[Jewish] [Mindful Torah] Psalm for Thursday: Psalm 81, vs. 3

[Rabbi Steven Nathan]

Raise a song; sound the tambourine, the sweet lyre with the harp.

After the violent and difficult verse from yesterday's psalm, today's
is a pleasant sight!
This is clearly a psalm of joy. It has always amazed me how many words
there are for joy or celebrate in Hebrew, as well as in English and
other languages. Many of these words are found in the psalms and other
biblical texts. But today's verse is not simply about the need to
celebrate, but intructions are given. And these tell us that the
Levites had quit an orchestra all those years ago. For they were the
ones who would sing the psalms as part of the rituals that included
animal sacrifices as well as other sacrifices and offerings to God. And
so, just as animals were being slaughtered and burned and blood was
being sprinkled on the altar, so too the Levites were singing and
playing their instruments. Both song and sacrifice were part of the
effort to praise and thank God

in this verse the psalmist does not just instruct us to sing, or to
play specific instruments at different times. It would seem that the
song and the playing of the tambourine and lyre with harp was happening
concurrently. And so singing, playing instruments and sacrifices were
all a part of worship in Biblical times. The diversity of worship and
the diversity of instruments in this and other psalms reminds us that
we are each unique. But the fact that all of this took place either
simultaneously or within close proximity reminds us that even though we
are unique and different, we are all one. And that is an important
message to remember in our fractured world.

--
Posted By Rabbi Steven Nathan to Mindful Torah at 4/29/2010 01:39:00 AM
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.hampshire.edu/pipermail/jewish/attachments/20100428/bbe1547c/attachment.htm>