Music in Jewish Mysticism

Mysticism is the experience of union or direct communion with ultimate reality, the knowledge derived from such an experience, or the belief that such direct knowledge can be attained through subjective means.

Jewish Mysticism: Cabala
The doctrines and practices of Jewish mysticism are known under the broad heading of Cabala (variant spellings include Cabbala, Cabbalah, Kabala, Kabbala, and Kabbalah). The English word comes from Medieval Latin cabala, but the ultimate origin is Hebrew qabbalah, meaning literally "received (doctrine)" or "tradition," from qabal ("to receive").

In Hebrew, the term originally designated legal tradition in Judaism but was later applied to Jewish mystical tradition. Cabala was founded in the Middle Ages, its chief early text being Sefer ha-zohar ("Book of Splendor"), a mystical commentary on the Torah, compiled by Moses de León in the late thirteenth century.

Sonic Emanations: Sefirot
According to Cabala, God is the unknowable, qualityless En-Sof (or En-Soph, "the Infinite," literally "Without End"). The world and life came from En-Sof through a series of ten emanations, or material manifestations, called sefirot (or sephirot, "utterances," literally "numbers"). By the sins of humankind, the immanent aspect of God, known as the Shechinah (or Shekinah, "Divine Presence"), was exiled from the world in the final sefirah.

The pious can help bring about the reunion of the En-Sof with the Shechinah. Because the human soul contains some of the sefirot (and therefore the En-Sof), the individual experience of mystical union with the Divine Presence will have cosmic effects and help restore universal harmony.

Music as Sefirot
Music is a profound equivalence of sefirot, which are divine "utterances" (sound) and "numbers" (ratios that produce music intervals). Therefore, music serves as a primary vehicle by which Jewish mystics can attune themselves to the sefirot and thus to the En-Sof and the Shechinah.

Cabala texts often describe the secrets of creation or of the heavens by using music symbols, metaphors, and allegories.

For example, a Cabalistic commentary on the first word in the Bible, bereshit ("in the beginning"), suggests that God created the world in song (that is, harmony). The rationale is that bereshit is, loosely, an anagram of shir ta'ev ("song of desire"), which expresses the longing of the whole universe to sing the praises of God. (Shiloah, 144-145)

Another Cabalistic reference to music is the frequent description of the reciprocal relationship between the lower world and the upper world by analogy with music resonance.

For example, in his book The Binding of Isaac, the fifteenth-century Cabalist Isaac 'Arama maintains that the perfection of the world results from the tuning of the strings of the minor instrument (the microcosmos) in perfect consonance with the strings of the major instrument (the macrocosmos). The harmonic proportionality of the instruments is established by the observance of the laws of the Torah, while nonobservance of the laws impairs this proportionality, causing the world to degenerate. The duty of humankind is to observe the laws for the purpose of regaining the original harmony and spirituality in all of creation.

Music Mysticism at Safed
From the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries, Cabalism flourished in the Galilean town of Safed. Mystics at that time and place fostered an acoustic type of inner experience and symbolic expression.

One of the leaders was Moses ben Jacob Cordovero (1522-1570). According to Cordovero, peoples on the earth are "birds of varied plumage, each with its own type of music and its own song." As the power of God descends to the lower spheres, "the song of the birds is heard drawing Him through all the rooms to hear the sweet music." (Ency. Jud., "Music")

In such passages, music is the mystical link between humans and ultimate reality. Eleazar ben Moses Azikri (1533-1600) expressed this musicomystical link in another way. When man prays, according to Azikri, "his soul should always be united with the love of God"; and because the affectionate are moved to sing, the truly devout "shall sing unto Him from the depths of their heart." (Ency. Jud., "Music")

Music Mysticism in Hasidism
Cabala greatly influenced Hasidism, a Jewish mystical sect founded in the eighteenth century by Israel ben Eliezer, who came to be known as the Ba'al Shem Tov ("Master of the Good Name"). Hasidism stresses religious enthusiasm and devotion over study and intellectualism.

The key to unlocking spiritual powers among Hasidim is ecstatic communion with God, attained through the sonic paths of intense singing and fervent prayer. Dov Ber of Lubavich (1773-1827), a Hasid, emphasized the "unsung song," the very essence of music that does not materialize in an actual melody but is found in the concentration of the mind on the divine. (Ency. Jud., "Music")

At prayer the mystic utilizes a kavvanah (an "intention" to carry out a divine command or precept), which is a state of mental concentration on the mystical union of the world and God. The mystic can bring about such a state by contemplating the hidden meanings underlying certain key words in the prayers.

Chanting helps focus the mind on the proper chain of thought and serves as a reminder of the specific "intention." A music passage serving this purpose is usually a long, mostly wordless, hypnotic melisma. (Ency. Jud., "Music")

Ancient Echoes in Jewish Music Mysticism
Jewish mysticism, then, echoes the primeval belief in a sonic/musical conception of the origin and continuing nature of the universe. Such ideas are found in prehistoric artifacts (including rock paintings and musical instruments, such as cave structures and animal bones, that called forth the "voices" of nature); in the music and religious systems of ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, India, and Pythagorean Greece; and in many of today's traditional cultures.

The Cabalists' highly sophisticated version of that conception can be seen in the sonic basis of the sefirot ("utterances" or "numbers" of music ratios that link the human world and the universe) and in the use of music symbols, metaphors, and allegories to explain creation, existence, and ultimate reality.

The Cabalists' idea that humans are mystically linked to the musical cosmos can be seen in the belief that the human soul contains some of the sonic sefirot (and therefore the En-Sof) and in the use of music to attain union or direct communion with ultimate reality.