Listen to the music!

I have been meaning to bring something up since last Saturday night.I know I have mentioned on more than one occasion that I am not big on prayer.It's just not my thing. I never seem to connect to reading something written by someone else or reciting words that have little or no meaning to me.
Saturday night, I experienced something quite different .Something that has given me at least a glimpse into the power of prayer.To better understand what I am referring to I have to go back to a lesson that our cantor shared with us on Shavuot.During his teaching session, he made the point that the music,maybe even more than the actual words,has the power to move people.
Isn't there that one song that comes on the radio that transports you to a time gone by? Isn't there a song that ,the minute you hear it stirs a feeling deep inside you that you can neither control or explain?
Are you not guilty of having at least once in your life,found yourself singing like a rock star as you drive down the road,banging on the steering wheel and ultimately raising your clenched fist in the air as the song reaches its climax? (Okay maybe that's just me)
Seriously,music has a way of bringing emotions to the surface that you did not know you have or that you thought were buried so deep they would never again see the light of day.
And so it was Saturday night. Selichot is the beginning of the High Holiday period. Along with it comes melodies that are only used at this time of year. As I sat in the sanctuary,reflecting on the happenings of what had been an absolutely wonderful evening,these haunting tunes began swirling around eventually making their way into my soul.It stirred memories of times forgotten. I looked to my left. There sat my cousin. I was immediately mentally moved to a time long ago,almost 60 years ago.I was in the sanctuary of our temple on 23rd street in New York. I could smell the stale air. Visions of my Zaydeh, my grand father,filled my head. It has been decades since my cousin and I sat side by side in that shul together......or was it just yesterday?
The melodies were the same.The same melodies that I grew up with, that my cousin grew up with, that my parents and grand parents all grew up with. Generation after generation after generation ,the same melodies marked the coming of this High Holiday season.
And suddenly for a brief moment I found myself connected to prayer.Not the words.....the music.
The music of our lives.
Now there's something to think about.