At the end of Parshat VaYelech, Moses calls the Torah a ’song’ and commands the Jewish people to remember this song. The next week’s parsha, Ha’azinu, is clearly a song as well, and many commentators suggest that it is to serve as a paradigm for the entire Torah. The question is why – Why is the Torah compared to a song? Why not call it a megilla – a scroll? Or a sefer – a book? And more importantly, what does it mean for us that the Torah is a song?
Regarding the first question, a recent study conducted with Duke University students is perhaps instructive. A large group of these students were asked to write down the words of the Star Spangled Banner. This should have been a relatively easy task considering how often all of these students had heard the national anthem sung over the years. And yet, they were on average only able to reproduce 32 words.
The experimenters then played the music to the Star Spangled Banner — but without any words — and allowed participants to hum the tune as they tried again to write down the words of the national anthem. This time, Duke students were able to recall on average 52 words — obviously much better.
[Unfortunately, there are actually 81 words in the Star Spangled Banner, which I guess means Americans are not so great at remembering the national anthem under any circumstances. Consistent with this fact, I once read about a website dedicated exclusively to PUBLIC performances in which people flubbed their rendition of the national anthem. In one, a famous singer is seen 'cheating' as he tries to read the words of the anthem off his hand during a rendition before a baseball game.]
If putting the words of the Star Spangled Banner to music can help us recall the words, perhaps putting the Torah to music can do the same — and not just with regards to ‘recalling the words’ but also in terms of remembering the values and integrating the emotions inspired by the Torah into our daily lives.
But that’s only half the story — the part that tells us why Moses would want to present the Torah as a song. The other half relates to what we are supposed to do with that information. When we sit down to learn the Torah, does the fact that it was written as a ’song’ inspire me to do anything differently?
Here, too, an interesting study might shed some light on this matter. In this study, a group of people were asked to memorize some words. Some of the people were asked to memorize the words in a classroom setting, while others were asked to memorize them … under water! In scuba gear! A little while later, both groups of people were asked to recall the words they had learned, but with a twist. Part of the people who memorized the words in the classroom were asked to recall them in the same classroom, while another portion of this first group was asked to don scuba gear and go underwater … and then try to recall the words. To no one’s surprise, the group that was asked to recall the words in the classroom did significantly better than the group asked to recall them under water.
But here is where it gets interesting. A portion of the second group — those that initially memorized the words underwater — were asked to recall the words above ground in a classroom setting; another portion of this second group were allowed to return under water and asked to recall the words there. To everyone’s surpise the group asked to recall the words under water did significantly better than the group asked to recall the words above ground. This despite the fact that as they attempted to recall the words they also had to deal with all their scuba gear, the pressures of paying attention under water and while dodging boats and fish alike.
From this, the scientists conducting the experiment concluded as follows: When asked to remember things, humans do much better when they are in the same place and doing the same thing as they were when they first encountered the thing they are being asked to remember. A startling additional experiment further proved this point: A person who learns something while a little drunk will actually remember that item better when he/she is once again a little drunk as opposed to being entirely sober.
These experiments have relevance to us as we attempt to learn Torah — or better, re-learn the Torah as it was first given to the Jewish people thousands of years ago. Since it was originally given in song, it suggests that we will have a better chance of properly recalling it — properly understanding it — when we try to do so in a state of song as well (kind of like humming the music to the National Anthem helped people recall that song better than when they simply tried to remember it without the music). By being in such a state, we will have better access to what it’s all about. We will hear its ‘music’ and understand its pace — we will grasp the emotions within it and uncover the unspeakable yet irreplacable inspirations it is trying to convey.
On a practical level, this does not mean we should reread the Torah only when music is being played (though that might not be a bad idea in certain situations when that music puts one in the right mood to ‘receive’ the information — i.e., when music makes us happy, we might be better able to open our hearts and minds to more Torah than if we were sad, which often limits our horizons and ability to receive). Rav Kook would say that the ‘music’ of the Torah is not just the music, but also the feelings, the joy and the meaning found within it. If one learns Torah and ignores any of the emotions the Torah is trying to convey to the reader, but rather views it purely as an intellectual exercise, this student will have missed a good part of what the Torah is about. If he only sees the details, but misses out on the big picture that God has chosen to communicate with us, that God has written a ‘love song’ as it were, well then he will have misunderstood the essence of the Torah.
Ancient songs were different, without a distinctive rhyme. More or less any text could be sung.