By Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D.
It’s mighty difficult to sing while confined within onerous circumstances. As we read in this week’s parasha, only after we were freed, we were able to recognize Hashem as the God of creation at the Red Sea. Welcome to “Shabbos Shirah — the “Sabbath of Song.” A time to become infused with greater emunah.
Beshalach tells us: “Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to God … I shall sing to God for God is exalted.” The Az Yashir Moshe is our song for our healthy future, our expression of rejoicing from the innermost parts of our soul.
It seems through song that we may best recognize and celebrate Hashem as the ultimate creator of the world. When we sense the presence of Hashem in the world, when we sense His presence in the Bible, and when we sense His presence in sacred deeds, according to Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, when we pray, learn, and perform mitzvot, we bring our Healer closer to us.
The Children of Israel, us, crossed the Sea of Reeds and felt a) yir’ah, awe, b) emunah, faith/trust, and c) broke out in a song, shirah. These words are in our hearts daily, words that offer us the opportunity to re-experience freedom, and to strengthen our sense of awe and trust.
מִֽי־כָמֹ֤כָה בָּֽאֵלִם֙ יְהֹוָ֔’’ה? מִ֥י כָּמֹ֖כָה נֶאְדָּ֣ר בַּקֹּ֑דֶשׁ, נוֹרָ֥א תְהִלֹּ֖ת, עֹ֥שֵׂה פֶֽלֶא׃
“Who is like You, God — majestic in holiness, awesome in splendor, Worker of Wonders?” While we were confined, we had physical and spiritual constriction, which the Torah refers to as kotzer ruach. It is only when we are filled with full spirit that we can freely sing.
Years ago in Israel, when I was studying there, I had the honor and privilege of meeting and conversing with Rabbi Sholom Noach Berezovsky, zt”l, the Slonimer Rebbe at his yeshiva. He said that at the splitting of the Red Sea, we sang the Az Yashir Moshe and that it ascended from our deep realization that we are entirely loved by God. Experiencing His love, we in turn feel love for love for Him, and this emotional experience is so great that it inspires our awe of Him. He said that when we spontaneously cried out, Mi chamocha, that’s when the Ruach ha-Kodesh penetrated us, and it became truly set in our hearts and minds. The Slonimer Rebbe pointed out the necessity of heart and body being united as a foundation for us to be able to sing this song. Just like any inspiring singer.
Abraham Joshua Heschel observed, “What we lack is not a will to believe but a will to wonder.” He also commented, “As civilization advances, the sense of wonder declines.” The Slonimer, on this, teaches us that true tzaddikim experience life as if they are always crossing the Red Sea, living with a constant state of wonder and miracle in their lives. Imagine opening yourself to that mindset and seeing the world through those wonder filled eyes! WOW! What a world this would be.
When we “look at the light of Hashem’s Presence in everything, when we gaze at the wonders of creation, at their divine life…” Rav Abraham Isaac Kook tells us, we have power and “wings of the spirit, wings of powerful eagles.” We can use this power for our wellbeing. The Keter Shem Tov teaches us “By celebrating that Hashem will come to your rescue, you have already provided the remedy.” Each morning we have that remedy. It is a part of our daily prayer in which we sing the same song that the Israelites sang at the Red Sea.
Chazal tell us in Sanhedrin 91b, “One who sings shirah in this world will merit to sing it in the next world.” And the Chofetz Chaim teaches in the Mishnah B’rurah, siman 51 s”k 17, that one who says shirah with simchah merits to have his sins, his aveiros, forgiven.
As we sing the words with our heart, genuinely positive emotion, simchah, fill our spirituality with emunah, our connection with Hashem grows. Today, spirituality has become quite a pop focus for cultivating emotional health. In our tradition, we derive insight into how to build our spirituality. We say the words in the shirah, “This is my God, and I will glorify Him,” words said by the Jewish nation at the time of the crossing of the Red Sea, at a moment of ultimate closeness to Hashem. Rashi tells us on the word ve’anveihu, “and I will glorify Him,” that it means “I will build Him a sanctuary.”
This shira points directly at one theme that we would be wise to grasp in order to enrich our lives through the darkness so many are experiencing with COVID and its variants. That point is our experience of Hashem’s saving might today and in all of our tomorrow’s ahead.
Rav Samuel Raphael Hirsch interprets the word ve’anveihu, “I will make myself a sanctuary,” meaning that we make ourselves holy. One simple word in the Torah brings such richness to our lives when we look deeply within. Divide the words v’anveihu into two words, ani vehu, I and Him and we see the real sign to develop heightened spirituality by emulating Hashem and his attributes. Imagine a world, a community, a synagogue, with more grace, compassion, kindness, and forgiveness. Perhaps that’s the pinnacle, the apex, of spirituality. Living with true wonder, seeing miracles daily in our lives, fuels our sense of holiness and can stir a greater sense of religious significance in our every footstep. In our culture of hedonistic materialism and instant gratification, it is vital to absorb the ability to overcome our constricted spirituality, our kotzer ruach, for ours is a generation that often loses faith at the slightest disappointment. It’s never too late to begin this religious, spiritual journey and it is always too soon to stop.
