The Power of a Niggun - II

MUSICAL NOTE
by Cantor Sherwood Goffin

HISTORIC CHASSIDIC WRITINGS –
THE POWER OF THE NIGGUN Part 2

“One niggun can express more than a thousand words.”

The Tsadik of Kuzmir

“Every locksmith has a master key with which he can open many doors. The niggun is such a key, for it can unlock all doors.”

Sayings of Chabad

“It is said that the Mansion of Song and the Mansion of Penitence are close to each other, and I say that the Mansion of Song IS the Mansion of Penitence.”

Rabbi Yisrael of Modzitz

“The bad traits in man come from the animal instinct within him. Through the power of the niggun it is possible to remove this instinct.”

The Baal Shem Tov

“Speech reveals the thought of the mind, but melody reveals the emotions of longing and delight. These stem from the inner self, from the very soul, and are much higher than reason and intellect.”

Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok of Lubavitch
(whom I met on a class visit in 1948 or ’49 to Crown Heights as a child.)

Source: “Songs of the Chassidim,” by Velvel Pasternak

DAVEN WELL, DON’T TALK, BUT SING ALONG!