Author Topic: Inspiring Music? (Read 70009 times)

muman613 · « **Reply #550 on:** September 18, 2014, 12:27:39 AM »

HaMelech

http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/58690/jewish/The-King-and-I.htm

http://www.ww.w.ouradio.org/torah/ti/5764/rh64.htm

Shalom and Shana Tovah to everyone! Rosh Hashanah starts one week from tonight, the evening of the 24th of September (next Wednesday night).

The central meditation (kevanah) for Rosh Hashanah is the crowning of Hashem as King of the entire creation. The service starts with the word 'HaMelech' which means 'The King'.

One of the central prayers is called 'Avinu Malkeinu' which means 'Our Father, Our King' and it is sung several times during the High Holiday services.

I find the melody haunting and moving the soul...

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“HaMelech The King!” Thus begins our morning prayers on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Throughout the prayers of the Ten Days of Repentance, all references to Hashem are “HaMelech”, Sovereign of the universe, King of the people of Israel. He is called “Holy King” and “the King of Justice.” We ask Him to “rule over the entire world with Your glory” and we declare that “His Sovereignty rules over all.”

Saadia Gaon, in writing about the ten associations of the shofar, says first that the shofar is comparable to the trumpets blown at a coronation. And the custom of Tashlich, recited at the banks of a river, is also compared to the coronation ceremonies, which were held near flowing waters, symbolizing the unending reign of the king.

Of course, Hashem is called King throughout the year. However, during this time of year, Hashem’s Kingship is at the center of our prayers. The Talmud (Rosh Hashanah 16a) teaches that Hashem says:

“On Rosh Hashanah, say Malchiyot [verses proclaiming Hashem’s Sovereignty] before Me . . . so that you may crown Me as King over you.”

We not only acknowledge Hashem as King; we make Him King!

Our Sages teach that Adam and Chavah were formed on Rosh Hashanah. The Midrash (Bereishit Rabbah 22, end) says that, thereupon, Adam composed Tehillim 92, which proclaims Hashem as King of the universe He created. Creation alone did not warrant this proclamation. It is only with the appearance of man, who has the free will either to accept Hashem or to rebel against Him, that Hashem could be called King. So, declaring Hashem’s Kingship is the truest expression of our uniqueness as human beings.

http://jewishanswers.org/index.php?p=1811

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“Avinu Malkeinu” - “Our Father, Our King”

I’ve decided to speak on the topic of the “Avinu Malkeinu” (“Our Father, Our King) prayer. Can you tell me some things about it?

I’ll try to give you a few of the highlights of the Avinu Malkeinu prayer.

Avinu Malkeinu finds its origins in the Talmud (Taanis 25b): The Talmud relates that a famine hit hard, and as a result, the Sages proclaimed a fast day. During the fast day, Rabbi Akiva, one of the greatest Sages of Mishnaic times, recited five sentences, each one beginning with the words “Avinu Malkeinu,” “our Father, our King.” Immediately after his recitation of these five sentences, it began to rain.

Over the generations, different communities added to Rabbi Akiva’s original list of five, and eventually, it grew to the list of forty or so lines that we have today.

Aveinu Malkeinu is recited on fast days and during the 10 days of Repentence between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. However, it is not recited on Tisha B’av, even though it is a fast day. In addition, Avinu Malkeinu is never recited on Shabbat, except for one occasion: if Yom Kippur falls on Shabbat, Avinu Malkeinu is recited during the last prayer of the day, Neilah.

This should help you get started. I hope it goes well!

Be well,
Rabbi Yoel Spotts

May you and your loved ones be written and sealed in the book of life!

muman613 · « **Reply #551 on:** September 18, 2014, 12:39:53 AM »

I like this 'Jewish Hip Hop' version of Avinu Malkeinu...

