A SONG FULL OF MEANING

Seventh Day of Pesach

21 Nisan 5778 / 5-6 April 2018
Torah: Exodus 13:17 - 15:26
Maftir: Numbers 28:19-25
Haftarah: 2 Samuel 22:1-51

Eighth Day of Pesach

22 Nisan 5778 / 6-7 April 2018

Some congregations read Song of Songs
Torah: Deuteronomy 14:22 - 16:17
Maftir: Numbers 28:19-25
Haftarah: Isaiah 10:32 - 12:6

Calendar and dedications follow below. For a full calendar of events and other info about Temple B’nai Hayim/Congregation Beth Meier, check out:

www.bnaihayim.com

Please feel free to pass this on to a friend, and please cite the source.
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A SONG FULL OF MEANING

On the seventh day of Pesach, we read most of Parashat Beshallach. Part of the Torah reading will be very familiar to those who daven Shacharit regularly. Other than the paragraphs of the Sh’ma, which we read twice a day, it is the part of the Torah that we read most often. It is Shirat HaYam, the Song of the Sea, the victory song of the Israelites that they sang after the drowning of Pharaoh's army at the Sea of Reeds.

There is a well-known Midrash associated with this piece of Torah; well-known because it is often incorporated in the Hagaddah Shel Pesach, which we read earlier this week. It's the traditional "take" on the events of the Exodus and the Reed Sea. Why do we spill out drops of wine when we recite the Ten Plagues? And on the seventh day of Pesach, which is a Yom Tov commanded in the Torah, why do we only recite half Hallel, unlike the full Hallel we did on the first two days of Pesach? Because, we are told, we should not fully rejoice in the destruction of even our most dangerous enemies. Proverbs 24:17 teaches, "Do not rejoice at the fall of your enemies."

The Talmud, in Tractate Sanhedrin and in Tractate Megillah, teaches this idea in the following way: "Rabbi Yonatan says ... The Holy One is not happy at the downfall of the evil ones ... as Rabbi Shmuel the son of Nachman said in the name of Rabbi Yonatan: It is written: ‘And they did not approach one another all that night ...’ (Exodus 14:20), for at that moment the angels wanted to sing before the Holy One. God said to them: ‘My creatures are drowning in the sea and you would sing?'''

God forbade the angels, who exist only to praise God, from praising Him at that moment. Even though they were evil, bent on destroying God's people, the Egyptians were deserving of some consideration, some pity, and some recognition of their basic humanity and their common origins with the Israelites as images of God. It's an important lesson, but not the only one that we might draw from this text.

The Kotzker Rebbe has a vastly different conclusion, drawing on a Midrash in Exodus Rabbah. That Midrash says that, when Israel emerged from the Reed Sea, the angels immediately came forward to sing God's praises. According to this Midrash, God said, "No, let my children sing first, as it says, literally, 'Then Moses and the Children of Israel will sing this song...''' The Kotzker asks, “Why should Israel be given permission to sing first?” He answers, because angels are forever ready to offer songs of praise, but this isn¹t true of Israel. Israel sings only when the desire and feeling are spontaneously aroused within them. God feared that unless Israel were permitted to sing immediately, the desire would pass. It’s an interesting insight into the human psyche and the Hasidic view of God.

As different as the Kotzker's interpretation is from the traditional one that we know, it is a sort of middle ground, for there is another interpretation which takes an even more permissive view of rejoicing at the destruction of one's enemies. In many Siddurim, the Torah trope marks are printed in Shirat HaYam. In Kabbalistic literature, it is taught that Shirat HaYam should be sung, each morning, with the trope, with great joy, as if one were standing at the seashore, personally witnessing the miracle. The Zohar, the classic of Kabbalism, says that one who recites Shirat HaYam with the proper intent will earn the privilege of singing the praises of future miracles.

It certainly doesn't seem that the Kabbalists learned the lesson of not rejoicing over the destruction of one's enemies. The teachings of the Kotzker Rebbe and the Kabbalists are jarring, because they are so different from the tradition with which we are familiar. They do not trouble me, and it is not necessarily because I believe we should rejoice in the destruction of our enemies. Rather, I am inspired by the continued vitality of the Torah. No other book is as full of life as our Torah. Thousands of years after it was written, we still ask new questions and find new meanings. And every time we do, we participate in a conversation with our ancestors and our descendants. Unlike the Reed Sea, the Sea of the Torah is endless. And that really deserves a song.

Mo’adim L’simchah! Shabbat Shalom!

Rabbi Richard A. Flom

Temple B'nai Hayim/Congregation Beth Meier

Blogging at: http://rav-rich.blogspot.com/

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Twitter: @DrahcirMolf

"שתיקה כהודאה דמיא"

"Silence in the face of wrongdoing is consent.”

BT Yevamot 88a

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Candle lighting:

Thursday: 7:00 pm

Friday: 7:00 pm

Pesach ends Saturday: 8:01 pm

Friday: Pesach 7^th Day Morning Service – 9:30 am. Pesach Friday evening a cappella service – 7:30 pm. Oneg Shabbat follows.

Saturday: Pesach 8^th Day/Shabbat morning service with Yizkor – 9:30 am. 

NO Breakfast/Torah Study until April 15. Kiddush luncheon follows.

Sunday: Religious School – 9:30 am. Adult Hebrew Class – 10:00 am.

Tuesday: Lunch and Learn – 12:00 noon.

Friday, 13 April: Shabbat Evening Service – 7:30 pm. Oneg Shabbat follows.

Saturday, 14 April: Breakfast/Torah Study – 8:45 am. Shabbat Morning Service – 9:30 am. Kiddush luncheon follows.

Sunday, 15 April: Religious School – 9:30 am. Adult Hebrew Class – 10:00 am. Installation of Rabbi Flom and Rabbi Van Leeuwen – 2:00 pm – 5:00 pm. For more information, call the synagogue office or visit our website:

www.bnaihayim.com

Next time you come to TBH/CBM after Pesach, please bring some non-perishable canned and packaged foods and personal items (no glass) for SOVA.

This d'var torah is offered for a refuah shleimah for Ze’ev ben Adeline, Eilite bat Miriam, Sarah bat Devorah, Hiroe Andriola, Susan Arbetman, Ken Bitticks, Jerry Daniels, Maya Fersht (Maya bat Esther), Dr. Samuel Fersht (Shmuel Natan ben Gittel), Bernard Garvin, Myra Goodman, Leah Granat, Simon Hartmann, Brandon Joseph, Gabor Klein, Philip Kovac, Tonya Kronzek (Zlata Malkah bat Sarah Emanu), Lyndia Lowy (Leah bat Sarah), David Marks, Debra Schugar Strauss (Devorah bat Chaya Feiga), Helen Schugar (Chaya Feiga bat Kreina), Alan Stolzenberg, Jonathan Woolf, Howard Yudell, and Meagan Yudell.

Please let me know if there is anyone you would like to add to this list or if there is anyone who may be removed from this list.

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