There was a time, not too long ago, just going back a few years really when you couldn’t find Perek Shirah at all. Many Rabbis didn’t even know about this t’filah. It had been hidden from us for hundreds of years. But the time has come for Perek Shirah to be revealed once again.

Perek Shirah is the song that is sung every day by all of  Hashem’s creations in the realms of “domem” (i.e. the still, e.g. a rock), “tzomeyach” (i.e. the botanic, e.g. a flower) and “chai” (i.e. the animal kingdom, e.g. a lion). It is believed to have been authored by none-other than King David himself, who (like the Holy Ba’al Shem Tov) had the power to converse with animals.

Perek Shirah (Hebrew פרק שירה, lit. “Chapter of Song”) is an ancient Jewish text. It contains 84 sections, in each of which elements of creation, beginning with the celestial and ending with dogs, use biblical and rabbinic verses in order to sing G-d’s praises.

Use of  Perek Shirah used to be prevalent in the daily liturgy and medieval philosopher Joseph Albo wrote that whoever recites Perek Shirah is guaranteed a place in the World to Come. Though Perek Shirah means “Chapter of Songs”, the book is actually organized into six chapters. Many of the utilized verses make mention of the speaker. For example, the song begins with the heavens who say, “the heavens speak of the glory of G-d, and of His handiwork the skies tell.” (Psalms 19:2) This, however is not a rule, as the book ends with the dogs who say “come, let us prostrate and bend our knees, and kneel before G-d our maker” (Psalms 95:2). Though this mentions an action that dogs physically perform, it doesn’t specifically mention them by name. It also includes verses based upon actions, such as giving the reaction of a cat before and after it catches a mouse as well as the response of the mouse.

The vast majority of the verses of  Perek Shirah are biblical, and most of these are from the book of  Psalms, but there are also a few verses from the Babylonian Talmud.

Rabbi Chaim ben Attar (1696-1742), aka the “Ohr haChayim” haKadosh, commented (Breishit 3:1) that everything Hashem created has its own system of speech with which to praise Hashem “... and go learn this from Perek Shira“.

Rebbe Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev (1740-1810) noted that “…if a man wants one of the nations of the world to change their attitude positively towards Israel (the Jews), then if that man knows the song of the nations’ angel that sings and praises Hashem, then that ministering angel has to love that man who knows his unique song to Hashem, and because he loves that Holy Jew the angel is compelled to do his will… therefore he who recites Perek Shira is great!”

Rebbe Nachman of Breslov (1772-1810) says “Know that each shepherd has a special tune according to the grass and according to the location that the shepherd is – because all grasses have a song. This is the concept of  Perek Shira. From the song of the grass a beautiful melody of the shepherd is being made” (sources: perekshira.org, Wikipedia, Illumination by Shemm Ben-Shlomo).

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Released: July 07, 2009
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