A Musical Escape

Have you ever gone down a music wormhole? Something ignites a connection - maybe a smell, a memory, summer. You dust off an album or a tape or CD or old playlist from when you were a teenager. As those first familiar notes crackle through the speaker, you’re enveloped in the warm embrace of an old friend, whose cadence and melody catch you as you fall into the past. An unstoppable smile washes over your face as your hands drum the beat and your lips mouth every word, to the soundtrack of your past. It’s as if you just reconnected with a best friend you hadn’t seen in years. One song leads to another. A new set of memories, emotions, tastes become vivid - taking you time traveling to chapters long since closed. 

These harbors of sound transport us to a still place, a higher place that shield us from the frantic pace of life.

Rabbi Heschel writes that “In the tempestuous ocean of time and toil there are islands of stillness where [we] may enter a harbor and reclaim [our] dignity. The island is the seventh day, [Shabbat], a day of detachment from things…and practical affairs, as well as of attachment to the spirit.” (Sabbath p. 29)

Think of the tempestuous ocean of our regular week as you gather in a deep breath through your nose….and breathe it out through your mouth. Take a few more deep breaths on your own until you enter that island of stillness.

As you greet the Sabbath bride this evening, let your soul wander within the still, safe harbor of your home. And if you get a chance this Shabbat, or any Shabbat during this 50th anniversary of the Summer of Love, dust off some music from your past, dance through a living room of memories, and spend some time relaxing on an island of stillness.

Delivered at Temple Sinai of Roslyn on 7/14/2017