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Lord Sacks, the former Chief Rabbi, uses his debut presenting Something Understood to reflect on joy through music, prose and poetry and some profound insights from his own life.
In a deep and moving programme Rabbi Sacks reflects on the difference between joy and happiness. The programme begins with a blast from Beethoven’s great Choral Symphony and the final movement which uses the words of Schiller’s Ode to Joy , Freude, schöner Götterfunken, “Joy, O wondrous spark divine.” He goes on to point out the fact that Jewish history has not been obviously full of joy, but he uses two Psalms to illustrate the fact that despite suffering the Jewish faith is full of joy and the praise of God.
He ponders the uncertain world we live in and the anxiety it causes. Nevertheless he says “we are in a world filled with beauty. Every breath we breathe is the spirit of God within us. Around us is the love that moves the sun and all the stars. We are here because someone wanted us to be.”
Another aspect of the modern world, the ‘selfie’, prompts an insight inspired by Wordsworth’s poem Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey. “The self is too narrow a place to find meaning and satisfaction…the power of joy is that it momentarily silences the self so that we can see into “the life of things” and hear the music of the universe.”
Presenter: Lord Sacks
Producer: Michael Wakelin
A TBI Media production for BBC Radio 4.
Music Played
Add music you love and enjoy it with My Tracks
Ludwig van Beethoven
Orchestral Section Last Movement, Beethoven Symphony No 9
Performer: Beethoven.
Essential Classics CD1. Deutsche Grammophon.
Gustav Holst
The Planets Op. 32 IV. Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity
Performer: The BBC Symphony Orchestra with Conductor: Sir Malcolm Sargent.
Gustav Holst: The Planets (Stereo Remaster). Harrison James Music.
When You Believe
Israel Home of Hope. Wienerworld.
Chatzi Kaddish
Selichot. Wienerworld.
A Midsummer Nights Dream Overture
The A To Z Of Classical. Naxos ?.
Thomas Montgomery Newman
And That Right Soon
Performer: Thomas Newman.
The Shawshank Redemption OST. Beverly Drive Music Universal/Mca Music Limited.
Gad Elbaz
Inshallah
Israel Home of Hope. Wienerworld.
George Harrison
The Beatles Here Comes The Sun
Performer: The Beatles.
Abbey Road. EMI Catalogue.
Readings
Title: Psalm 100, NIV Holy Bible
Author: New International Version
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Title: The Diaries of Samuel Pepys – A Selection
Author: Samuel Pepys
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Title: Psalm 30, NIV Holy Bible
Author: New International Version
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Title: Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey
Author: William Wordsworth
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