{"id":63907,"date":"2021-10-15T13:31:58","date_gmt":"2021-10-15T18:31:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=63907"},"modified":"2021-10-15T13:31:58","modified_gmt":"2021-10-15T18:31:58","slug":"off-the-pulpit-a-tradition-of-song","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/off-the-pulpit-a-tradition-of-song\/","title":{"rendered":"Off the Pulpit: A Tradition of Song"},"content":{"rendered":"

By RABBI DAVID WOLPE<\/p>\n

In synagogue we do something that people in society rarely do \u2013 we sing together.<\/p>\n

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There is a small midrash called Perek Shirah, the chapter of song. It depicts the entire world singing to God, beginning with the heavens and earth, moving to the animals, birds and fish and even plant life. Everything has its song. So central is song to redemption that the Talmud says the reason Hezekiah did not become the Messiah was that despite the miracles God performed for him, he did not sing to God (San. 94a).<\/p>\n

Judaism is a tradition of study and ritual, but also of song. \u201cYour laws are songs for me wherever I may dwell,\u201d says the Psalmist (119:54). No Sabbath is complete without Shabbat songs; the Torah is chanted, not merely read, and the tradition of chazzanut, the melodies of prayer, is ancient. As Rabbi Yehuda HeChasid put it many centuries ago, \u201cI sing hymns and weave songs because my soul years for You.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Rabbi David Wolpe is the senior rabbi of Sinai Temple of Los Angeles.)<\/em><\/p>\n

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