Listening to a wicked singer is spiritually dangerous. Listening to a righteous singer can transform your soul. Rabbi Nachman of Breslov explains why, and the answer involves the secret origin of music itself.
The human voice of song, Rabbi Nachman teaches, is drawn from the birds. The Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) asks: why does the Torah prescribe two live birds for the purification of a leper? "Let the chatterer come and atone for the chatterer" (Vayikra Rabbah 16:7). The leper was stricken because of his destructive speech, and birds, creatures of voice, provide the remedy.
The Zohar reveals that the two pure birds "nurse from the same place that the prophets nurse" (Zohar III:53b). This is why a prayer leader is called a chazan (חזן), from the word chazon (חזון), "prophetic vision." A righteous singer draws their melody from the same divine source as prophecy itself. But a wicked singer takes their song from the birds of the kelipah (קליפה), the forces of impurity, and anyone who listens becomes ensnared: "As birds are caught in a trap, so are the children of man ensnared" (Ecclesiastes 9:12).
The remedy is studying the Oral Torah at night. The Talmud is associated with night and darkness: "He seated me in dark places, this is the Babylonian Talmud" (Sanhedrin 24a). By studying the six orders of the Mishnah, a person rectifies the six rings of the windpipe through which the voice emerges. "Rise, sing out in the night" (Lamentations 2:19). Song is purified and elevated through Torah study in the darkness.
Joy is the result. When the voice is rectified, wisdom flows. "A person's wisdom causes his countenance to shine" (Ecclesiastes 8:1). And joy, genuine joy rooted in holy song and Torah, opens gates of understanding that no amount of somber study can unlock.
*Aqruqta*
**Said **Rabbah bar Bar Channah: I myself saw this *aqruqta* (frog) which was as (the size of) of the Fort of Hagronia. (Talmud says:) What is the size of the Fort of Hagronia? — Sixty houses. (Rabbah says:) There came a snake and swallowed the frog. Then came a *pushqantza* (female raven) and swallowed the snake, and went up and perched on a tree. Come and see how strong was the tree. (*Baba Batra* 73b, with Rashbam):
**Behold!** whoever hears song from an evil singer, it hinders his service of the Creator. But when he hears from a fit and worthy singer, then it benefits him, as will be explained.
**For** behold, the voice of the song is drawn from the birds, as it says in the Midrash (*Vayikra Rabbah 16)*: "Why is it that the leper -- his purification depends on two live, clean birds? Let the chatterer (the birds) come and atone for the chatterer (the leper). For he was stricken because of [his] voice that spoke slander." Hence, whoever is fit, his song is drawn from the two live, clean birds. And it is written in the *Zohar (Vayikra 53), *that the two birds mentioned above, nurse from the place that prophets nurse. This is why the singer is called *ChaZzaN, *a term for vision (*ChaZzoN*), i.e. a term for prophecy, for he takes the song from the place that the prophets nurse.
**But when the singer **is wicked, then he takes his song from other birds that are in the *qlipah *(shells, evil forces). And it is written in the *Zohar:* "For the birds in the *qlipah *nurse from the breasts of *Malkhut* (kingship, see Appendix). And when midnight comes, such a cry goes out: "As the birds that are caught in the snare, so are the sons of men snared" (Eccl. 9:12).
**And the remedy,** namely, that one should be able to hear song from any man, is through learning Oral Torah at night, i.e. Gemara, which is like night. As it says in the Midrash, "When Moshe was on the mountain forty days and forty nights, he did not know when was day and when was night, except by this: when he would learn Written Torah, he would know it was day, and when he learned Oral Torah, he would know it was night." Hence the Oral Torah is like night. As our Rabbis of blessed memory said *(Sanhedrin 24)*, "He has set me in dark places," (Lam. 3:6) -- this is the Babylonian Talmud. And it is written: "and the darkness He called Night" (Gen. 1). I.e. by studying the six orders [of the Mishnah] one rectifies the six rings that are in the windpipe, from which the voice goes out. And this is: "Arise, sing out in the night" (Lam. 2)*,* i.e. that the song should be arisen/rectified, i.e. by means of the night which is Gemara of the six [Mishnaic] orders.
