Lesson Three – Torah Gimel (revised)

Music is so so powerful, it can lift a person out of the pits and raise him to the highest heights. Back in the day, all the prophets used to reach their high levels only through song and music. However a person must be very careful, because according to the level of the singer or musician will be the level imparted to the listeners. If a person sings and plays out of purity with pure love for Hashem and for mankind, his songs will purify its listeners and uplift them, bringing them to awesome levels of attachment to holiness. But if a person sings or plays music out of anger or depression, or even for wealth and honor, his or her songs are detrimental to the spiritual growth of its listeners. Even those prayer leaders who sing for honor and self-glorification can make it almost impossible for those in his congregation to attain any spiritual attachment while praying. It can completely cut off their ability to pray with purity, without even knowing why, a person will feel an inability to uplift himself in prayer. When back in the day, prayer leaders used to lift up the congregation to awesome levels of prophecy, now in exile, for the most part, they only accomplish the opposite. But there is a way…

A spiritual seeker must make it a habit to stay up late at night in solitude studying the secrets of the holy Torah, especially the hidden secrets of the Talmud. Doing this will surround him with a holy aura at all times, and he will not only be protected from outside influence, he will by merely “staying connected,” absorb all negative influences that come to him and transform them into holiness, thereby transforming the world step by step. Wow, what a strength! Anyone who reaches a high spiritual level like this, must be extra careful to love everyone with all their heart, because just as he has the power to fix the world, he has the power, by looking negatively down on others, to god forbid, destroy the world.

So this “connected” person who stays up late at night learning and connecting, who deeply loves every human being with all his heart until he doesn’t even know how to see bad in others, when he walks into a congregation where the prayer leader is not singing out of purity, he can, due to the aura of holiness which surrounds him, uplift himself even higher through the songs of this impure prayer leader, by doing this, not only does he uplift himself, he uplifts the song, uplifts the singer and uplifts the congregation, and anyone else who will in the future hear this persons songs. What a gift!

Tags: Breslov, Music, Prophecy, Reb Nachman, Song