And we may look no further than Miriam and her name. We see bitterness in “mar,” and rebellion in “meri.” We see how bitterness can be overcome. Recall that as Moshe and the Jewish nation concluded their shira, “Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand: and all the women went out after her with tambourines, dancing. And Miriam answered them, ‘Sing to the L-rd…” Rashi tells how the women had tambourines with them in the first place. “The righteous women of that generation were confident that the Holy One, Blessed be He, would make miracles for them, so they prepared tambourines and dances.” The women knew Hashem would provide. They followed “meri,” and rebelled against the despair that their circumstances led so many to feel. Tambourines may not always be the answer, but the thinking behind preparing something to ignite hopefulness amidst hopelessness, faith amidst bitterness, is what makes the difference.
Speaking of women, it is interesting to note what Rav Hirsch observes on the songs we refer to as shirah, in the feminine. Later, in the messianic era, we refer to the song as a shir, in the masculine. In the former, there was much to continue to be birthed. In the Mizmor shir leyom haShabbos, the reference is to the ultimate Shabbos. Here’s a glance at the list…
1) Shiras Adam – The song Adam sang after Creation was completed: Mizmor shir l’yom haShabbos. To this day, it is part of our Friday night davening.
2) Shiras HaYam – The song at Yam Suf (Beshalach)
3) Shiras Ha’Be’er – Song of the Well in the desert (Bamidbar 21:17) when the Emorim were killed after plotting an ambush and the mountains crushed them. Their blood came up through the Be’er revealing the Nes to Bnei Yisroel.
4) Shiras Haazinu
5) Shiras Ha’Givon in Sefer Yehoshua when the sun remained up through the night to help Yehoshua in his battle.
6) Shiras Devorah in Sefer Shoftim – When Bnei Yisroel defeated the mighty Sisra’s and Yael killed Sisra himself.
7) Shiras Chana in Sefer Shmuel
8) Shiras Dovid – Tehilim 18 when Dovid was saved from Shaul
9) Shir Ha’Shirim of Shlomo Ha’Melech
In the Az Yashir Moshe we see clearly the message of Hashem’s abiding concern and involvement in our daily and future lives. Sure, it may “seem” like we are alone, blocked, overwhelmed. But at each turn we see a way through the dark and treacherous waters with enemies swarming around us. Our destiny is transformed directly, and we see how our defeat becomes our victory through His hand.
In these weeks, months and now years, of looking up for help in dealing with COVID and its related diseases, we seek His help above all. After all, this Shabbat we read an impactful pasuk, “And He said, If you hearken to the voice of the Lord, your God, and you do what is proper in His eyes, and you listen closely to His commandments and observe all His statutes, all the sicknesses that I have visited upon Egypt I will not visit upon you, for I, the Lord, heal you.” Rashi says: “Simply put, I am the Lord your physician, who teaches you Torah and mitzvot so that you will be spared illness, much as a physician would instruct his patient not to eat certain things because they may lead to his getting sick…” Rashi’s perhaps more accurate translation of the end of this pasuk is not “I am the Lord that heals you…,” But rather, “I am the Lord thy physician.” We are not simply Hashem’s “people” but his “patients” as well. Maimonides teaches, “The greatest of all physicians is the Lord, of Whom it is said ‘I am the Lord thy physician.’ As proof of this, it is written ‘I will not place upon you the illnesses which I have placed upon ancient Egypt.’ Who is truly the good doctor? Not the person who heals the sick from their diseases, but rather the one who helps the person from becoming sick and sees to it that he maintains his health.”
Hashem, we see in Beshalach, prescribes for us a lifestyle of Torah and mitzvot to help guard us from “illness,” including spiritual and physical suffering. The Ibn Ezra sees God’s transformation of the bitter waters in the parasha, as an example of His healing powers and of the healing that comes to those who are in a covenantal relationship with Him.
In the Mi Shebeirach prayer that we say for those who are ill or recovering from an illness or accident when the Torah is read, we ask Hashem for blessing, compassion, restoration, and strength. We say, “HaKadosh Baruch Hu will send him/her, speedily, a complete healing —healing of the soul and healing of the body —along with all the ill, among the people of Israel and all humankind, soon, speedily, without delay, and let us say Amen.” When we ask, “May the Source of Strength who blessed the ones before us, help us to find the courage to make our lives a blessing,” we are drawn into a covenantal, spiritual, observant relationship with Hashem. We are reminded of Hashem’s compassion, his physician-healer role in our lives, his desire to see us made whole, and we sing and acclaim Him as our source of health and illness…and let us say, Amen.
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Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D., prepares a weekly D’var Torah for Young Israel of San Diego, where he and his family are members. They are also active members of Congregation Adat Yeshurun. He may be contacted via michael.mantell@sdjewishworld.com