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The idea that every element of creation has a special song it sings forms the basis of an intriguing and mysterious collection edited by the rabbinic sages of the Mishnaic period and known as Perek Shirah, whose literal meaning is “A Chapter of Song.” The song each part of creation sings is mostly a verse from the Tanach. The connection between the singer and the verse that is its song is not explained, though oftentimes, the verses do mention or allude to that specific creature. In any case, especially when there is no mention of the part of creation singing, we are left to contemplate why each creation is singing its particular verse. Some commentaries suggest that the song reveals a creature’s purpose or Divine inspiration and will be revealed more fully in the future.
Perek Shirah consists of six chapters, each chapter grouping together similar creatures. The first chapter includes the songs of elements related to the earth: the wilderness, fields, the seas, wellsprings, and rivers. The second chapter describes the songs of the elements of the heavens: day and night, the sun, the moon and stars, clouds, lightning, rain, and dew. The third chapter is devoted to the songs of the vegetable kingdom: a variety of trees, the grapevine, wheat and barley, vegetables, and grasses. The fourth chapter gives voice to the songs of a wide variety of birds and fish. The fifth chapter highlights the songs of the animals, both wild and domesticated. The sixth and last chapter enumerates the songs of the creeping creatures.
Who Is Singing in Perek Shirah?
An important question asked by commentators down the ages is who exactly is singing the songs attributed to each part of creation and each creature. Four basic answers are given, each one true from its own perspective. Thus, the four answers are not in contradiction with each other, rather they ultimately are seen as complementary.[1]
First Opinion: Creation is Singing
The first opinion given by a minority of commentators is that it is the part of creation itself that is singing the song attributed to them. This implies that even inanimate objects have some sort of life force and consciousness allowing them to sing in some manner.[2]
Maimonides, in his classic work, the Guide to the Perplexed, states that the lower elements of creation do not have consciousness.[3] According to this opinion, it must be someone else singing these songs.
The Arizal, the famous Kabbalist of Safed in the 1500’s, taught differently though. He states that all four levels of creation—inanimate, vegetable, animal, and human—all have life force and consciousness, albeit on very different levels. All manifestations of reality are animated by a spark of God, and in this sense every point of creation has life force. Therefore, there is a way to understand that even the lower elements of creation are themselves singing their particular song, on whatever level of consciousness they have.
The Book of Kings describes the wisdom of king Solomon as follows:
He spoke three thousand proverbs, and his songs were a thousand and five. He spoke of trees, from the Cedar in the Lebanon to the hyssop that comes out of the wall; he spoke also of beasts and of birds, and of creeping things, and of fishes.[4]
Some commentators explain that Solomon knew the healing properties of trees, plants, and herbs and the essential properties of all animals. Other commentators though, based on various Midrashic traditions interpret the words, “he spoke of” to mean “he spoke with” trees, plants, and herbs, as well as the animals, understanding their language and communicating with them.[5] Many other Jewish sources describe animals, vegetation and even inanimate objects speaking and communicating with God and man.
Second Opinion: Angels are Singing
The second opinion is that the angel, or the spiritual minister, or the mazal responsible for each element of creation is singing the songs of Perek Shirah. That every creation has a guiding angel—a natural force that is responsible for it—is stated in the Midrash: “There is no blade of grass that does not have a minister that strikes it from above and tells it to ‘grow.’”[6] In addition to every individual blade of grass having a corresponding angel above, we are taught that grass, as a species, also has an angel who helps direct its collective development. This is true of all individual creatures and species in creation.
We are similarly taught that each person has his or her particular guiding angel. Rashi comments that when Jacob fought “with a man”[7] it was actually the angel of Esau. As the morning came and the angel saw he could not defeat Jacob he said: “Let me go for it is dawn.”[8] Rashi, comments that the reason the angel desired to leave just then was that it needed to return to the heavenly abode to sing God’s praise by day.
