Parashat Beshalah

By: Rabbi Shlomo Zargari

Shalom. After leaving Egypt, our nation was in grave danger and helpless. Egypt is in pursuit and want to drag them back to slavery and torture. Was this the end of their dream ? The prophecy of freedom ? Was all that happened up to then in vain ??? No…the sea split before them miraculously, they were protected from the enemy and the massive walls of water crushed the Egyptians and they saw the enemy lying there on the shore. The thread was eliminated, the fear waned, the miracle was incredible. Of course everyone was relieved and thankful from the bottom of their heart and the whole nation of Israel broke into the famous song of ” AZ YASHIR ” ! Slowly, the echoes of the song were dying in the emptiness of the dessert and then came Miryam, took her drum in hand and all the women went after her with drums and with dances. And the Torah which every letter is so precious and measured, recounts their song. The song is only a repetition of what was said in the beginning of the song of “AZ YASHIR”…the question is asked, what is so special about her song ? The fact is that its not the song, its the timing of it. The Torah teaches us here that its no feat to be grateful and to show appreciation immediately after the miracle when the experience is fresh and the excitement is flowing. We need to remember to sing after the song is over. Real gratitude is to show we haven’t forgotten the miracle and move about our daily choirs ! 
We all have what to thank for… A lot to be thankful for. Every joyous event in our lives, when we were so happy when they took place, be it graduation or the birth, bar/bat misva or marriage of the children, finding a job. How happy the person was when healed from his sickness. Every person when looking back will find occasions like that at different periods of one’s life when he was filled with gratefulness to Hashem, and over time that feeling waned and the song was no longer. On the other hand we say in tefila of “Nishmat” on shabat morning : ” were our mouths filled with song as the sea, and our tongue with joy as the endless waves…we would still be unable to thank You…for one of the thousand thousands…you performed for us and our fathers”. We see that for the kindness of Hashem from long ago we must be singing still now with the same joy, happiness and excitement.

Shabat Shalom.