And the jam rock band Phish even covers Avinu Malkeinu...

muman613 · « **Reply #552 on:** September 18, 2014, 02:55:29 AM »

.הִנֵּה מַה טוֹב = Hine mah tov
Behold how good

וּמַה נָּעִים = uMah-Nayim
and how pleasing

שֶׁבֶת אָחִים גַּם יַחַד = shevet achim gam yachad
if brothers (people) could sit together in unity

muman613 · « **Reply #553 on:** September 18, 2014, 04:00:53 PM »

Avraham Fried just appeared in Beit El this week...

muman613 · « **Reply #554 on:** September 19, 2014, 02:14:42 AM »

This coming Shabbat we (Ashkenazi) start to say Selichot prayers (prayers of penitance). Part of the Teshuvah process (repentence) involves us confessing our sins to Hashem through these meditations. By confronting our sins we are granted the ability to overcome them with the help of Hashem, so that we may serve him with all our efforts.

muman613 · « **Reply #555 on:** September 19, 2014, 02:20:49 AM »

While I personally am an Ashkenazi Jew I have absolute respect and admiration of the Sephardic tradition. Their Selichot prayers are among the most moving.

muman613 · « **Reply #556 on:** September 19, 2014, 02:27:20 AM »

Sephardic Selichot at the Kotel....

muman613 · « **Reply #557 on:** September 19, 2014, 02:30:46 AM »

One more Sephardic Selichot from the great Rabbi Ben Chaim, a famous Chazzan..

muman613 · « **Reply #558 on:** September 19, 2014, 02:34:10 AM »

The Hatzi Kaddish Selichot...

muman613 · « **Reply #559 on:** September 19, 2014, 02:37:56 AM »

Ok, this is not a music video, but it explains why we say these penitential prayers at this time.

muman613 · « **Reply #560 on:** September 19, 2014, 02:50:38 AM »

Thats it for tonight...

muman613 · « **Reply #561 on:** September 20, 2014, 11:42:37 PM »

Shalom, Shavuah Tov, & Shana Tovah!!!

I hope everyone had a pleasurable Shabbat experience today, I did...

I have only 2 more hours before I head back to my Rabbis Chabad house for midnight Selichot prayers. It is our custom to start the Shabbat before Rosh Hashanah.

It is funny that Acher Metzora just posted a video which appears to advise against saying Selichot (or at least asserting a fact which we already know, that Selichot are a minhag not a Biblical commandment).... That does not mean we should not say them, it is our custom.

muman613 · « **Reply #562 on:** September 20, 2014, 11:53:20 PM »

I love the way Selichot have a way of penetrating the deeper parts of a Jewish soul. I cannot say how it sounds to a gentile, but for this Jew my heart beats with Jewish pride and Jewish blood, and I feel our history and know it will be good.

muman613 · « **Reply #563 on:** September 21, 2014, 12:00:00 AM »

One of our minyan members wife just returned from Singapore where, we are told, a significant Jewish community exists. The Chabad center in Singapore apparently prays with a Sephardic minhag. As I stated above the Sephardic Selichot are some of the most moving melodies.

muman613 · « **Reply #564 on:** September 21, 2014, 12:06:28 AM »

Another short explanation as to why we say Selichot, our custom and the Sephardic custom.

muman613 · « **Reply #565 on:** September 21, 2014, 12:13:28 AM »

Im psyched we were able to get a minyan for Selichot in our community. This is the 1st year we have been able to do this in my county (otherwise we would have to travel farther away to join another community). I sure hope nobody flakes though...

muman613 · « **Reply #566 on:** September 21, 2014, 12:22:48 AM »

Alright, that last one was not exactly musical, but I still find it moving...

I will be praying for everyones Refuah Sheleima (complete healing) and I hope that everyone can pray for my healing. I have been dealing with a painful situation, and I hope that I don't have an episode of pain this morning...

muman613 · « **Reply #567 on:** September 21, 2014, 12:40:31 AM »

Im sorry to those who are not so interested in Jewish music or Jewish inspiration, but I feel this music has the ability to touch the soul of a Jew and make it fly. The next parsha we read after the Holidays is Haazinu, a song composed by Moses, and many Torah ideas are expressed in the medium of songs (The song at the sea, the Song of Songs, Haazinu)...

During the High Holidays we say Aleinu with a special intensity... Normally we bow during a verse of the prayer, but on Yom Kippur we actually bow down on the ground (prostate ourselves, 'fall on our faces') at these verses.

