The Right Tune

Translated by Aaron Yoseph

The atmosphere is full of songs, for we learn in Perek Shira that all the creations are singing to Hashem. Those are the songs of the holy side, that make you happy. Unfortunately though, most people are listening to the right type of songs. The “dark side” is singing too. These types of songs make big problems for a person.

A person doesn’t understand one thing – where his feelings of depression and laziness come from. And he doesn’t see any way to fix his depression. He feels like he just doesn’t have any strength today, so he loses out on productivity, especially on spiritual productivity – nothing seems to go well for him. There are some for whom this is really drastic, and things really don’t work out for them. Why? They have the wrong songs in their head, and they’re listening to them.

We all need to merit becoming free men – to escape the binds of the Sitra Achra (dark side) who weighs us down with this heaviness – so many thoughts and hassles that all stem from the wrong melodies in your head. Things that we could really sort out in a few minutes take us a few days to do when our heads aren’t focused. We think and think and worry… We are definitely trapped in this, and how so! How did we get to this? The answer is very clear. It’s because we listen to poisonous, dark-side songs – I’m not just talking about acid rock and violent music that’s composed and played by drug addicts; all the slander, arguments and different hassles that people listen to are all dark-side melodies that poison their souls.

The melody of learning Torah heals the soul, but the truth is that we don’t have to learn all day long to maintain spiritual and emotional health. We do need to learn for a few hours daily, to understand that our life and energy comes from being the song of being a Jew, from believing in Hashem and rejoicing in the mitzvot, and to pray and learn as much Torah as we can. A person who really wants to be healthy and happy sings his private prayers to Hashem every day. A singing hitbodedut – nothing is greater!

A truly diligent person does need to be careful of every moment. Someone who has to go to work – that’s also serving Hashem. Be there at the workplace happily, and have fear of Heaven, remember Hashem. When you come home, remember Hashem, when you come to the shop, remember Hashem. If you don’t have a home or a job, then you’ll for sure remember Hashem! What do you have to worry about? Hashem will provide. Hashem will give you an apartment, Hashem will arrange everything – a shidduch, income, a home – we just need to learn Torah and come closer and closer to emuna and not worry. We need to hear the song and energize ourselves: “An energetic song is playing in my heart – that I’m a Jew and Hashem loves me! He wants my Torah! He rejoices when I speak to Him and He loves my own song! What joy and energy this gives! To praise and thank Hashem. Hashem delights in me!” This is the song – our own song – that each of us should be singing.of the Torah.

Our sages tell us (Megillah 32a) “Whoever learns without a tune…” Learning needs to be with a song – easy, with feeling, and with no worries about whether or not we are “succeeding” in our learning or not. If we have such worries, we’ve gone off course.

We’re coming to receive the Torah afresh. Baruch Hashem we have a beard and peyote, we have tzitzit, we have a Shul, we learn the Rebbe Nachman’s books – we’re truly rich. We can all sing!

When a person hears the song of holiness – of Torah, of mitzvot, of praising Hashem – he walks around with a good tune in his head. This makes him light of foot, agile and happy. But, when he hears wicked tunes – lies, slander, heresy, evil, hassles – this is what brings on the feeling of heaviness. A person’s mind is troubled, he’s confused and feel’s like he’s going mad. Some people do go mad – they are so hassled that they can’t sleep and they can’t get up, it’s really hard. But it’s possible to work on this, to receive the Torah afresh and come into believing in Hashem, to come to a place where doing Hashem’s will is our entire life. We can bring into our hearts that something is happening here. “Why do I have to hear the tune of the wicked?” There’s no need to heed the tune of this world with all its loshon hora, arguments and opinions. Everyone stumbles in these things. The world is full of loshon hora. Listen to the right song – the song of Torah and emuna – and you’ll dance all day long.