“If words are the pen of the heart,” taught Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, “then song is the pen of the soul.” The soul’s pen, however, writes in the opposite direction from the heart’s. While words carry meaning downwards from G‑d’s own primal consciousness into the minds of sages and the lips of prophets to inscribe them upon human hearts, song carries the soul upwards to be absorbed within the Infinite Light.

That is why nigunim generally have no words. Words limit and define, but the nigun tears the soul beyond all bounds. Beyond words.

​

The holy rebbe Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak of Lubavitch taught: “A nigun opens windows in the soul.” First there must be deep contemplation, focusing the mind upon the oneness of the cosmos and its Creator, to see that unity within each thing until it becomes more real than even your sense of self. But the contemplation may remain frozen in the realm of cold intellect. With a nigun, what is held imprisoned deep in the soul pours down into the mind, and from the mind to the heart. Meditation may enlighten the intellect, but a nigun can uplift and transform all of your being.

That is why the ancient prophets would sing and play musical instruments as they awaited the gift of prophecy. In this way they would strip themselves of the barriers of body and mind, opening themselves as channels of the Infinite Light. Not for the sake of transcendence alone, but to draw that transcendence down to earth, to awaken the hearts of humankind to the inner truths of life on earth.