The talk we started with was from Purim 1960. As the Rebbe presided over the many hours-long celebratory meal in his shul, 770, he spoke at great length about music. We got through about half the talk, so, to be continued. Below are my paraphrased and sometimes summarized versions of Rishe’s literal translations.
The role of niggun and song in man’s personal divine service
As the Alter Rebbe (Schneur Zalman of Liadi, the founder of the Lubavitch movement) wrote in his seminal work known as the Tanya, “Every single day a person needs to look at themselves as if today they went out of Egypt.” The behavior and daily habits of a person must reflect this principle, because the Exodus from Egypt was the prototype for our story as Jews. Therefore, even the minute struggles and triumphs of daily life must also be seen as a reflection of the struggle and triumph of the Exodus from Egypt, and that meaning should be injected into them.
The Torah uses a specific phrase to describe the way in which G-d’s assistance came in the original Exodus: “yad ramah,” a hand upraised (as in triumph, or as Rishe puts it, “like a fistbump!”). This phrase initmates that G-d gives us the strength to overcome great obstacles with a spirit and attitude of triumph. Obstacles can be seen as externally imposed, but a person should acknowledge and work on the obstacles that are internally imposed. Personal inhibitions are the ones people have real control over, but are therefore the most difficult obstacles to overcome. Therefore, they must approach the transcendence of these internal obstacles with “gladness of heart and hand upraised.”
The Egyptians [which, according to Chassidus, were the embodiment of the idea of self-imposed constraints] pursued the escaping Jews right up until they crossed the Sea of Reeds, where every last Egyptian drowned. Upon the completion of the Exodus right then and there, the Torah records that the Jews burst into song. The chronology of that is also interpreted to be that the completion was finalized through song. But interestingly, a grammatical trick that is exploited all the time in Torah interpretation appears here. When the Torah says “אז ישיר,” that can be translated as either “So they sang” or as “So they will sing.” The Talmud, in tractate Sanhedrin, comments on this: “The Song of the Sea was relevant not only to that time. It says ‘Yashir’—future tense: they will sing—until the final redemption comes.”
In the meantime, we are confronted with daily challenges that invite us to do the work of breaking our internal limitations. Again, these are considered minute versions of the biblical Exodus. But the joy that we find in our little triumphs must color the attitude in which we approach those challenges. Confronting a challenge will be ineffective if it is done so as a burden to resent. Rather, since the challenge is an opportunity to better oneself and find deeper, G-dly meaning and purpose, the approach must be with “gladness of heart and hand upraised.”
The prototype of the Exodus is apparent in every struggle, including the part where the struggle was overcome and everybody started singing. This part is a literal cognate in our everyday lives: when the struggle is truly overcome, musical expression naturally accompanies it.
As the previous Lubavitcher Rebbe said, in many ways and many times, there is only so much of the soul that can express itself through words. There will always be a part of the soul, the primary part in fact, that simply does not find expression intellectually. According to the previous Rebbe, this part of the soul is only expressed through a kiss or a dance. These are expressions that allow one soul to communicate directly with another. Dance is the easier example: seeing someone dance is infectious. The Rebbe adds that when one plays music, it exposes the root and essence of his soul. That root and essence cannot be expressed through words, and has no other possibility for expression other than song.
The Chamber of Song 