The Embodied Torah of Music

Psalm 98

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“Sing to the LORD a new song.” (98:1)

I like some new music, but the music that really draws me in are the lyrics and melodies that I have heard many times before. I don’t understand why giving God a fresh, newly created, song is better than putting one’s heart and soul into a song that we’ve been singing for millennia. Ironic, isn’t it, that the lyrics of the ‘new song’ that the Psalmist is singing is in the neighborhood of 2500 years old, and we are still greeting the Sabbath with it! So God … I hope you are satisfied with some old songs alongside the new ones.

Psalm 89

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“Happy is the people who know the festive shout.” (89:16)

Some of my most powerful and positive Jewish memories are those that take place at summer camp and involve “music.” The word “music” is in quotation marks because the sounds being produces might also be fairly described as noise — yelling, the sound of a jet engine taking off, or an elephant’s mating call. However, there is no doubting the enthusiasm in the voices and the joy on the faces of the young campers producing the cacophony of sound. It is pure energy and rises straight up to heaven where we can be sure that it rocks God’s throne!