Kabbalah Explains Music

It’s no secret – we love music. Music is the universal language which establishes a common bond among all people. It evokes passionate emotions in the heart and rekindles vibrant memories of the mind. We are calmed by it, excited by it, comforted by it and we feel an inner need to share these emotions with others. The peace that music brings is evident when we speak of being "in tune" or of needing harmony and rhythm to feel complete and alive.

Music today is more accessible and personal than ever. Apple’s advent of the iPod has spawned a worldwide phenomenon. Billions have been sold and companies like Microsoft and others are jumping on the bandwagon. We love it because it allows us to personalize what we choose to listen to. To many of us, our playlists are sacred and they somehow define who we are.

The famous composer Ludwig van Beethoven once said, “Music is the one incorporeal entrance into the higher world of knowledge which comprehends mankind but which mankind cannot comprehend.” This thought touches a cord within anyone who has been moved in unexplainable ways by song.

But what stands behind all this? Why does music touch us so deeply? Kabbalah explains that whether we are aware of it or not, all of the musical sounds we make are but a cry of our soul. There is a soul within each of us, and our souls yearn to understand the Creator, to come closer to Him and feel Him. This is why music speaks to us in ways that touch us deeply and why music has played a pivotal role in society throughout the ages.

It turns out that music also plays a major role in the study of Kabbalah: There is an important link between listening to Kabbalistic music and acquiring spiritual sensations. Since music speaks to the person in a language of feelings and emotions, by listening to music created by Kabbalists, one begins to sense what the Kabbalists felt when composing it.

The spiritual sensations that a Kabbalist feels can be expressed through prose, poetry, songs, or melodies because all of these are ways of recording one's inner sensations. However, out of all these "languages," or all the ways of delivering information from person to person, the language of music is the most immediate, the most accessible, and the most direct, requiring no explanations.

Baal HaSulam - the great 20th century Kabbalist - wrote songs and composed melodies as expressions of his spiritual attainments. His music comes to us directly from the spiritual worlds, and expresses the deep emotional sensations that a Kabbalist feels as he rises and falls while developing his contact with the Creator. By writing melodies, Baal HaSulam left us an enormous gift – melodies which describe the Upper World – the manifestation of the Creator.