The Secret of the Niggun: The Power of Melody in Conquering the Land and Building the Home
Class No. 118 | Eve of 6 Kislev 5758 - Engagement at the Rav's Home in the Old City
Rabbi Berland shlit"a explains the tremendous power of the niggun (spiritual melody), from bringing new souls down to the world to King David's conquest of the Land. The article reveals how sin causes the loss of one's inner melody, and how the secret of marriage and the binding of the aravah (willow) to the Four Species restores a person's voice of pleasantness and joy.
Our entire aspiration and the yearning of our soul is to bring souls closer to the world and to be joyous. Every soul that descends into the world is a completely new light, in the aspect of "A new light will shine upon Zion." We pray that more and more souls will come, with even greater strength and might.
And so the cycle continues—we will bring down great souls, and after them, even greater souls will descend, until all the souls in the Guf (the heavenly treasury of souls) are depleted. There are wondrous souls that have not yet been revealed at all since the creation of the world, and perhaps we will merit that in this generation they will be revealed, guide us, and find the path for us to reveal the light.
The Secret of the Voice of Melody and the Spirit of Prophecy
The path to revealing the light passes through the niggun. The spirit of prophecy is drawn down through the voice of melody, and therefore a person must have the voice of melody. The Levites would play music in the Holy Temple, and it is said of King David that he knew how to play. Not everyone knows how to play an instrument, but speech itself must be a melody, and even a person's clothing is an aspect of melody.
King David was the "sweet singer of Israel"; his entire reality was pleasantness. He would pray with eternal pleasantness, in the aspect of:
"May the pleasantness of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; establish the work of our hands" (Psalms 90:17).
A person comes into the world to see this niggun. He was given life in order to live the niggun. It is brought down in the Tikkunei Zohar on the verse, "And a river flows out of Eden to water the garden," that this river is the niggun. Hashem waters the Garden of Eden through the niggun. The meaning is that everything a person speaks and everything he thinks must be accompanied by a niggun.
Conquering the Land and Victory Through Melody
When a person lives with a niggun, he waters the garden, and then Jacob overcomes Esau. It is said, "The voice is the voice of Jacob"—this is the voice of melody. Jacob Avinu is entirely a niggun; he speaks with a niggun. Even when he turns to Isaac, he says, "Please arise, my father"—everything is said with a melody of holiness.
Only through melody is it possible to hold back the sitra achra (the forces of impurity). Rebbe Nachman says that Mashiach will conquer the nations of the world only through melody. Everything a person conquers is only through the niggun. Thus we find with King David, who would play the kinnor (harp) and nevel (lyre). The acronym of the Hebrew words Kinnor Naim Im Nevel (a pleasant harp with a lyre) forms the word Canaan.
The primary conquest of the Land of Canaan was through melody. King David merited to conquer the Land with the niggun of the "sweet singer of Israel." In order to conquer the Land up to the Euphrates River, one needs a voice of melody so powerful that everyone will agree and recognize it.
Losing the Melody Through Sin and Restoring It Under the Chuppah
When Adam HaRishon (the First Man) sinned, he lost the voice of melody, as he said:
"I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid" (Genesis 3:10).
A person who sins loses the melody. Every blemish of the covenant (immorality), every opening of the eyes to forbidden sights, causes him to lose the niggun. Through sins, everything sinks and descends lower and lower.
However, the wedding and the marriage restore all the melody to a person. Therefore, the custom is to bring musicians to a wedding, to play and sing. The unity and connection between a husband and wife are created only through niggunim (melodies). Therefore, at a wedding, one must play music as much as possible, because through the musical instruments, the niggun is drawn down anew, and this rectifies and restores the voice of melody that was lost.
The Secret of the Aravah: Completing the Taste and Smell
After the sin, Hashem made "garments of skin" for Adam and his wife. This is the secret of love (ahavah) and the secret of the aravah (willow). The aravah on its own has no taste and no smell, but when we take it and bind it together with the esrog, the lulav, and the hadass (myrtle), we infuse it with taste and smell.
This is the secret of marriage. Sometimes a person feels that they have no taste and no smell (lacking spiritual vitality or good deeds), but when they get married—the man lacks something, the woman lacks something, and they complete one another. Each one works with all their strength to complete the other, to help them and to uplift them. Together, taste and smell are created, and a melody is formed in which each one lifts the spirits of the other.
Reb Noson says that this is the secret of a wedding, which is entirely filled with melodies and songs. Therefore, we recite the blessing:
"There shall yet be heard in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the groom and the voice of the bride" (Jeremiah 33:11).
The blessing is that until a hundred and twenty years (a full, long life), they will speak to each other like a groom and a bride. There should never be a situation where, after getting used to one another, they begin to shout. Rather, they should always maintain a pleasant voice, a quiet voice—the voice of a groom and the voice of a bride.
Part 2 of 2 — Lesson No. 118
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