heh. are the personality maps that teach man how to become a tzaddik. It is hard to become a tzaddik; there are many barriers that must be broken. Yet if one asserts the mind over the heart, or if one engages in holy emotional activities, or if one employs internalization that corresponds to innate will, one can defeat the kelippos and become a tzaddik. A tzaddik uses his personality in holiness thus embodying the holiness of the Sephiros. That is why he, like Shabbos, is the channel through which life for the world flows.476In Lesson Twenty-Four we learned that Shabbos and the tzaddik display all ten Sephiros. That does not contradict the text. The first three Sephiros do not appear fully in our world. A mere echo of their sound resonates in our world. The seven lower Sephiros are more fully expressed. Thus, Shabbos and the tzaddik fully display the seven lower Sephiros and posses only a meager revelation of the top three.
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25Song and Return
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26In holiness, due to the chain-like nature of creation, every level is linked with the stage above it. Thus, the seventh note of music has within it traces of the realm of eight. Lessons Seventeen and Eighteen revealed that the number eight is associated with the fiftieth year, the force of Yovel that returns all to their roots. After the seven lower Sephiros, there is the intellect of binah. Teshuvah—returning to God—stems from the universe of binah. The light of Yovel is a display of the Sephirah of binah. Hence, the lesson of the Rebbe of Modzhitz: the palace of return, the level of eight, is the palace of song, the level of seven. For when one reaches a complete experience of the seven lower forces one finds oneself already in the realm of the level of eight, the world of Return.
כ״ז
27King David wrote that in the future, when the Messiah will have come, we will sing to God a “new song” (Ps. 98:1). Perhaps the Talmud’s lesson about David’s harp is the deeper meaning of that new song. The Talmud teaches that in the Temple in Jerusalem, King David used to play a seven-stringed harp. When the Messiah will come, David’s harp will have eight strings. In the World-to-Come it will have ten.477Eirchin 13b.
כ״ח
28The Sephiros are the significance of these strings. In our dimension of reality only seven Sephiros are fully revealed, hence a seven-stringed instrument. The Messiah will return all to their root. He will personify Bethlehem, the place of Yovel. During his reign, a great light of Yovel will glow—the Sephirah of binah will express itself. As a result, music will change. A new note will appear, all tunes will be enriched, and David’s harp will possess eight strings. In the ultimate future David will have a ten-stringed harp. Then the fullest revelation of all ten Sephiros will be with us.478The Land of Israel was controlled by ten nations before the Jews conquered it. These peoples were the shells covering the lights of the ten Sephiros. When Joshua entered Israel, the Jews only conquered seven of these nations. The territories controlled by the Keni, Kenazi, and Kadmoni were not conquered. We only received the land of the seven nations, for only the seven lower Sephiros have emerged fully in our world. Once the Messiah arrives, we will inherit the land of Keni, Kenazi, and Kadmoni, for in that era all ten Sephiros-like lights will appear (see further Tzion Ve-Arehah, pgs. 49-51, 149-157).
There are three Shabboses in the summer months when the readings from the Prophets are predictions of destruction. After the ninth of Av, for the next seven Shabboses we read sections of consolation. The first three readings correspond to the Three Intellects. Since our world has not merited a true and full display of those Heavenly lights, those readings are of destruction, and the time of year is a time of mourning for the destruction of Jerusalem and Jewry’s subsequent exile. Since our world has a revelation of the seven lower Sephiros, we read seven readings of consolation. Each reading helps restore one of the Sephirah lights which dimmed with Jerusalem’s fall. When Messiah will come there will be ten readings of joy, for then there will be a display of all ten Sephiros (adapted from Mishbetzos Zahav, Parashas Nitzavim-Vayelech. 5753, pg. 283). A new world will exist then; in that Messianic world, there will be ten different notes in the musical scale. The Sephiros will then be fully revealed in the world and internalized within man.
There are three Shabboses in the summer months when the readings from the Prophets are predictions of destruction. After the ninth of Av, for the next seven Shabboses we read sections of consolation. The first three readings correspond to the Three Intellects. Since our world has not merited a true and full display of those Heavenly lights, those readings are of destruction, and the time of year is a time of mourning for the destruction of Jerusalem and Jewry’s subsequent exile. Since our world has a revelation of the seven lower Sephiros, we read seven readings of consolation. Each reading helps restore one of the Sephirah lights which dimmed with Jerusalem’s fall. When Messiah will come there will be ten readings of joy, for then there will be a display of all ten Sephiros (adapted from Mishbetzos Zahav, Parashas Nitzavim-Vayelech. 5753, pg. 283). A new world will exist then; in that Messianic world, there will be ten different notes in the musical scale. The Sephiros will then be fully revealed in the world and internalized within man.
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29It is my prayer that the lessons in this book help us merit to see those days, soon.