Why the lyre? I’m asked. After all, I was a piano and keyboard player for many years. It’s not like suddenly I woke up one day and said, “I think I’ll play the lyre!” I hadn’t been to a lyre performance, or was aware of anyone else that played the lyre. I didn’t even know what a modern lyre looked like. It's not an instrument that comes up in musical discussions very often, except among scholars. So what happened?

There’s no reasonable caveat to introduce what follows, so here it is. I came to play the lyre at the demand of a Bat Kol. A Bat Kol (literally “Daughter of a Voice”) is a Hebrew term for a Heavenly or Divine encounter, usually expressed as a voice. A few years ago I was happily minding my business making a living and playing keyboards. I had recently gone through a fairly intense period of Teshuvah (repentance) which culminated in Yom Kippur (Day of Atonment). This is where it gets tricky, especially to describe in words. A communication came to me that translated itself into words in my mind, along with intense emotions of fear and awe. What I was most sure of was that this did not originate from me. It was from somewhere else - ‘not me’. That’s about as accurately as I can describe the event. Those few words don’t really capture the range of emotions and the intensity of experience, but it’s all words can really convey. I recognized what was happening because it had happened at this intensity level about ten years earlier, after I had cancer, but I’ll come back to that.

I’ve come to believe that this probably happens to many people, but they don’t talk about it publicly, for obvious reasons, or the ‘message’ may be something so personal that the person does not feel compelled to share it. For me, since it has driven my musical direction ever since, and created a sense of urgency that hasn’t abated, affirming it now is another way to honor and obey the source of the message - a personal Torah within me.

So what did the Bat Kol say? Without placing a lot of mystical interpretation around it at this point, there were five distinct, short messages, that really ‘hit’ all at once, and which my mind parsed out into words immediately:

1. “Get a lyre and play”
2. “The time to go home is coming soon”
3. “Two million will go”
4. “They will feed the hungry”
5. “Life will be chosen with water and light”.

I’ve had plenty of time to ponder these short messages, and wrap my own ideas around their meaning, but I’ve always been very careful to keep the original messages well defined and separate from my own ego-driven ideas, wishes,interpretations, confusions, etc. I wrote them down right after the experience, and made sure each word reflected as accurately as possible the original communication. I can give my interpretation of these messages, but I am wary and believe interpreting such things is fraught with peril. Basically, my interpretation goes like this:

1.“Get a lyre and play”

I was supposed to get a lyre and play. That I did. This was the only real imperative or command that I could act on (so I did).

2. “The time to go home is coming soon”

This I am very certain refers to the ingathering of the exiles (Jews) to Israel specifically from North America. I don’t know what timescale “soon” falls into. The whole communication had a sense of urgency, so I just leave it at that.

3. “Two million will go”

I believe this is the number of people, from North America specifically, that will return to Israel. This represents about 30% of the Jewish population of North America. I later found out a ‘coincidence’ that this is approximately the number of Jews that came to America between 1880 and 1910. Coming across that fact brought about new chills, I assure you.

4. “They will feed the hungry”

The people that return aren’t just supposed to go and ‘hang out’. They have a mission. At least one of these missions is to feed the hungry and address the issue of the poor in Israel.

5. “Life will be chosen with water and light”.

This is an enigmatic message. I interpret the water comment like this: Water is life. Choose life. So choose water. The solution of water rights, water sources, and having enough water for two million additional people in Israel will be one of the ‘keys to transformation’ that will take place as part of this ingathering event.

**** UPDATE May, 18, 2010: See the article on Desalinization Plant watering the desert in Israel. This truly is a sign of the redemption! ****

Regarding light, I believe this means that a technological breakthrough regarding light will take place in Israel that will have a revolutionary impact on the world. At the moment this part of the message turned into words, I also had a bit of a vision. I saw a Temple in Jerusalem, but it was constructed completely out of three-dimensional light, not physical material at all. How about that?

Anyway, I know that’s a lot to ‘swallow’, but after much teeth-gnashing, I decided to go ahead and tell this tale. In the end, I couldn’t not tell it. I said I would come back to the previous time this kind of thing happened to me. It was during the time that I had cancer. It was after two surgeries, but before four chemotherapy sessions. I was told that the chances of having children were pretty slim. The Bat Kol came and said two things:

1. “You will have a son”
2. “You will do what you are meant to do with music”

Two years later, my son was born. I think the second message is still “in progress”.

Coming next - so what am I doing about it?