Words Vs. Songs
בס"ד ,יום ג' חנוכה, כז כסלו תשסז
I wil be trying to keep up here with more, shorter posts, more often BE"H. Stay tuned. In the mean-time, here's a morsel.
A lot of singing goes on at the Yeshivah I attend. It’s an awesome experience to wake up in the morning with a bunch of guys who are so inspired in their devotion to Hashem that song bursts forth in praise of their creator. That being said, I believe there is a problem with singing and being joyful to the exclusion of focusing on the words, which I occasionally feel going on, especially when a tune is chosen that doesn’t fit the words (and hence the words have to be smushed into the tune, often losing the proper sentence breaks, etc.). A friend of mine was trying to argue that since Tehillim were written as songs, they should ALWAYS be sung, and that in fact since the letters themselves are arranged in a certain, holy way by King David, even saying them without knowing what they mean is better than just saying the words—and understanding them—without singing.
As far as I’m concerned this is almost a form of idolatry. For one, we don’t have access to a tradition of tunes from David ha-Melech, so the only part of Tehillim which goes all the way back is the words, not the tunes we use. Second, to be joyful and sing out the words is well and good, but if you don’t know what the words mean or if you have an incorrect understanding of them, what are you being joyful about other than satisfying your own desires, even though they may be pointed heavenward? That may be well and good, or maybe not, but it’s definitely not ideal. In perek 10 of Hilchot Teshuvah, Rambam discusses how loving Hashem is dependent on correct knowledge of Hashem. You may well truly love your conception of Hashem, but if that conception is flawed, you are in love with a fiction, or worse, with an idol you have constructed of your own imagination. It’s analogous to when people say they are/were in love with the ‘idea’ of a person. They didn’t really love the person for who they were, but rather an idealized fiction resembling them. Similarly, if you are joyful about a jumble of Hebrew letters you don’t understand (or are not understanding at that time), you are not being joyful about the Psalm you are reading, you are joyful about the music, about the dancing, about whatever you are constructing in your mind to be joyful about, but not necessarily about praising G!D, and definitely not about the prayer in question.
I wil be trying to keep up here with more, shorter posts, more often BE"H. Stay tuned. In the mean-time, here's a morsel.
A lot of singing goes on at the Yeshivah I attend. It’s an awesome experience to wake up in the morning with a bunch of guys who are so inspired in their devotion to Hashem that song bursts forth in praise of their creator. That being said, I believe there is a problem with singing and being joyful to the exclusion of focusing on the words, which I occasionally feel going on, especially when a tune is chosen that doesn’t fit the words (and hence the words have to be smushed into the tune, often losing the proper sentence breaks, etc.). A friend of mine was trying to argue that since Tehillim were written as songs, they should ALWAYS be sung, and that in fact since the letters themselves are arranged in a certain, holy way by King David, even saying them without knowing what they mean is better than just saying the words—and understanding them—without singing.
As far as I’m concerned this is almost a form of idolatry. For one, we don’t have access to a tradition of tunes from David ha-Melech, so the only part of Tehillim which goes all the way back is the words, not the tunes we use. Second, to be joyful and sing out the words is well and good, but if you don’t know what the words mean or if you have an incorrect understanding of them, what are you being joyful about other than satisfying your own desires, even though they may be pointed heavenward? That may be well and good, or maybe not, but it’s definitely not ideal. In perek 10 of Hilchot Teshuvah, Rambam discusses how loving Hashem is dependent on correct knowledge of Hashem. You may well truly love your conception of Hashem, but if that conception is flawed, you are in love with a fiction, or worse, with an idol you have constructed of your own imagination. It’s analogous to when people say they are/were in love with the ‘idea’ of a person. They didn’t really love the person for who they were, but rather an idealized fiction resembling them. Similarly, if you are joyful about a jumble of Hebrew letters you don’t understand (or are not understanding at that time), you are not being joyful about the Psalm you are reading, you are joyful about the music, about the dancing, about whatever you are constructing in your mind to be joyful about, but not necessarily about praising G!D, and definitely not about the prayer in question.
posted by Eitan at 09:00
2 Comments:
i think it was the Baal Shem Tov who once treated his students to the experience of hearing simple jews reciting tehillim--the way it sounds in shamayim. (I don't remember where I read/heard the story, it may have been told by Shlomo Carlebach--don't recall.)
there's apparently nothing like it.
on the other hand--the gemara says a number of things about how shir HaShirim shouldn't be put to song. (how can you not sing the song of songs??) As well as (if i recall correctly) comments about how reciting passukim (in general) without the taamim is forebidden.
So, it would seem the best thing would be to recite tehillim according to the taamim for tehillim--if anyone still knows what they are. Anything else becomes problematic.
But whether you need to understand the words---are you going to tell me that if you think you understand the words, you _really_ understand the words? These are some of the deepest compositions in the history of more than 5 thousand years.. written with Ruach HaKodesh.. you are telling me that when you read 'B'orcha Nireh Ohr', you notice that the roshei tevot are 'even'=stone (which is the union of Av and Ben) and at the same time they are also roshei tevot representing Av Nun (the father of Nun ---not that I have any idea what this means--but it's surely significant) .. not to mention that it refers to the light radiated from ohr ein sof.. etc etc etc..
we don't understand tehillim.
we can't understand tehillim.
there is nothing more beautiful than simple jews calling out to HaShem in the words of one of our shepherds.
Tov, it won't hurt to know what some of the words mean...it might even further develop our relationship with HaShem..but first lets get people praying.. praying--calling out to HaShem-- is always good for the Jewish soul.
As to squeezing words into tunes that don't fit.. it seems to be a hassidic custom of older days, and seeing as how Shlomo Carlebach did it liberally, I wouldn't fault others for it.. even though I myself might be bothered by it.
Of course you're right about dressing God in our understandings and that being very close to false beliefs but there's something very deep there that I can't claim to understand. (Moshe _was_ a ispaklaria me'ira, it wasn't just that he _saw_ through one. We are always relating to God through ourselves (bodies and minds))
Yitz: I guess I need to clarify. I don't mean one needs to really_understand tehillim in that deep, I-see-how-these-words-fit-into-the-unfolding-of all-being kind of way. I just meant basic pshat of the words. More so in years past, but still on occasion today, I will find myself singing the song, but I might as well be singing in Chinese for all the words register in my mind. When this happens, what am I singing for? Am I conscious of anything? Am I conscious of Hashem? Maybe. I'm not sure. It seems more common that I'm conscious of a tune, and of a positive feeling, but not of G!d. It's quite possible I'm just projecting my own failings onto others here, but it seems to me to be a common occurrence, and one which could stand a bit of scrutiny.
You said, "We are always relating to God through ourselves (bodies and minds)."
Absolutely. But I feel that a lot of people end up just relating to themselves much of the time, with relating to Hashem as little more than a pretext for ecstatic experiences... Hopefully that's less common than it appears.
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