A Love Song for the Torah
A song for Shavuot
I love this song so much I don’t know even know what to say about it. It is a love song- like any love song— except that the object of the singer’s love is the Torah.
The song is called Orayta, which means ‘Torah’ in Aramaic. (There is a dialect of Aramaic that was the spoken language of the Jews in the period following their exile from Jerusalem. It is the language of the Talmud and the language of certain prayers we still say in this ancient language, most notably the Yartzeit prayer.)
In this song, Eviatar Banai weaves Aramaic phrases from ancient texts with modern Hebrew language as he expresses his love. I share this today in honor of the upcoming Shavuot holiday as we celebrate the giving of the Torah.
Chag Sameach!