It is almost Shabbat, almost Lag B’omer. In many traditional Jewish communities there would be no instrumental music on Shabbat and no instrumental music during the Omer. Some communities allow instrumental music back after Lag B’omer.

Shabbat, sacred time and place. A chance to rest, to pause, to be at peace. A time of joy, of singing, of prayer. This week I am looking forward to Shabbat. It is Teacher Appreciation Shabbat where we will honor our teachers for all the work they have done all year. It is also a musical Shabbat. Once a month we are treated to some talented musicians play their hearts out. Listening to our house band rehearse last night was very moving. Highly spiritual. Exceptional.

What is it about music that touches us so deeply? I think the explanation maybe in a song I first heard Beged Kefet sing. Apparently it is a Peter, Paul and Mary song.

Music speaks louder than words
It’s the only thing that the whole world listens to
Music speaks louder than words
When you sing, people understand

Sometimes the love that you feel inside
Gets lost between your heart and your mind
And the words don’t really say, the things you wanted them to
But then you feel in someone’s song
What you’d been trying to say all along
And somehow with the magic of music the message comes through

At our musical Shabbat we will have a new tradition. Each time we will pick a “secular” song that expresses our own spirituality. Our first song selected is Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen. I am not sure why these particular lyrics work. I suspect that each person is moved by their own stories overlaid with the story of David and Samson that are told in the lyrics–even if they don’t know the Biblical references.

Watching our president “rehearse” with the band and seeing him transported by the words and the music was magical. He put his whole being into it. His eyes were closed and he was in a different zone. Holy. He created sacred time and space. At the same time, I was in my own place. And the experience brought tears to my eyes. It was holy.

If I had to pick one song to represent my spirituality, it might be the Finale from Les Miserables. But how could I pick just one song, almost every sermon has some song lyric reference.

Take my hand
And lead me to salvation
Take my love
For love is everlasting
And remember
The truth that once was spoken
To love another person
Is to see the face of God.

CHORUS
Do you hear the people sing
Lost in the valley of the night?
It is the music of a people
Who are climbing to the light.
For the wretched of the earth
There is a flame that never dies.
Even the darkest night will end
And the sun will rise.
They will live again in freedom
In the garden of the Lord.
They will walk behind the plough-share,
They will put away the sword.
The chain will be broken
And all men will have their reward.

Will you join in our crusade?
Who will be strong and stand with me?
Somewhere beyond the barricade
Is there a world you long to see?
Do you hear the people sing?
Say, do you hear the distant drums?
It is the future that they bring
When tomorrow comes!

For me, this song seems to combine the need to make the world a better place by joining in the crusade and the acknowledgement that loving another person is to see the face of G-d. What more could you ask for?

Perhaps this–to return again. Shlomo Carlebach wrote this profound song performed by his daughter Neshama Carlebach: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYvpbcImTnc

Return again, return again
Return to the land of your soul
Return to who you are
Return to what you are
Return to where you are
Born and reborn again

This is a song that picks up what Shabbat is about. It is that opportunity to explore our inner most selves.

Sometimes music touches us not because of the lyrics but because of the melody. It maybe a quiet, haunting song like Kol Nidre which reaches me most deeply on a cello without any words at all. Or it may be a freilach (happy) melody like some Klezmer pieces or some of the Abudaya melodies out of Uganda.  Or, it maybe a niggun, a song without any words with which we will begin our service tonight.

How ever you celebrate Shabbat in the middle of this Omer, I hope it will involve some music–instrumental, lyrical or a niggun. It has the ability to lift your soul and let you soar.