In the Old Testament, parts of Book of Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Wisdom, and Sirach survived.
But it's tough to know how to judge directness in songs; emotional wisdom isn't chopped liver.
The order of the Old Testament books in the Codex is as follows: Genesis to 2 Chronicles as normal; 1 Esdras; 2 Esdras (Ezra-Nehemiah); the Psalms; Proverbs; Ecclesiastes; Song of Songs; Job; Wisdom; Ecclesiasticus; Esther Judithh; Tobit; the minor prophets from Hosea to Malachi; Isaiah; Jeremiah; Baruch; Lamentations and the Epistle of Jeremiah; Ezekiel and Daniel.
I was lucky to duet with a man who understood duality, who had the talent to hear two opposing ideas in a single song, and the wisdom to know which side to reveal at which moment.
In these songs, she ekes wisdom out of timeworn homilies, urgency out of words that have lost their meaning over the decades.
Or perhaps it was because Wonderful Life made a deep connection with people, a song of melancholy and wisdom.
Is "Secret o' Life , arguably his greatest song, a nugget of wisdom about "enjoying the passage of time?" Or a song that gently mocks the smugness of slogans that advertise shortcuts to happiness?
Maybe that's why one of my favorite songs is Leonard Cohen's "Anthem," a song that includes this wisdom: "There is a crack in everything; that's how the light gets in".
She returned to songs she had learned from her parents, modernizing them for her album "50 Gates of Wisdom: Yemenite Songs" (Shanachie), based on poetry by a 17th-century rabbi.
SLEEPY HOLLOW Hudson Valley Writers' Center "Fables, Parables and Songs: the Humor and Wisdom of the Jewish People," storytelling featuring Arthur Strimling.
