The Music of the Levites — Tracing the Lost Music of the Temple
For thousands of years, the music of the Levites has remained a mystery — remembered in prayer and preserved in ancient sources, while the musical world behind it has largely disappeared from view.
How was music actually performed in the Temple? What instruments were played? How were the Levites trained for their musical service? And did any trace of the Temple’s musical tradition survive after its destruction?
The Music of the Levites is a journey into this lost world. Drawing together thousands of fragments from Torah sources, historical testimony and musical research, the book reconstructs a broad and vivid picture of one of the most remarkable musical and spiritual institutions in Jewish history.
This is more than a study of ancient music.
It is a search for a lost Jewish musical world —
whose traces can still be found in our sources.
A Glimpse Inside the Book
The book, its illustrations, and the musical world explored within its pages
What Is Actually Inside the Book?
The book is organized into five parts, each opening a different window onto the musical world of the Levites:
A reconstruction of the structure and sequence of the Levites’ musical service as it was performed in the Temple.
A chronological journey from the choir’s earliest roots through the end of the Second Temple period.
A search for traces of the Temple melodies and their traditions from the destruction of the Temple to the present day.
The musical training, skills and specialization behind the art of the Temple musicians.
The identification, construction, history, physical properties and acoustics of the instruments of the Temple.
Behind the Book: A Fifteen-Year Journey
I am often asked, “How long did it take you to write this book?”
The real answer is: fifteen years.
Over those years, approximately 3,000 sources were collected and examined: Talmudic and halachic texts, Midrash, early and later rabbinic authorities, Kabbalistic and Hasidic sources, alongside historical testimony, musicological research, acoustics, and professional knowledge of musical instruments.
As the research developed, it became increasingly clear that the music of the Levites was not merely a secondary detail of Temple history. Behind it stood an entire professional and spiritual world: an organized choir, years of training, musical knowledge, distinctive instruments, traditions of performance — and a conception in which music was not an ornament to the Temple service, but part of the service itself.
More than 100 illustrations, diagrams and visual reconstructions eventually became part of the book. Some were created with the aid of artificial intelligence; others were included with permission from instrument makers and specialists in Israel and around the world.
Without originally intending it, the scholarly and Torah-based work also became a richly visual experience — an attempt not only to read about this lost world, but to see it.
When the printing house finally completed the book after a long process, the message I received from them was simply:
“Your bonbonnière is ready.”
Their words, not mine.
Where Torah Sources Meet Musicology
One of the distinctive features of The Music of the Levites is its attempt to bring together fields that are usually studied separately.
On one side is a close reading of Jewish sources: the Talmud and Midrash, early and later rabbinic authorities, Kabbalah and Hasidic thought.
On the other is a professional musical reading of those same sources: musical instruments, acoustics, musical structures, performance, training and tradition.
Bringing these perspectives together makes it possible to read ancient sources not merely as historical texts, but as evidence of a living musical world.
What Scholars, Rabbis and Musicians Are Saying
Who Is This Book For?
The book is deeply rooted in Jewish sources, yet it is written for readers who wish to understand the musical and cultural roots of Jewish identity — even without an extensive background in Torah scholarship or professional music.
It is intended for students of the Temple and Jewish tradition, musicians, scholars of Jewish culture and music — and anyone intrigued by the question: What did the music of the Temple actually sound like?
From Research to the Stage
Over time, the research has also moved beyond the pages of the book.
The world explored in The Music of the Levites became the foundation for the live production The Lost Music — The Song of the Levites, combining live performance, ancient-inspired wind instruments, Jewish sources, storytelling and video art — bringing the musical world explored in the book to the stage.
The Music of the Levites
The book was published following fifteen years of research and is currently available in its original Hebrew edition.
Special price: ₪100 instead of ₪170
Collection by prior arrangement:
Rishon LeZion | Kfar Chabad | Jerusalem
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