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Soundtrack

My life has a soundtrack.

When I got married, my present to my husband was a song that I sang for him during our wedding party: “Se você vier, pro que der e vier, comigo…” When my oldest son was born, I used to sing to him a lullaby during bath time “Alecrim, alecrim dourado que nasceu no campo sem ser semeado”. When my daughter was born, we used to spend hours enjoying the lukewarm sun listening to Jack Johnson’s songs. I sang to each of my 3 children a special song during their bnei Mitzvah ceremony. When I moved here, I kept singing a Brazilian song in my mind:

“Tenho sangrado demais

Tenho chorado pra cachorro

Ano passado eu morri

Mas esse ano eu não morro”

 

Close your eyes and think: what music marks a specific time in your life? Even more so, what music accompanied you in a very difficult time? Many people have a soundtrack for their lives. Couples have their song, people choose special songs for their funerals when they have the chance to do so. There is one thing in life that makes us continue through good and bad times, that warms our hearts with joy and gives us strength to march and face the unknown. It is music.

 

This weekend we read Parashat Beshallach. As explains my amazing tutor, Rabbi Debbie Young-Summers in her commentary for the Leo Baeck College website “Shabbat Beshallach is celebrated around the world as ‘Shabbat Shirah’ – The shabbat of song. We accompany the Israelites across the Reed Sea, to freedom, where they burst into the Song of the Sea, a unique passage written to look quite different to the regular columns of Torah.” Shirat haYam, the Song of the Sea, is chanted in different teamim - a different traditional rhythm - than other parts of the Torah.

(אָ֣ז יָשִֽׁיר־מֹשֶׁה֩ וּבְנֵ֨י יִשְׂרָאֵ֜ל אֶת־הַשִּׁירָ֤ה הַזֹּאת֙ לַֽיהֹוָ֔ה וַיֹּאמְר֖וּ לֵאמֹ֑ר)

 

It is by the end of the Song of the Sea that Miriam takes her timbrel and leads the women in song, celebrating their victory, and establishing a new tradition to the women of Israel. From then on, whenever there was a victory, women would lead the celebrations with song and dance.

 

This is such a powerful image that it inspired many songs, like Debbie Friedman’s Miriam Song:

 

“And the women dancing with their timbrels

Followed Miriam as she sang her song

Sing a song to the One whom we've exalted

Miriam and the women danced and danced the whole night long”

 

The famous Chassidic leader, Rav Nachman of Breslav teaches that: “A holy melody has the power to bring one to the level of prophecy. Music is the foundation of true attachment to God. Music has a tremendous power to draw you to God. Get into the habit of always singing a tune. It will give you a new life and send joy into your soul. Then you will be able to bind yourself to God.”

 

That is exactly what Psalms did, they were songs played and sang at the Temple. Nowadays, with new melodies, we keep singing them during our services,

(Shiru ladonai shir chadash; shiru ladonai kol ha'aretz. Sing a new song to God, all the earth sings a song to God)

usually preparing our souls for the core part of the prayer, a part of the service that I really love:

(Zamru l'Adonai b'chinor, b'chinor v'kol zimrah. Music for God on a violin, on strings with voice and melody.).

 

“Words given wing become song, and the Jewish tradition is borne on wings.” Teaches rabbi David Wolpe. “To sing is to elevate the ordinary. A song is a statement made sublime.” Sometimes it is easier to connect with a prayer when we sing. At least for me, I can say it is. Music plays an essential role in prayer for us, Jews, because of that, we developed so many musical traditions over the time like nigunim, nussach and Pyiutim – Jewish liturgical poems like (Yedid nefesh, Av harachaman, meshoch Avdecha el Retzonecha). They connect our souls to our prayers, providing kavanah – intention.

 

There is a connection between Shabbat Shirah and the feminine, as the second song, read as the traditional haftarah portion is Shirat Dvorah, the song of Deborah, the prophetess. Such connection between women and music is also beautifully pictured in a midrash (rabbinic tale) in Sefer haYashar which tells us that, when returning from Egypt with news about Joseph, Jacob's sons met Serach, daughter of Asher, coming towards them. She was exceedingly beautiful, wise, and a skilled harp player. They gave her a ‎harp saying to her: Go, please, before our father and sit down before him and strike ‎this harp and speak to him. She played beautifully and sang repeatedly in the sweetness of her voice giving Jacob the news that Joseph was alive. He filled his heart with joy, through the ‎sweetness of her voice, and the spirit of God came over him.

 

This midrash shows another power that music has in our lives: healing. In my home community, we pray for the sick by singing Debbie Friedman’s “Mi sheberach” in Hebrew:

 

"Mi shebeirach avotênu, Mecor habrachá leimotênu, Hu ishlach lánu refuá shlemá, refuát hanéfesh, refuát haguf, venomár amen."

 

Playing music is tuning one’s soul, as teaches Dr. Chani Smith, who is our cantillation teacher at Leo Baeck College. Music has the unique ability to express the full range of human emotions, allowing the soul to soar, giving wings to our dreams. Through music we can touch our deepest feelings and get closer to God.

 

Tonight, we begin Shabbat Shirah, and I invite you to find music to inspire you. Music that will make you travel through time, that will bring you joy, strength and healing. After this service, if you are staying for chavurah dinner, share the soundtrack of your life with others, sing together. I pray that music may bring joy to our lives and meaning to our prayers.

 

Because, as Rav Nachman sings: Mitzvah g'dola lihiyot besimcha tamid.

 

Shabbat Shirah Shalom!

 

Links to the songs:

 

Dia Branco, Geraldo Azevedo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHyGN8QBP8w

 

 

AmarElo, Emicida:

 

 

Miriam’s Song, Debbie Friedman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dcBTze-T4o

 

 

 

Yedid Nefesh, Chazan Alê Edelstein: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iKcoK_wUxo

 

Mi Sheberach, Debbie Friedman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHKo3CjuzpY

 




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