Shemini Atzeret / Yizkor: The Power of Eight: Do You Change The Song Or Does The Song Change You?

Description

Asa Yoelson’s father was a cantor from Lithuania. Asa changed his name to Al Jolson and became one of the most famous musical performers in America. The Jazz Singer in which he starred ended the era of silent films, and its culminating scene is Kol Nidrei.

Melvin Kaminsky was born in Brooklyn and became a legendary comedian, producer, director, and actor. Melvin Kaminsky is better known as Mel Brooks.

When Brooks was fighting the Germans in World War Two, he would play Al Jolson the Jew’s music to combat the Nazi propaganda blasted on loudspeakers.

Studies show that music makes shoppers spend more. And consumers follow the pace of the music. Marketers thus recommend that establishments who want consumers to stay longer and buy more to pipe slow music, while restaurants that want to turn tables quickly to play faster music.

The mystical power of music to change our lives is captured in the Talmud, which describes the seven, eight, and ten-stringed instruments played respectively in the 1) Temple, 2) in the days of the Messiah, and 3) in the World to Come.

Shemini Atzeret, the eighth day, is the day of eight strings, and holds the secret of the power of music – joining the seven strings of the present world and the ten strings of the future.