BackThe Power of Song
By: Rabbi Dr. Abraham Unger
This coming Shabbat is called “Shabbat Shirah,” the Sabbath of song. It commemorates the narrative of Moses leading the Children of Israel in an outbreak of choral song after the miraculous splitting and heroic crossing of the Red Sea, representing a climactic moment in the redemption of the Jews from Egyptian slavery.
Tradition explains that a song is the harmonious coming together of all forces necessary to bring the potential of a particular moment to fruition. A “shir” is a regular song in Hebrew. A “shirah” represents a transformative experience translated into music.
What then, after all, is music, and why does a text devoted to words, namely the Torah and all of its commentaries, record the episode of a song? Judaism understands that when the spirit takes flight, language by itself is inadequate. Melody gropes for the ineffable, and reaching for Divinity is just that kind of effort; the feeling of redemption goes beyond mere words. Hence, a song is needed.
In his formative text of philosophy Metaphysics, Aristotle argues that music and theology are the two highest forms of human enquiry. Jewish life encapsulates this theory in real practice and historical model. This Shabbat we join study to song, and allow our souls to rejoice in the memory, and hope renewed, of an even better tomorrow.