“There’s a light at the end of the tunnel. There’s a light at the end of the tunnel. The inside might be as black as the night, but there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.” (Andrew Lloyd Webber from the musical “Starlight Express”)

These lyrics by Andrew Lloyd Webber have a different meaning today than when he wrote them for the musical Starlight Express in 1984. As we went through the past year during the pandemic of Covid-19, we kept looking for that light to get us out of this tunnel of darkness. During all these months since March of 2020, we have experienced loss, severe isolation, depression, anger, and much more. Then the vaccines which were promised began to be dispersed, albeit more slowly than we wished. However, once vaccinations started, that “light at the end of the tunnel” began to dimly appear.

As in the Parsha of B’shalach, which we read from the Torah on January 30th, the ancient Israelites experienced their own “light at the end of the tunnel;” it is called Shirat Hayam, the “Song of the Sea.” In front of them was the Sea of Reeds, and behind them was Pharoah and his Army on Chariots. G-d provides passage by dividing the Sea of Reeds, giving the Israelites a path to walk to freedom. Imagine that the vaccines represent the dividing of the Sea of Reeds for all of us to cross to freedom from the slavery of the pandemic. Like the ancient Hebrews, we will not reach the promised land immediately. We will continue to move forward and shake those chains of isolation, quarantine, and loss of freedom.

How does one shake those chains? The ancient Hebrews did that with music, a song – Shirat Hayam, the Song of the Sea – “Az Yashir Mosheh uv’nei Yisrael…” “Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Eternal…” (Source: The Torah, A Modern Commentary Revised Edition, Plaut, pg 439). They celebrated in song.

All cultures which have gone through some form of oppression, whether a pandemic, slavery, or any other form of oppression, use music to help them deal with the situation, and also to celebrate their freedom once attained.  Regardless of culture or situation people use music to help us understand and express our emotions.  “Music has even been described as a ‘language of the emotions.” (source: What does Music Express? Basic Emotions and Beyond, Patrik N. Juslin, Published Sep 6, 2013 from “Frontiers in Psychology”).   We use Cantillation to read from the Torah, the HafTorah, and the Megillot. Music is a conduit for prayer in every religion. Even a seemingly tuneless chant is a form of musical expression.

During these past 12 plus months of the Covid-19 pandemic, we all turned to music to express various feelings and emotions and to help us deal with this situation. Remember the TikTok post by Nathan Apodaca in which he lip syncs to Fleetwood Mac’s song “Dreams” while holding a bottle of juice? So simple, but the feelings expressed in the video resonated with all of us.

During these days, many of us listen to music which helps inspire us, to let us know that we are not alone in what we are going through. It doesn’t matter the type of musical style we connect with because music reaches out to people in a way that  helps them feel and deal with situations, whether joyous, sad, angry, or fearful.

In Judaism, the songs of our people, the Nusach of our T’fillot express our emotions. A prayer like the Sh’ma, which we sing to a melody notated by Solomon Sulzer, might mean something different to each of us depending on our emotional state when davening. The melodies of our prayers in the entire service, help to convey the words of the T’fillot. And even those words, those melodies, which many of us have known most of our lives, will have a different meaning to us each time we sing them.

We are once again nearing the holiday of Pesach. Like last year, this will be a celebration in which we have to follow health and safety protocols to protect our loved ones and friends. The melodies we sing from the Passover Seder will once again have a digitized feel to them. But we must take consolation in the fact that there is a “light at the end of the tunnel” and that our Seders, our religious services, our concerts, Holidays, will soon be enjoyed together as a community, hand-in-hand. May we continue to acknowledge that “light at the end of the tunnel” and may we soon be blessed to share in each other’s presence as one people, one community, one family.

Hazzan Steven Hevenstone

March 9, 2021