What's the New Songs for the Future World?

Ps. 96:1

Amichai Lau-Lavie (he/him)

Aug 20, 2024

I don’t drive that much but when I do and turn on the radio - it’s often an old favorite that gets me to pump up the volume.

We love our oldies - the songs we know by heart and never fail to move us. But how does a new song make its way into our hearts or the top of the charts?

Figuring out what the next big hit of the future is big business these days -- but it’s always been that way. Even the authors of the Psalms, some 2,500 years ago, wrestled with the tensions between nostalgia and songs that never fail -- and the integration of new turns into the public sphere.

Psalm 96, the second in the series of poems chosen as the soundtrack for Friday night begins with a bold invitation to sing a new song - the whole of earth together:

שִׁ֣ירוּ לַ֭יהֹוָה שִׁ֣יר חָדָ֑שׁ שִׁ֥ירוּ לַ֝יהֹוָ֗ה כׇּל־הָאָֽרֶץ׃

Sing to GOD a new song,

sing to GOD, all the earth.

The term ‘a new song’ - Shir Chadash - shows up six times in the Psalms and one more time in Isaiah. In most of these contexts the suggestion is futurism -- there will be a time in the future when we will sing a new song, in a new and much improved reality. But for now - we’re sticking to the ones we know.

Commentators over the centuries speculated about this supposed future in which all of nature joins in to lift up the sacred in harmony and life is lived in equity. Suffice to say - we’re not there yet.

The Psalm goes on to describe some of the specific signs of this better future - with a series of images that personify nature as a planetary party:

יִשְׂמְח֣וּ הַ֭שָּׁמַיִם וְתָגֵ֣ל הָאָ֑רֶץ יִֽרְעַ֥ם הַ֝יָּ֗ם וּמְלֹאֽוֹ׃ יַעֲלֹ֣ז שָׂ֭דַי וְכׇל־אֲשֶׁר־בּ֑וֹ אָ֥ז יְ֝רַנְּנ֗וּ כׇּל־עֲצֵי־יָֽעַר׃

Let the heavens rejoice and the earth exult;

let the sea and all within it thunder,

the fields and everything in them exult;

then shall all the trees of the forest shout for joy

What would the future actually look like? The Medieval Spanish-Jewish sage Abraham Ibn Ezra, living in a society where royal rites were common, speculated that these verses could be taken both literally - and also as a poetic allegory:

“It is possible that our verses are to be taken as metaphors. They teach that the world will be at peace and will be secure when God’s righteousness is on the earth. On the other hand, the metaphor might be that of singers and bands that play before the king when he comes from a distant place.”

Either way the psalm is part of our Sabbath ritual, inviting us to welcome the Sabbath Queen with familiar - and new songs - that help us open our hearts and imagine a better world, each and every Sabbath.

As for the tension between old and new versions of favorite songs -- those exist in every house of worship, music hall and cabaret.. Old favorites or some new ones that will take time to catch? A combo of both always wins.

Even the verses that we just read have multiple versions - here’s an old time favorite that can be still heard and even danced to in many Jewish homes and temples: Yismechu Ha'Shamayim - and a new tune from our friends in Jerusalem: Yaaloz Sadai - Nava Tehilah

Old and new together, find a way to sing your way towards a future where the trees clap along, and the sea is singing, and we’ve got all the joy and love in the world. Why not imagine bigger and better?

That’s what poets, singers, mystics and musicians have always wanted us to do. Whatever works to help us feel better and be more helpful to others to bring about a better world.

Sing on.

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Below the Bible Belt

What's the New Songs for the Future World?

Ps. 96:1

I don’t drive that much but when I do and turn on the radio - it’s often an old favorite that gets me to pump up the volume.

We love our oldies - the songs we know by heart and never fail to move us. But how does a new song make its way into our hearts or the top of the charts?

Figuring out what the next big hit of the future is big business these days -- but it’s always been that way. Even the authors of the Psalms, some 2,500 years ago, wrestled with the tensions between nostalgia and songs that never fail -- and the integration of new turns into the public sphere.

Psalm 96, the second in the series of poems chosen as the soundtrack for Friday night begins with a bold invitation to sing a new song - the whole of earth together:

שִׁ֣ירוּ לַ֭יהֹוָה שִׁ֣יר חָדָ֑שׁ שִׁ֥ירוּ לַ֝יהֹוָ֗ה כׇּל־הָאָֽרֶץ׃

Sing to GOD a new song,

sing to GOD, all the earth.

Ps. 96:1

Commentators over the centuries speculated about this supposed future in which all of nature joins in to lift up the sacred in harmony and life is lived in equity. Suffice to say - we’re not there yet.

The Psalm goes on to describe some of the specific signs of this better future - with a series of images that personify nature as a planetary party:

יִשְׂמְח֣וּ הַ֭שָּׁמַיִם וְתָגֵ֣ל הָאָ֑רֶץ יִֽרְעַ֥ם הַ֝יָּ֗ם וּמְלֹאֽוֹ׃ יַעֲלֹ֣ז שָׂ֭דַי וְכׇל־אֲשֶׁר־בּ֑וֹ אָ֥ז יְ֝רַנְּנ֗וּ כׇּל־עֲצֵי־יָֽעַר׃

Let the heavens rejoice and the earth exult;

let the sea and all within it thunder,

the fields and everything in them exult;

then shall all the trees of the forest shout for joy

Ps. 96:11-12

What would the future actually look like? The Medieval Spanish-Jewish sage Abraham Ibn Ezra, living in a society where royal rites were common, speculated that these verses could be taken both literally - and also as a poetic allegory:

Either way the psalm is part of our Sabbath ritual, inviting us to welcome the Sabbath Queen with familiar - and new songs - that help us open our hearts and imagine a better world, each and every Sabbath.

As for the tension between old and new versions of favorite songs -- those exist in every house of worship, music hall and cabaret.. Old favorites or some new ones that will take time to catch? A combo of both always wins.

Even the verses that we just read have multiple versions - here’s an old time favorite that can be still heard and even danced to in many Jewish homes and temples: Yismechu Ha'Shamayim - and a new tune from our friends in Jerusalem: Yaaloz Sadai - Nava Tehilah

Old and new together, find a way to sing your way towards a future where the trees clap along, and the sea is singing, and we’ve got all the joy and love in the world. Why not imagine bigger and better?

That’s what poets, singers, mystics and musicians have always wanted us to do. Whatever works to help us feel better and be more helpful to others to bring about a better world.

Sing on.

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