Every week day, three times a day in our Tifilot (prayers) we recall Mitzraim
(Egypt), praying twice a day the Mi Chamocha
prayer (Who is like God) from the Shirat HaYam
(Song of the Sea) that comes from this week’s parasha, BaShalach. But also when we
do the Kiddush on the Shabbat we further remember leaving Egypt, because the week is
like Egypt when we are beholden to responsibility, obligations and labor, but
the Shabbat is a day we are are free if we choose to be so. As such, the centerpiece of BaShalach is
the parting Sea of Reeds (Ex. 14:21-31), and the following song called Shirat HaYam was
sung by the Hebrews after they crossed and their pursuers - Pharaoh and his
army - perished. Of course during our
Passover Seders we not only celebrate this great deliverance but we call upon
our compassion at the loss of life. But
why did they sing, sing, and sing some more in response to the Sea and not their witness
of the power of the plagues? Simply, now they were truly free! Still, as we shall see, this song is really
only the first installment of an arduous transformation from slavery to
freedom!
Regarding the parting of the Sea of Reeds we are challenged as it
reveals two accounts. First, it is supernatural; Moses raised his
staff over the sea so that the water divided at the behest of God only to
reveal the dry ground that the Hebrew’s walked on, but when the waters returned
to normal, the Egyptians tried to cross and were drowned (Ex.
14:15). And second, it was a natural occurrence; this included a myth
that Moses called upon the east winds to naturally push the waters aside, yet
for those people the only way that they could comprehend what took place, kind
of like with a rainbow, was to call it a miracle attributed to God’s power (Ex.
14:21). Rabbi Jonathan Sacks does not see the problem with either
saying a “miracle is not necessarily something that suspends natural law”
and therefore still “evokes wonder” even for the ardent disbeliever a sense “that God has intervened in history.” R’Sacks further says that the story
of the parting of the Reed Sea was “something other and deeper than a
suspension of the laws of nature. It was a transformative moment where the
people ‘believed in the Lord and in Moses
God’s servant’ (Ex. 14:31).” On one
hand we learn in the Midrash (Ex. R. 23) that when they crossed the Sea in that moment the celestial
throne of God was revealed to the people, whereas on
the other hand, according to the Talmud (Shabbat 35b) the miracle of the sea
was not the point more so than God suspended natural law on Israel’s behalf. It’s
all about perspective.
But Jewish tradition also teaches that this miracle is just a beginning. Also from the Talmud (Sanhedrin 91a) we learn that a
particular Hebrew word from Exodus suggests that this song would be repeated
often. Rabbi Yochanan asks; why is it
not written with a past tense verb since they sang it before it was written down? It
says that Moses and the Children of Israel “will sing,” ya’shir, and not they “sang,” “shar,”
suggesting that this song will be sung more than once, with Rashi teaching that
the future tense and the past tense in general means this song takes place
“continuously” (Rashi on Ex. 15:1). Here the encounters with this
wonder is repeated where every generation will have the opportunity to triumphantly
sing the Shirat Hayam as they too break away from their own
generational tyrant’s (physical or otherwise) to embrace a beneficent God who
would “reign for ever and ever” (Ex. 15:18).
Digging into the Shirat HaYam a bit more the Hebrew word, ya’shir, “I will sing” similarly shares the same Hebrew letters as the word ya’shar, which means to go “straight.” The future meaning of the verb “to sing” meant that the song had everything to do with tomorrow, not looking back at the slavery of yesterday but only at the freedom straight in front of them; but as noted this was only the first installment of its meaning. In other words, the Hebrews freedom did not mean that there would never be another Pharaoh, just like the plagues did not rid the world of hate; it meant it could be different. This is what it says in Psalm 27; “The LORD is my light and my help; whom should I fear?... should an army besiege me, my heart would have no fear; should war beset me I still would be confident.”
While history waits for a world of no hate and shame, and the ability to conquer the darkness before us, it can be different because of how we chose to behold it. We do not have to be a slave to anyone any longer, because our inter beings can be free the moment we also cross whatever sea is before us, letting our freedom sing! In closing, when I say “Blessed are You O Lord our God for making me free” in morning prayers I always ask if that true. Am I free from the unhealthy constraints and limitations that life wants to place on me, seeking to hinder me from being the best version of myself, to be the best Jew I can be, husband, father, friend, Rabbi and so on? Being free takes work, something that is more a mind set that we can control as opposed to what others do to us. The Hebrews were being given that opportunity at the sea, so they sang. We are given the opportunities as well, opportunities to sing and embrace our freedoms. This is why this Shabbat is also called Shabbat Sira, the Shabbat of song!
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Adam
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