Music for the Soul

This year, I had the privilege of spending Rosh Hashanah with my Lubavitch friends at the Chabad house in downtown Chicago. Although I'd thought that I was fairly familiar with Chasidic traditions, the experience was wonderful and eye-opening. I specifically remember that on the last night of services, we women sat and listened to the beautiful nigunim drift up from the other side of the mechitza. Before the service had started, my friend, Eliyahu, had explained to me the importance of each of the nigunim. He'd explained that music is infinitely more powerful and connecting than we can know; this is why, he said, it so important to choose wisely the music that we listen to.

There is no doubt that music has a soul-touching quality to it. I don't think that any of us can explain it, but we have all felt moved by a certain melody--maybe even certain words. I did a little bit of research on the importance of music in Judaism, and I was fascinated to discover that music was used by the prophets to attain the level of simcha needed to reach a state of prophecy. Growing up in the Christian tradition, this is something I had not heard before. However, when we stop and think about exactly what this means, the idea of music is transformed from rap songs on our iPods into something beautiful, mysterious, and completely spiritual. How can we take something that aided in the revelation of G-d's will to humans and use it to convey such meaningless (unfortunately, sometimes even twisted) ideas? Doesn't it seem unthinkable that something could be experienced with such opposite intentions?

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not going to throw away my Michael Jackson CDs. I think that music is meant to be a gift, and it's meant to be enjoyed. However, I think that realizing this sacred element in music should cause us to stop and think about the way in which we are using this gift. If we are using it to promote and instill ideas contrary to the nature of Hashem, we might want to stop and reevaluate what we're listening to. In Eliyahu's words, "Music connects our soul to the soul of the one who wrote it." Who are you connecting your soul to?