Shevaḥ ha-nashim (In Praise of Women)

If I was indeed engaged in my youth with singing and the musical art, surely it is the most magnificent of the arts, and I have elucidated its beneficial effects in the Abir Ya‘akov in this commentary, where I have explained everything pertaining to it. Now all the Levites were especially skilled in this as they would chant on the raised platform [in the Temple], and it is most suitable for those engaged in spiritual contemplation to achieve arousal of the flow of divine grace, as happened to Elisha: And it was, when the minstrel played, that the spirit of the Lord came upon him (2 Kings 3:15). And who do we have more expert in this than David, and the prophet testified to his greatness in song, as it is written: They that strum [ha-poretim] upon the psalter, devising for themselves musical instruments, like David (Amos 6:5). And it seems correct to me to interpret the biblical verse in this manner—for you are already aware that someone who does not know how to play an instrument nonetheless has a natural inclination to pluck the strings on account of the manifold pleasure flowing from the melody, and occasionally, as he is not skilled in plucking the strings, he will press his hand too heavily upon them and put them out of action and cause them to fall to the ground. Similarly, they have said about such people, by way of censure of their lack of skill, that they had no idea whatsoever of instrumental music, and they were wise in their own estimation in regard thereto to the point where they considered themselves to be as skilled in instrumental music and melody as David, who was supremely great in this art. Now the meaning of poretim [in Amos] is “breaking and falling,” as in the phrase, And you shall not gather the fallen fruit [u-peret] of your vineyard (Leviticus 19:10), namely the fruit that fall down and break off from the tree. Accordingly, the verse is saying: see the foolishness of those who glorify themselves in instrumental music, whereas in reality they are so stupid in regard to this, that if they approach the psaltery and the harp and wish to pluck the strings slightly, they will break them—which demonstrates their lack of expertise. Hence [the word] poretim is transitive, for it is in the nature of the conjugation Qal [in Hebrew grammar] to be sometimes intransitive and sometimes transitive, as you are aware in the grammatical sphere. And this is a beautiful and novel interpretation, not offered by others, from which you may see the superiority of David; and this was not a criticism of David—God forbid, but rather a great praise—and likewise, when he leapt and danced with full strength before the Almighty, notwithstanding his being a monarch, this was not considered a criticism of him. And you can see what happened to Michal on account of her [censorious] words—that she never had a child [see 2 Samuel 6:14–23]—and further, that it is appropriate for a person to encompass and embrace all things and to engage in them all at the requisite times. And [our sages] have already declared that occasionally an individual should remain satisfied with his present state so as to prevent sin, as is said: Do not become over-wise—why should you destroy yourself? (Ecclesiastes 7:16).

Now, as David was a great expert in the field of song, scripture states (Psalms 104:33): I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live, I will sing praise to my God while I have my existence—let my musing be sweet unto Him!, etc. So now, hear from me what I am about to explain in this commentary in a clear, elegant manner, namely that three requirements are necessary for any singer. First, that he has well-developed vocal organs; i.e., that he should not have narrowness of the chest, and a short and sealed windpipe, but rather they should be open passages—and his temperament in life should be attuned to this. And it is this requirement that is alluded to when it says: “I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live”—as though to say, “For me it is befitting to sing, since my lifestyle and temperament and all their appurtenances are suitable for this.” And As long as I live alludes to the second requirement, that the singer’s voice should not be monotonous, but rather modulating, for it is then more pleasant; in other words, he should lower his voice at one point and raise it at another, in accordance with the relationship to the subject matter [of his song]; and this is alluded to by: I will sing praise unto my God while I have my existence (Psalms 146:2); as though to say: “It is befitting for me to sing [praise], as I do not produce one voice and then one of another sort.” Now the word be-‘odi [my existence] alludes to philosophizing, as this word is used about someone who wants to do one thing and then an additional matter, as: For He does not appoint a time [‘od] for any man (Job 34:23); in other words, God will not grant an individual an additional span of years beyond those allotted to him. The third requirement is that he should have a pleasant voice, which can harmonize with other voices; and it was to this that he alluded by declaring: Let my meditation be pleasant unto Him (Psalms 104:34)—namely, that he should have a pleasant voice. And hence it must follow from this that since I possess all the requirements for singing, I alone will be singing constantly, and I will sing praise—and accordingly he concluded by declaring: I will rejoice in the Lord (Psalms 104:34).

