On Friday evening, I had the pleasure to attend an evening service at BU Hillel. This service was part of Interfaith shabbat, an event where people of any faith or spiritual background were invited to take part in a Reform service, share a meal, and attend a discussion about the relationship between faith and the environment.
During the service, the cantor led the prayers and chanting while explaining to us the significance of each part of the service. I will admit, it wasn’t always easy for me to follow. For one, I have very little to no knowledge of Hebrew, and so speaking and chanting the prayers and readings posed considerable difficulty. At the same time, I was struck by how deeply ingrained music was in the service. Nearly all of the readings and prayers were chanted, and although I could not understand the meaning of the Hebrew text I was saying, I could at the very least follow along with the cantor’s tune.
The cantor emphasized at several points during the service how the prayers were meant to help us reach a reflective and meditative state. Even though I could not follow the meaning of the chanting without an English translation, the meditative state she described was still accessible to me through the music. Later on, as the shabbat dinner concluded, several people at the table next to us began singing with each other at the table. The sense of community during the meal was accessible, again, through music.
All of this makes me wonder how closely our religious experiences and community are tied to music and sound. When I sang in the chancel choir at my home congregation, I remember one of the choir members saying how she felt the Holy Spirit when singing with the choir. During my first service attending Marsh Chapel, I remember hearing the choir from the balcony behind me, and experiencing a sense of both shock and awe. Time and time again, I have encountered meditation, community, and an experience of the Divine through music.
In the middle of the Shabbat service, the cantor led us in one particular song. She told us about hearing this tune for the first time in one of her classes, and being the only person in the room not knowing what it was. She then sang the tune of “Dona Nobis Pacem,” a traditional Christian canon, along with the text of a Jewish prayer. That song and prayer made a beautiful connection between two different faiths through music. It reminded me that, whatever our faiths and beliefs may be, we are unified by the sound of music. The notes, melodies, and texts may be different, but the music underlying them connects us all the same.