Music: The Window to the Soul 

When I was a child, my father owned an orchestra, and I grew up around singers and concerts, so I totally get it. This was always a difficult challenge for me. And clearly, I was not alone. Today we have an entire industry of a cappella music CDs, designed specifically for the Sefirah period.

The kinds of questions rabbanim receive during these weeks clearly indicates an intense thirst to circumvent this restriction against music. Can I just practice my instrument? Can I listen to music while I work out at the gym? While traveling in the car to keep from falling asleep? What about slow, emotional music? What if I make a siyum? And the list goes on and on. To keep away from music for just a few weeks proves to be quite the feat.

But I want to reflect, if I may, on a message that we can all learn from this ban against music during Sefirah. What is the practical takeaway here?

Music’s Connection to Torah

To arrive at our point, we must first appreciate, on a more general level, music’s special place in Yiddishkeit.