Tomorrow night Saul Kaye will be playing at my local 'progressive' synagogue.

Please turn on Closed-Captioning for English subtitles (I painstakingly added them)...

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The Rama (O.C. 621:4) writes that the custom is to fall on our faces when reciting the paragraphs in the repetition of the Yom Kippur Musaf that describe how those present in the courtyard of the Beit HaMikdash would prostrate themselves. The same custom applies when “Aleinu” is said. The Mishna Brurah (Sha’ar Hatziyun 131:44) writes that we have a similar custom for Aleinu on Rosh Hashana (although the Rama (131:8) seems to limit the custom to Yom Kippur).

While bowing, the Rama writes that a person must place a separation between his face and the ground. According to the pasuk in Vayikra (26:1) and the Gemara Megilla (22b), it is forbidden to bow down directly on a stone floor outside the Beit HaMikdash. However, having a separation (towel, cardboard, etc.) between the head and the floor removes the prohibition. Although a towel under the knees may protect one’s clothing, it is still necessary to have one by the head.

What is the halacha regarding floors that are not constructed of stone? The Mateh Ephrayim (621:14) writes that the custom is to have a separation with all floors. This stringency is based on the Rivash (# 412) who is concerned that under the present floor of the shul there may exist a stone floor, and the permanent structure of the building is not considered a separation (see Magen Avraham 131:22). Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach writes that although technically not a problem, the custom is to be stringent even with a floor that has permanently installed carpeting. (Ishei Yisrael chapter 45, note 210). (See, however, the Minhagei Chabad quoted after the Shulchan Aruch HaRav that the custom is not to require a separation on a wooden floor).

Does the custom of prostration apply to women? According to Rav Soloveichik, women in Lithuania did not bow on the floor, but those in Berlin did. What is the basis of the differing customs? In the Yom Kippur davening we say that the people who were in the courtyard of the Beit HaMikdash would prostrate themselves when they heard the Kohen Gadol pronounce Hashem’s name. Is the key factor being in the courtyard, where there were no women, or hearing the Kohen Gadol, which theoretically applied to everyone? (See Nefesh HaRav pp 214-215; Rivavot Ephrayim 3:421)

Two additional halachot:

The Mateh Ephrayim writes (592:1) that the congregation should not only bow, but also quietly recite Aleinu together with the Shliach Tsibur.
During the silent Amidah, one should bow slightly when reciting in Aleinu-Va’anachnu Kor’im. (See Ishei Yisrael, chapter 45 note 195)

muman613 · « **Reply #568 on:** September 24, 2014, 12:10:58 AM »

Prodezra Beats made this song video for G-dcast on the Torah portion we read on Rosh Hashanah (The Akeidah/Binding of Yitzak)...

muman613 · « **Reply #569 on:** September 24, 2014, 12:21:18 AM »

The sounds of the Shofar should Inspire us all to look inside our psyches and step away from our egos. The commentators relate many reasons why the shofar sound has this effect on the soul.

"Even though the blowing of the Shofar on Rosh Hashanah is a Biblical decree (lit., 'the decree of a verse'), there is a hint in it (meaning, a readily discernible reason behind it), as if to say: 'Wake up, wake up, [you] sleepers from your sleep, and awake [you] slumberers from your slumber. Search your deeds, repent, and remember your Creator.' Those [referred to] are they who forget the truth on account of the vanities of time, and who waste (lit., 'err with') their entire year with vainness and emptiness which neither help nor save. 'Look to your souls and mend your ways and your deeds, and let every one of you forsake his evil way and his improper thoughts.'
RAMBAM - Laws of Understanding

http://www.torah.org/learning/mlife/LORch3-4b.html

muman613 · « **Reply #570 on:** October 02, 2014, 01:54:53 AM »

Sometimes it is possible to learn something and then realize that you already heard the concept elsewhere. For instance I just posted a video on Yom Kippur from aish.com and it discussed the idea of walking with G-d, as a father and a son walk together.

