The book “Breaking the code? Poetic meter in biblical poetry” is a combination of academic research, memoir, and writing intended for the general public.

The book reveals for the first time, in a consistent and clear manner, the existence of poetic meter in the song of the sea, the song of Deborah and most of the hallelujah psalms in the book of Psalms. This discovery has important implications for the study of poetry in the Bible, music in the Bible, the meaning of the titles of the psalms, the history and relationship between Hebrew poetry and world poetry, and the study of the Hebrew language.

Guy Shaked holds a master’s degree in musicology from the Hebrew University (2000) and a PhD in Jewish art from Bar Ilan University (2021). He specializes in the connections between the music and the illustrations drawn in Hebrew manuscripts from the Middle Ages.

Guy won the President’s Scholarship at Bar Ilan University (2015-2019) and has so far published two articles in leading journals. In addition to academic research, Guy writes poetry and has published poems in leading poetry magazines in Israel (Moznaim, Iton 77, Nanopoetica, Nakhon), as well as a composer of modern-classical music.

This book did not go through the normal path accepted for articles and books in today’s academia – that is, peer review – a path designed to ensure the quality of the research. Therefore, the conclusions of this study and its methodology presented in the book are subject to the judgment of the general public and academics as they are – they may be accepted, they may be rejected, but they did not take years to see the light of day.