Each nation as well has one leading angel who helps direct its affairs from the upper world. After letting the Israelites leave Egypt, Pharaoh had a change of heart. He gathered his armies and gave chase: “Pharaoh approached; the Israelites lifted up their eyes and behold Egypt was journeying after them and they were frightened….”[9] Rashi explains that they beheld the guardian angel of Egypt coming from heaven to assist the Egyptians.
According to this second opinion, it is these spiritual ministers or angels that sing the song of each creation.
Third Opinion: Mankind is Singing
The third opinion is that it is neither creation nor an angel, but man who is singing the songs of each creature in Perek Shirah. As man observes the world he lives in, he learns various lessons and obtains wisdom from contemplating the workings of heaven and earth, the cycles of nature and the plethora of living creatures that inhabit our planet. The sages state, “Who is wise? One who learns from every individual.”[10] Just as we learn from each human being, so too we can learn from each and every one of God’s creatures. Enlightenment and insight can come from observing a falling leaf, an ant colony busy at work, the ever-changing shapes of the clouds, spring flowers in full bloom, a bubbling brook, a bird building her nest, a tree standing dormant in the snow, and a sunset over the ocean. We human beings interpret, integrate, and are inspired by the world around us and these insights and deep identification with creation are translated into the various songs of each element in nature.
A verse reads, “Who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth and Who makes us wiser than the birds of the skies?”[11] It is stated in the Talmud, in the name of Rabbi Yochanan, that had the Torah not been given, we would have learned modesty from the cat, the prohibition regarding theft from the ant, faithfulness in relationships from the dove, and the way of proper marital relations from fowl.[12] This world-view sees life as the greatest teacher. Learning from everyone and everything arouses great wonder and inspiration and a psychological affinity towards all creation, causing man to sing the song of that creature or creation. Now that we have both the Torah and Perek Shirah, we can learn and intuit each creature’s very essence as it is revealed by the verses attributed to them.
When Adam was first placed in the Garden of Eden, the Torah relates that God brought all the animals to Adam to see what he would name them, “and whatever Adam called it, that was its name.”[13] It is explained in Kabbalah that Adam, upon deep contemplation, was able to intuit the essence of each animal and could thereby choose the exact Hebrew name that would best convey that essence, and “that was its name.”[14] The process of giving names to all the animals is similar to recognizing which song each creature sings.
Fourth Opinion: God is Singing
The fourth opinion is that it is God singing the song of each part of creation. According to the idea that God speaks or “sings” the world into creation, that original energy of song continues to exist in every part of creation. Alternatively, it is the Shechinah—the Divine Presence, indwelling within each creation—that is singing through them. We are taught that the Shechinah spoke through the throat of Moses.[15] Similarly, God as Creator is the mouth, as it were, vitalizing every part of creation with song. Indeed, this idea corresponds to the Kabbalistic notion that every part of creation is animated by a spark of Godliness.
These four opinions each contain a kernel of truth, and all together complement each other, providing a deep understanding of how different levels of truth and reality interconnect and ultimately fuse together in perfect unity.
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Image by Ishmak Rahat Raf
[1]. See also Music: The Quill of the Soul, ch. 8.
[2]. The Hebrew Letters, p. 258.
[3]. Guide to the Perplexed 3:17.
[4]. 1 Kings 5:12-13.
[5]. See the commentary of Avraham ben Shlomo (ראב"ש).
[6]. Bereishit Rabbah 10:6.
[7]. On Genesis 32:25 quoting Bereishit Rabbah 77:3.
[8]. Genesis 32:27.
[9]. Exodus 14:10.
[10]. Avot 4:1
[11]. Job 35:11
[12]. Eiruvin 100b
[13]. Genesis 2:19
[14]. Bereishit Rabbah 17:4. The Hebrew Letters, p. 6.
[15]. Zohar 3:232a. The Hebrew Letters, p. 257.
Dedicated in memory of Yisrael Binyamin ben Avraham Sandler z"l.
