Biblical imagery draws richly from the world of the ancient Middle East, including its hills, waters, arid stretches, and wildly diverse animals — domestic and not. Trees “clap their hands” and the beloved is likened to a swift, graceful gazelle. These days, as I wander out to examine my new garden, trying to diagnose yellowing leaves and how best to eco-kindly loosen Virginia’s hard clay, I am serenaded by the buzzing of different kinds of bees, too many to count. If my squash blossoms drop or the cheery yellow cucumber flowers come to nothing, it’s not a loss. The humming of that pollen-gathering band is delight.
Rabbi David Wolpe wrote recently, “Perek Shira, ‘chapter of song,’ is a beautiful Midrash. Attaching an appropriate verse to the elements of Creation, it recounts how everything in the world sings: the lion sings, and the stars, and the trees.” Reflecting on a quote from the medieval Christian spiritualist Thomas à Kempis, “If you cannot sing like the nightingale and the lark, then sing like the crows and the frog, which sing as God meant them to,” Wolpe noted, “This is the lesson of Perek Shira — all of Creation bears a song.” Make yours sweet harmony to all those others.
