Parshat Beshalach

            This week’s Parsha has the most exhilarating story in the whole Torah.  Parshat Beshalach is the Jewish exile out of Egypt. The Israelites are leaving Egypt and they are being chased down by the Egyptians on chariots. This made the Israelites very scared and they started to doubt Moshe and got angry at him. They even asked him was the reason that they left Egypt was to die in the desert? But then they come across a problem and it’s a big one. The Red sea is in the way and they don’t have any way to cross it. So Moshe cries out to Hashem and Hashem tells him to not worry and to raise his staff and the sea will split. So Moshe does just that and the sea splits and the Israelites cross it. The second all of them cross the Red sea they turned around and saw that the sea crashed onto them and the Egyptians sank to the bottom of the ocean. This made the Jewish people happy and they started to sing songs and dance. They kept on trekking and many problems kept on arising but Moshe looked up to Hashem and he always helped the Israelites in their times of trouble. Some of their problems were that they needed food and water so Hashem sent them quails and they covered the whole camp and when they got thirsty Moshe hit a rock and water would flow out of it.

What I want to focus on is when the Israelites saw that the Egyptians sunk in the Red Sea and they started to sing. They sang and danced all of the Jewish people together because their biggest threat for hundreds of years was just drowned. This was such a big relief to the Israelites so what they started to do was sing. In Chapter 15 in the first pasuk it says, “Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to the Lord, and they spoke, saying, I will sing to the Lord, for very exalted is He” the Israelites praised Hashem through song. They also said that he will help them whenever a nation comes to attack them. They could have just said a simple thank you to Hashem but no, they wanted to show their love to Hashem. We say this prayer every morning in Shacharit and it is to remind us of the joy of the Israelites that our enemies were crushed. Also it emphasizes that Hashem is always there for us and that there is someone always out there. Whenever we go to daven there is always a tune for many of the blessings. The Jewish culture is surrounded by tunes and songs. Just saying a prayer is boring but when we put a tune into it, it brings emotion and it gets everyone together to sing. Using song is a way to unify everyone. So the next time you have the chance to sing a prayer instead of saying it do it and everyone will join in.

Thank you and Shabbat Shalom.

Yarden Harel