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Parshat Beshalach

By: SFW Students & Alumna
Hannah Wasserman, SFW ’04-‘05

In this week’s parsha, directly following Az Yashir (15:1-19), the Torah states “Miriam the prophetess, sister of Aharon, took her drum in her hand and all the women went forth after her with drums and dances. Miriam spoke to them saying, ‘Sing to Hashem for He is exalted above the arrogant, having hurled horse with rider into the sea’” (15:20-22). These pesukim beg two questions: Firstly, why didn’t the women sing with “Moshe u’vnei yisrael”? Secondly, if Miriam is leading the women in a separate song, why did she choose the same words as Moshe- “ashira laHashem ki gao gaah sus verichvo rama bayam”? 

In answering these questions, Rabbi Blobstein has some unique insights:

Miriam is famous in that the well from which we drank in the desert was in her merit, and when she died the water ceased, leading to the incident in which Moshe struck the rock. In that context Rashi tells us that like Moshe and Aharon, Miriam also died by a divine kiss, but that this is hidden in the biblical text as it is not proper (she'aino derech kavod shel maalah) to say that G-d kissed a woman. The Piaseczner asks the obvious question: We are certainly not dealing here with a physical kiss, so what difference does it make? His answer is a radical re-reading of the rabbinic text based upon the teachings of his father, Rebbe Elimelech of Grodzisk. Men, who are required to study Torah constantly and to fulfill positive time-bound precepts, receive subliminal heavenly hints. Thus even when they think that they have aroused themselves to divine service, the credit is actually G-d's, not theirs! Women (such as Miriam), on the other hand, being technically exempt from these commandments, receive no help from above, and when they perform them they deserve all of the credit. Thus it would be inaccurate to give any credit to heaven for Miriam's service, which came totally at her own initiative, and was therefore not al pi haShem, by the mouth of G-d, which is no longer understood to refer to the divine kiss, but rather to divine encouragement to perform the mitzvot! It thus emerges that women's spiritual energy is more praiseworthy then that of men, as they take full credit for their actions and study. This is in line with the thinking of Rav Kook, who writes in Shabbat HaAretz that while a mitzvah which has been commanded is on a higher level than one that is not, the person who acts voluntarily is emulating the patriarchs who observed the Torah before it was given, and is one who serves out of love, the highest level. Miriam's service flowed from within her like the waters of a natural spring, and thus the Jewish people received the spring waters in her merit.

Keeping that in mind, Rashi states, “Moshe led the men in song and Miriam led the women.”  They were separate because just as man and woman can perform the same mitzvot, so too they can sing the same words, yet in both instances the motivations are different. The women looked to the future while in bondage in Egypt and were able to prepare themselves, so that they could sing in the present -- “shiru.” Women have a unique “spiritual energy” and G-d willing we will all continue to learn and grow out of ahava.

Shabbat Shalom.