But I have another interpretation, which is more accurate and which accords with all the words, and it is as follows: First, [David] said: I will sing, and he continued, unto the Lord—an expression denoting [the divine attribute of] Mercy—and then he said, “As long as I live”; and he subsequently varied all the phraseology, declaring: I will sing praise to correspond to I will sing, and Unto my God—denoting [the divine attribute of] Justice, to correspond to Unto the Lord; and next he said: While I remain in existence, to correspond to As long as I live. Now you are already aware that it is not my practice to flee to the cities of refuge by saying that this constitutes merely a reiteration [of the theme] in alternative words, but, on the contrary, I examine carefully every word in the passage. Thus it appears correct to me to explain the matter by stating initially that when a person enjoys good health in all his bodily members, he can then sing orally, as the vocal organs are then healthy and he will be able to raise his voice at his discretion and in accordance with his understanding of what is required. Hence David declared: While I am still living, i.e., in my well-being, while all my limbs are perfect and healthy—for his entire physical existence is in a state of perfection, in that the hand of the Lord has not touched me, but rather, He is treating me mercifully, deploying His attribute of mercy. And accordingly, unto the Lord—denoting mercy—appears here: then I am capable of singing with my mouth, as all the vocal organs are healthy; and thus I will sing—for the unqualified word “song” [shir] means “orally.” Unto the Lord—Who has mercy upon me, and to give thanks unto His name for having preserved me in my healthy state. But [says David] when I am sick—for the Almighty had stricken him on account of some sin—and He has struck me mercilessly with His harsh attribute of Justice—[a condition to which David was reduced] at the time when he committed the sin involving Bathsheba, when he was at the point of death, then I was unable to sing to the Almighty with my mouth—for an invalid cannot raise his voice, his vocal organs being in an imperfect condition, but he is nonetheless capable of moving his hand—weak though it is—a little over a harp, and to play on it. Now this instrumental music is simply to thank the Almighty for everything He has done for him; since a man is obliged to recite a blessing over evil, as David declared (Psalms 116:3–4): I find trouble and anguish, yet I call upon the name of the Lord—or he should request the Almighty to deliver him from his malady, and hence he declared: I will sing praise unto my God while I am yet alive (Psalms 146:2)—for he said while I am yet alive to indicate that he was sick to the point of death. And therefore, while he still retained the breath of life, he would give thanks to the Almighty. And the expression while I am yet alive suggests an element of doubt as to his survival—like: So long as my breath is within me (Job 27:3). Accordingly, he employed Unto my God here to denote the attribute of justice and I will sing praises, which means “with his hand” on a musical instrument.

Thus David’s intent here was that both at times of good health and of sickness, he would play instrumental music and praise the Almighty, just like the devout, who rejoice in their sufferings. Now you are already aware that David belonged to this class of men, for he said to the sons of Zeruiah regarding Shimei (2 Samuel 16:10): And it was the Lord who said to him: ‘Curse David!’ etc. And later, David said that despite the Almighty having smitten him with illness, he still acknowledges His attribute of goodness and the many defects of His creatures, and asks the Lord to overlook his sins, accept his prayer and restore him to his former strength. And this is what is meant by: Let my meditation be pleasant unto Him (Psalms 104:34), namely, that his voice should be acceptable and pleasant to the Almighty, and not be a burden to Him; and he said my meditation because his words were mingled with weeping, like: I am distraught in my meditation, and will moan (Psalms 55:3), I pour out my meditative complaint before Him (Psalms 142:3)—although I have been in a state of trouble, and weeping and sickness, the Lord will restore me to the point where I will be able to rejoice before him as at first”—and thus I will rejoice in the Lord (Psalms 104:34) today! And now you can see how accurate this interpretation is, faithful to every word, and it is most wondrous in my view—tie it around your neck [see Proverbs 3:3]! And we learn from this David’s immense skill in the musical art; he was, moreover, highly expert in poetry, and this demonstrates, in regard to the verse: For the Leader; with string-music on the sheminit (Psalms 6:1)—that it was a poem composed for eight [shemoneh] strings together with tonal pegs and strings, as is well known within the rules governing poetry; and people would play it as a song with instrumental music; and this psalm was composed to fit that instrumental music. Now the [Hebrew] word shigayon (Psalms 7:1) is, in my view, like the tertian piece of poetry composed by me, and which is employed heavily by the Christian poets, as it is made up of three melodies, each line being sung to the accompaniment of ten strings. And all this is alluded to in the word shigayon, for the [letter] shin denotes shir (song), and the [third letter of the alphabet] gimel indicates that it is tripartite, and the [tenth letter of the alphabet] yod alludes to the fact that it is played on ten strings—and that psalm would be sung in accordance with the musical accompaniment to this rhythmic verse. And it is needless to elaborate, as all the psalms were composed to be sung, and [our sages] have already stated that they were composed with the ten “expressions” of song [b. Pesaḥim 117a]. Moreover, it seems to me that the word selah occurring in Psalms alludes to the final chord within the musical hexachord. For you already know that an entire song is composed of six chords, and that the final ones are called so-la, which are alluded to in the word selah, and accordingly it indicates elevation of the voice rather than being an integral part of the poem—consistent with our view that it constitutes one of the musical symbols. David was also highly skilled in instrumental music, and you can see how many types of instrument are mentioned in the psalm Hallelujah; praise God in His sanctuary (Psalm 150); and he further declared: Upon a psaltery of ten strings will I sing praises unto You (Psalms 144:9), which refers to a ten-stringed harp, as is the custom to have now too. Now this should suffice in regard to the art of song and music, complementing what I have written in the aforesaid book.

Other works by Messer Leon: Magen David (1496); ‘Eyn ha-kore (ca. 1508); Tehilah le-David (1576); Kevod ḥakhamim (1899).