From the Music Philes

The goal of this blog is to stimulate some harmony at your Friday night dinner table.... please print and share.

In case you didn't hear it from me last week, Shana tova - happy new year.

Here's an opening question for your table, which some readers heard me ask in my high holidays classes over the past couple weeks:


What is a shofar?

Think about it.

I'm not asking you what it's made of. I'm asking you what it is.

My answer:

It's a musical instrument.

Think about it.

Isn't it interesting that despite all the rituals that we have for the holidays, the only thing the Torah mentions doing on Rosh Hashana is blowing shofar?

I.e., playing music?

So that leads me to my second question for your table:

What makes great music great?

If you agree with me that great music includes harmony, then you can tackle this week's third question for your table:

What's the secret to great harmony?

(I'll give you a hint: it's a one-word answer....)

Shabbat Shalom and Happy Sukkot

PS:


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Four More Questions

The purpose of this blog is to ramp-up your Shabbat dinner table. Please print and share.


1. How was this Pesach different from all other Pesachim?
2. What's your definition of a successful Passover Seder?
3. How do/would you achieve it?
4. How do you want next year's Pesach to be different?

Kindly send (or post to comments below) your and your table's wisdom to share with others.


Just before Pesach I posed Q 2+3 to a few people, most of them veteran teachers.

Here's what one said:

Everyone should enjoy it – enjoyment itself gives them a strong connection. And ten years from now, what are they going to remember? Mostly whether or not they enjoyed it.

Two days later, he came back to me:

Beyond enjoying it, I hope that everyone should learn one of the lessons, such as that God is running the world. To achieve these two things, I make sure everyone is well-fed and well-rested before the Seder begins, then I keep things moving and dramatize the Plagues with many visual aids. And we sing together as much as possible.

5th question for your table - Is singing together important?

At a men's end-of-Pesach share-your-leftover-matzah meal Tuesday evening at a nearby shul, the rabbi spoke about this exact subject.

There were about 100 present, and at one point a portion of us were singing while another portion were (loudly) shmuzing.

The rabbi spoke beautifully and deeply, and told a story about the great rabbi, the Vilna Gaon.

In a nutshell, the end of the story is that the Vilna Gaon taught, "Anyone who doesn't get music, can't fully get Torah".

That's food for thought. (What do you reckon he meant?)


Shabbat Shalom

PS - Top answer to last week's Groucho question: "Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana." (Although the attribution has been questioned, Groucho afficianados have no doubt.) (For those who had too much horseradish over Pesach and are not getting the joke, click here.)

PPS - Enjoyed this post-Pesach treat? Please like it, tweet it, or just forward it to someone who might enjoy it.


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