Now that I think about it I believe this is the idea which Matisyahu explored in his song 'We will Walk' in a way which is not evident on the surface, as I always believed it was a conversation between a man and a woman, but as we know the holy work of 'Song of Songs' compares our relationship with Hashem as a man/woman relationship.

muman613 · « **Reply #571 on:** October 03, 2014, 01:33:23 AM »

One of the major themes of the High Holidays is the concept of Teshuvah which most consider to mean Repentance but rather it technically means to 'Return to the One or Oneself". Judaism posits that the human soul intrinsically desires to have a close relationship with his creator but due to our inclinations we stray from the path (which is one reason a form of sin is called 'Chet' meaning 'missing the mark')...

The Haftarah which is read on Yom Kippur afternoon is the portion of the prophet Yonah/Jonah. The reason, the sages explain, is that the overarching theme of Yonah is one of Teshuva, as Yonah is commanded by G-d to travel to Nineveh to prophesize to a non-Jewish nation (which actually will fight against Israel in the future) telling them to repent or be destroyed.

The people of Nineveh listened to Yonah and were spared the evil decree, much to the chagrin of Yonah who would rather have seen them destroyed...

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http://www.torah.org/advanced/ravhirsch/5771/matos.html
...
If we take the second sentence to refer to immersion in a mikvah, the verb “yischatah” should not be translated as “purified,” but would be closely related to the word “chet.” A chet is a sin; its primary meaning though is related to the idea of missing the mark, to be off target and in error. (Every sin is an error.) By demanding a full mikvah of forty sa’ah, the pasuk would be turning these utensils into symbols of Man himself. Just as Man requires forty sa’ah, so do these utensils. A person who steps into a mikvah leaves behind some lesser part of himself. He rids himself of some level of unholiness, or pedestrian existence. The immersion of the metal utensil, apparently, does the same.

...

muman613 · « **Reply #572 on:** October 03, 2014, 01:47:42 AM »

http://ohr.edu/ask_db/ask_main.php/27/Q2/

Topic: Evil, Is Man Intrinsically
Bryan at Columbia University writes:

Does the fact that we have a Yetzer Hara mean that Man is intrinsically evil?

Dear Bryan,

The Yetzer Hara is commonly translated as the "Evil inclination." Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto (the Ramchal) in "The Way of G-d" describes the role of the Yetzer Hara in man's quest for perfection.

"Man is the creature created for the purpose of being drawn close to G-d. He is placed between perfection and deficiency, with the power to earn perfection. Man must earn this perfection, however, through his own free will...

Man's inclinations are therefore balanced between good [Yetzer Hatov] and evil [Yetzer Hara], and he is not compelled toward either of them. He has the power of choice and is able to choose either side knowingly and willingly..."

The Ramchal explains that this balance existed prior to the sin of Adam.

After his sin, however, he became more inclined to listen to the wiles of his Yetzer Hara. His job is now two-fold: First, he must even the balance between the spiritual and the physical. Then, he can work to perfect his soul until his spiritual so overwhelms the physical that the physical becomes elevated to its level of perfection.

The Yetzer Hara is an inclination to "stray," but Man has the wherewithal to overcome it. The pull of the Yetzer Hara is the more powerful of the two inclinations, but is by no means impossible to conquer.

The Torah states:

"G-d said to Cain, 'Why are you so furious? Why are you depressed? If you do good, will there not be special privilege? And if you do not do good, sin is crouching at the door. It lusts after you but you can dominate it.'"

And the Talmud tells us how:

"So said the Holy One, blessed be he, to Israel: 'My son I created the Yetzer Hara and I created for it the Torah as an antidote. If you toil in Torah you will not be handed over into his hands...'"

Sources:

* Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto - The Way of G-d, translated by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, Feldheim Publishers.
* The Book of Genesis, 4:6-7, [translation by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan in "The Living Torah", Moznaim Publishing Company].
* The Talmud - Tractate Kiddushin, p.30b.

shai77 · « **Reply #573 on:** October 03, 2014, 02:05:32 AM »

I like the nevel harp.

shai77 · « **Reply #574 on:** October 03, 2014, 02:16:59 AM »

If one wants to be inspired to make holy music I think one should read the mitzvot before composing music for inspiration. Perhaps righteousness and good character will be reflected in the music instead of what we have today, which is music which generally corrupts the mind.