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My Shabbat soul sings like a bird
How will we proceed respectfully to express the songs of our Shabbat souls, at home, and in our places of prayer?
by Bonna Devora Haberman
The text of Parashat Metzora prescribes a ritual for purifying houses in Israel from eruptions of colored streaks that are deep in the walls. The affected stones must be pulled out; they and the scrapings of plaster must be disposed outside the city. After the reconstruction and plastering work is complete, birds, wood, crimson and hyssop are used in an astounding rite. One bird is slaughtered; along with the other materials, the other bird is dipped in the blood of the sacrifice, then set free outside the city (VaYikra, Ch.14).
Rashi has a very practical explanation of the instructions,
This is a announcement to them that eruptions will come upon them because the Amorites hid treasures of gold in the walls of their houses throughout the forty years that the Israelites were in the desert, and on account of the eruption [the Israelite] tears down the house and finds them."
—Rashi on VaYikra 14:28
However, suggest hassidic commentaries, the gold is found only when the motive is to prepare the home as a dwelling for the divine presence. In this way, the nega, eruption, is transformed into oneg, joy.
Nonetheless, Rashi's indication of material reward does not interpret the sublime ritual. In some sense, a home, in order to be habitable, must enable the release of the captive soul like a bird.
Our life/soul has escaped like a bird from the fowler's snare"
—Psalms 124:7
During the past couple of months, there has been a flurry of Shabbat evening "experimental" minyanim in private homes in our neighborhood. One special characteristic of these tfillot is the use of musical instruments. Kol Zimra is organized by a collaborative of American-born young people living in Jerusalem to explore a rhythmic musical chanting style with drum accompaniment. A man and woman lead, having prepared and orchestrated every element in advance, often innovating new melodies. When one of the organizers of Kol Zimra asked to hold their Shabbat eve gathering at our home, we expected a few people. However, we were somewhat astounded when more than 130 packed into every square centimeter of our living room, dining room, with more on the outside porch, most of them staying for a potluck Shabbat meal(!). Last Shabbat eve, there was a different, well-attended tfilla that took a more meditative approach. A singer-composer had created 6 new melodies, one for a verse from each of the 6 Psalms of Kabbalat Shabbat; she led them with guitar accompaniment as the community reviewed the preceding 6 days of the week, the 6 days of Creation, 6 of the spheres of divine emanations. Each of these tfillot evoked enthusiastic, joyous participation in the singing and dancing of the prayers.
These events seem to indicate a strong desire for musical instruments in the context of innovative prayer. The halakhic prohibition against the use of musical instruments on Shabbat stems from two main roots:
- the concern lest we "fix" the instrument, an act that is prohibited on Shabbat
Talmudic sages don't allow playing musical instruments on Shabbat on account of shevut — a rabbinic prohibition to ensure that if a musical instrument breaks, it won't be fixed. In other words, the prohibition is a protection lest it lead to a transgression, like not climbing a tree in order to avoid picking, or not riding an animal in order to avoid leaving the area of Shabbat (Beitza 36b). - respect for the destruction of the Temple, for which we still mourn.
On this point, I emphasize that the prohibition of music as a sign of mourning for the destruction of Jerusalem includes vocal no less than instrumental music (Sh. Ar., OH 560:3). Indeed, some Jewish communities, in Syria, for example, desisted from all music for a period after the destruction of the Temple. This restriction has obviously been lifted. Jewish musical traditions thrived during exile; vocal music for religious purposes is accepted in all communities on Shabbat. The Shulhan Arukh explicitly permits the playing of music by a non-Jew on Shabbat for the purpose of entertaining a wedding party (OH 338:2).
An organ-like instrument was used during tfillot in the Temple, on the altar itself. The Mishna refers to a magrefa, an instrument with pipes. Apparently the volume was so great that one could not hear the voice of one's friend in Jerusalem while the magrefa was sounding; it could be heard as far as Jerico (Tamid 5:6). The Talmud describes the instrument in detail; it had many openings and emited as many as a thousand different musical sounds. (Archin 10b-11a; see Rashi ad loc). The same talmudic passage mentions that experts were brought from Alexandria, Egypt to prepare the Temple instruments.
The Tosefta discusses the use of different wind instruments during the tfilla on Shabbat in the Temple for the sake of their beautiful sound; the passage excludes the hydraulis, an ancestor of the modern organ because the sound was not of high enough quality (Tos. Archin 1:13). According to the ancient accounts of Athenaeus, of Philon of Byzantium and, indirectly, of Vitruvius, the hydraulis was invented by the famous engineer Ctesibius, who lived in Alexandria in the third century BCE.
Strong objection to musical instruments on Shabbat among the observant community arose during the 19th century, when Christian Europe adopted the organ. Some rabbis expressed disapproval when a couple of Reform Jewish communities introduced the organ into their sanctuaries. The arguments presented, similar, but more extreme than those I cited above:
- playing musical instruments is prohibited on Shabbat and holy days (Maimonides, "Yad," Shabbat, xxiii. 4; Orah Chayyim, 338, 339), and even to engage a non-Jew to play for Jews on Sabbath is considered shevut, disturbance of Sabbath rest;
- music, except at marriage ceremonies, is generally prohibited, in token of mourning for the destruction of Jerusalem;
- Jewish divine services must not be made to imitate the customs of the Christian Church.
Among these views are tensions and contradictions; I make no attempt to resolve the challenge.
Perhaps I will emphasize that none of the reasons for the prohibitions is substantive, that is, playing instruments is itself, gufa, not prohibited on Shabbat; the prohibition is derived from a concern lest playing a musical instrument lead to a transgression; and from the general condition of mourning. As we have seen, the Jerusalem Temple is the source of the instruments used in the Church, just as kiddush and hamotzi are the source of holy communion, ingesting the body of Christ; yet no rabbi has advocated the abrogation of these observances on Shabbat.
Given the Israeli Chief Rabbis' declaration that the State of Israel is "the beginning of the flowering of the redemption," and the overall acceptance of the permissability of music altogether across the spectrum of the Jewish People, the relevance of mourning is highly questionable. Furthermore, the fervent rabbinic objections arose relatively recently, during the mid-1800's, when fears about the continuity of Judaism in the European Christian context were justifiably serious. These conditions do not pertain to Jerusalem today.
Reb Zushia is credited with solving the conundrum of the sovereign who kept an extraordinary apiary, birds collected from all parts of the earth. S/He did not understand why none of the magnificent birds would sing, and longed desperately to hear their voices. Experts concocted delicacies, brought temptations, played and enticed them, all to no effect. Finally, Reb Zushia explained that they would only sing if the sovereign would free them. Reluctantly, the sovereign opened the apiary gates. The realm became known as the Sovereignty of Birds, for it was filled with their tremendous songs.
The desire for musical instruments on the part of committed Jewish practitioners in Jerusalem is sincere; where once the Temple stood, the experiment is already underway. How will we proceed respectfully to express the songs of our Shabbat souls, at home, and in our places of prayer; how will we set the birds free?
Shabbat Shalom,
Bonna Devora Haberman
April 13, 2005