Vayelech

I take my grandkids to story time each week. It’s the same routine each time – they start with a song, then another. Then comes the A-B-C song, which has the same melody as “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” and “Ba Ba Black Sheep.”  Little do they know that learning that simple song, in which they point to the letters, a  single stanza written in trochaic meter, will serve them the rest of their lives as they unravel the English language.

Hearing that song takes me back to the beginning of my Hebrew education in which I learned the letters, first the shin, then the bet, then the tav. Voila – I could read my first word, Shabbat. But I quickly realized that the Hebrew alphabet didn’t start with a shin. And it certainly wasn’t followed by a bet and a tav. It wasn’t until college, when Debbie Friedman (z’l) wrote her “Alef-Bet Song,” that I finally was able to use a Hebrew dictionary without flipping through the entire book looking for the first letter of a word and then thumbing through each word until I found what I was looking for.

Music and poetry are powerful tools for helping us to internalize concepts and lessons. A Stanford study shows that music engages areas of the brain which are involved with paying attention, making predictions and updating events in our memory.  Both music and language are complex communication systems, in which basic components are combined into high-order structures in accordance with rules.  Whether music was an evolutionary precursor to language or merely a by-product of cognitive faculties that developed to support language, music is pervasive across human cultures and throughout history.

Parashat Vayelech is a good example of the power of poetry and music. Moses addresses the Children of Israel in preparing them for new leadership as they enter the Promised Land. At 120 years of age, he is handing the baton to Joshua. Moses says to Joshua, in the sight of all Israel: “Chazak ve’ematz – Be strong and resolute, for it is you who shall go with this people into the land that Adonai swore to their fathers to give them, and it is you who shall apportion it to them. And Adonai will go before you. He will be with you; He will not fail you or forsake you. Fear not and be not dismayed!”

Throughout their journey through the desert, Moses has been leading up to this point, molding a new generation. Through challenges and victories, our ancestors left behind their yokes of slavery and prepared to live as free people. But God well knew that the Israelites would forget time and again the important teachings that would keep them on the right path. Even now, God knows that the people will continue to go astray. God will become angry, will abandon the people and hide from them. Therefore, God instructs Moses to write down all the teachings, the Torah, and to teach it to the Israelites as a song.

We find ourselves in the midst of the Yamim Nora’im, the Days of Awe. Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are our bookends, and we contain the contents of the book, our Torah. What important teachings were handed down from previous generations to you? What lessons do you want to leave for those who will follow you?

A – Accept others for who they are. You can’t change them; you can only change yourself.

B – Be true to yourself. You are perfect just the way you are.

C – Change is inevitable; sometimes it takes the form of evolution and other times it’s revolution. Change is the only constant in life.

D – Don’t sweat the small things. In 100 years, will it really matter?

E – Enjoy and be thankful for something each and every day.

F – Feed another human being. If each of us shared our wealth, we could wipe out worldwide hunger.

G – Greet another human being as you walk down the street. “For you were once strangers in the Land of Egypt.” Break down the barriers of isolation.

Letters can stand by themselves, never touching, without meaning. A-B-C, Alef-Bet-Gimel.

Letters can connect to become words. Nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, and conjunctions. “Head, shoulder, knees and toes, knees and toes …”

Words can become sentences, expressing thoughts and feelings, connecting us with each other and with God.  “I like you just the way you are.”

And sentences can become Teachings. “Chamatz ve’ematz” – Be strong and resolute. “V’ahavta l’re’echa kamocha” – Love your neighbor as yourself. “V’ahavta et adonai elohecha” – Love Adonai your God. As we approach Yom Kippur, the second bookend of these Days of Awe, what teachings will you write before the Book is closed? How will you live your teachings so that you enter your Promised Land with strength and resolve? Write it down, put it to music, sing it to yourself and out loud.

May we live, like Moses our teacher, in good health to 120.

G’mar chatimah tovah – may we be sealed in the Book of Life for a good year.