**But** when one learns not for its own sake, i.e. in order to be called a rabbi, his learning is not worth so much. But when he learns at night, a cord of mercy is drawn to him and protects him, that that thought should not harm him:
**It says** in the writings of the Ari of blessed memory, that the birds in the qlipah are the brains of the Malkhut of the qlipah. And the two pure and clean birds, they are the building of the Malkhut of holiness. Therefore David was [thus] praised in the presence of Shaul (Shmuel I 16): "who is skilled at playing," for playing is building the Malkhut, therefore he was fit for Kingship. And this explains the scripture about him (Ps. 78): "from following the nursing ewes He brought him," i.e. from following the nursing ones, i.e. *Netzach *and* Hod *[see Appendix]. For they nurse the prophets, and they are the construction of the Malkhut:
**And this** explains what Rabbah bar Bar Channah said: **I myself saw this *aqruqta* -- **and Rabbeinu Shmuel (Rashbam) explains: *TzFaRDe`A* (a frog), i.e. *TziPpoR De`AH *(bird of knowledge). **Which was as (the size of) *aQRA d’haGRONia *(the Fort of Hagronia) —** a term for "*QRA b’GaRON" *(cry out from the throat) (Isa. 58), i.e. since the song comes from it [the tzippor de`ah]. **(Talmud says:) What is the size of the Fort of Hagronia? -- Sixty houses --** i.e. by means of what shall the aspect of "cry out from the throat" be remedied? Through sixty houses, i.e. through the sixty tractates [of the Talmud], and Rabbeinu Shmuel explained: "The Talmud says this, i.e. that one should study Talmud:"
**(Rabbah says:) There came a snake and swallowed the frog -- **And Rabbeinu Shmuel explains: “Rabbah says this,” i.e. through learning not for its own sake, the snake shall swallow it. And this is why Rabbeinu Shmuel commented, “Rabbah said this,” i.e. because of learning in order to be called "Rabbi." **Then came a *pushqantza* — **and Rabbeinu Shmuel explained: a raven, i.e. through learning at night, since [*`OreV*, raven] is a term similar to [*`ARVit,*] night.** And swallowed it (the snake) -- **i.e. (the study of Torah at night) shall protect him from the snake mentioned above:
**And went up and perched on a tree -- **Maharsha explains: which is like Avraham, of whom it is written (Gen. 21): "And he planted a tamarisk tree," which is like kindness, i.e. that the cord of mercy that is drawn to him shields him from the snake mentioned above. **Come and see how strong was the tree -- **i.e. Rabbah wonders to himself, that His mercy was so strong on us, that it can protect us even from this:
**And with this **the juxtaposition of the Mishnah can sit well (*Pirkei Avot *1*)*: "Get yourself a Rabbi, acquire yourself a friend, and be someone who judges all man to the pan of merit" — for through hearing the song as mentioned above, he remedies the construction of his Malkhut. And this is: "Get yourself a Rabbi," i.e. that the aspect of Malkut should be remedied, and this is via "acquire (*Q’NeH*) yourself a friend," i.e. through *QaNeH *(windpipe), that the voice comes out of it, that he joins the two Cherubim face to face (I Kings 7:36) "as the embrace of a man and his consort," when Israel does the will of the Omnipresent. And then, when his aspect of Kingship is repaired, he can rule over whatever he wants, and he can kill this and give life to that, and hence the world could be ruined, and therefore it said: "and be someone who judges all man to the pan of merit," that it is necessary to judge every man to the pan of merit, for Hashem Yithbarakh, does not desire the ruin of the world, because “He did not create the world for desolation, rather for inhabitation did He form it” [Isa. 45:18]:
**And for this** reason it is common in the mouths of people now to say, that the *chazzanim* are fools, and they are not knowledgeable people. For now the Malkhut of holiness is in exile. And therefore the song, which is drawn from the place of prophets, from the aspect of brains and knowledge of the Malkhut of holiness, and now that the Malkhut is in exile, therefore the song is blemished, and therefore the *chazzanim *are without knowledge, for they do not have power now to draw song from its root in holiness, which is like brains and knowledge of the Malkhut of holiness, as mentioned above:
**But** in the future, when the Malkhut of holiness is raised up, and will be "Hashem as King over all the world," then song will be raised and completed as in knowledge of the Kingship of holiness, from where song is drawn, as mentioned. And this is: "For Elohim is the King of all the earth; sing praises in a skilful song;" for then, when Hashem will be king over all the earth and the Malkhut of holiness shall be raised up, then "sing praises in a skilful song," i.e. the *chazannim* and the singers shall be in knowledge and in intelligence through the Malkhut of holiness’s going up, and they shall receive song from its root in holiness, which is like knowledge and brains of the Malkhut of holiness:
Addendum to the above:
**And this is:** "For Your mercy is great above the heavens" (Ps. 108). Heavens is like voice, as is written: "From the heavens You made Your voice heard;" for through the mercy, i.e. the aspect of the “cord of kindness” that is drawn down by learning Torah at night, through this the voice is remedied, as mentioned, and is " For Your mercy is great above the heavens," as mentioned:
**The two **birds of holiness, from where the prophecy is drawn, are the construction of the Malkhut of holiness, and therefore the appointment of a king was through prophecy, like all the Kingship of the house of David, which was through prophecy. And the prophecy is drawn from the Cherubim, which are like the two birds mentioned above, which are like building of the Malkhut of holiness as mentioned above:
**"From following** the nursing ewes he brought him," i.e. from following the nursing ones, for they nurse the prophets etc. as mentioned above. And this is "from following the nursing ewes," i.e. King David, rest in peace, was able to repair and to raise up even song that was not from a fit person, and to raise it up to holiness. And this explains "from following the nursing ewes He brought him," i.e. even the song which was from the backsides of the holiness, like "from following the nursing ewes," from following the nursing ones, for the song of holiness is from the place that prophets nurse, and the song that is not in holiness is like "from following the nursing ewes," from the backsides of the holiness, and King David, rest in peace, was able to repair this song as well, and through this the Malkhut was raised up as mentioned above. And this is: "From following the nursing ewes He brought him to feed Jacob his people" etc.; for through this he merited to Kingship as mentioned above.
