Painted Bunting : Distinguished Song

This is a Painted Bunting. For a beginning bird watcher, identifying this glorious spectacle is about as easy as it gets. There simply isn’t anything else like him. That said, with shy birds hiding in the foliage, “bird watching” is often more accurately “bird hearing.” Consequently, identifying birds only by their songs is a key part of the curriculum. A given bird may have “songs” and also “calls.” Species can sound similar to one another. While on the best mornings, you hear handfuls of sound all on top of each other. It’s a delightful mess!

Jewish liturgy captures the full gamut of human experience in chanted song. Hearing the Book of Lamentations - if someone speaks not a word of Hebrew - conveys unmistakable anguish and dislocation. The Song of the Sea is a victorious anthem, filled with praise and thankful triumph. Again, closed eyes and open heart are all that are required for comprehension. And the Song of Songs, King Solomon’s love song…. There are layers upon layers of meaning, but the imagery is palpable. Exultation and distress, love and tortured loss - melody and tone can be as meaningful as lyric.

The range of these songs reflects Judaism’s universality in its distinct portrayals. Looking “horizontally,” all people everywhere have experienced feeling these emotions. Joy is part of the human condition, transcending geography, culture, and time. So too, anguish hits us all. Looking “vertically,” each person’s life is composed of emotionally discrete episodes. Miriam, triumphant, led the Song of the Sea and later, despondent, was afflicted with the punishment of leprosy. The Bunting is a clarion voice in the fields, so too, our universal songs distinguish the times of our lives.