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Music—Touches where Texts Can Not

Kabbalists use texts to explain to others the levels of spirituality they have reached. In their writings, however, Kabbalists only advise us on how to attain an impression, sensation, and discovery of this reality. They write about the kind of actions that you must perform within, with your desires, screens, and Reshimot—with everything inside your soul. The books say, in effect, “Perform certain actions and you will discover certain things.” They do not, however, describe what we will feel because it is impossible to convey the feeling in words. It is similar to offering a new food to someone and saying, “Try it, and you’ll see what it’s like!” Whether it is bitter or sweet, you only hint at what the person is going to sense or how he will experience the sensation. Yet the sensation itself is experienced only by the person receiving the offer, not by anyone else. This is why it is difficult for Kabbalists to convey what they feel, what they face, what is revealed before them: what the concealed world is like. Only one medium somehow expresses the impressions and delight of a person before whom the Upper World has revealed itself, and that is music. This is why, in addition to writing articles and very deep, intricate material, Kabbalists also write melodies and songs. It is one more way to express the sensations of a Kabbalist in a more concise manner, from heart to heart, through melodies, without words, so that these melodies would permeate our hearts and change us in some way, somehow tuning us into perceiving the Upper World