{
"title": "Panekha Avakesh",
"language": "en",
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"Editors' Introduction": [],
"A Commemorative Introduction": [],
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"Shevat 5742 (February 1982), Parshat B'Shalach, Shabbat of the Song of the Sea",
"Look from the peak of Amana (word play: Sing at the beginning of faith) ",
"Man was created to sing, to sing an internal song, the song of the soul. Thus, we find in the midrash: The world was thereof formless and empty, He stood and created the world, and He created man and gave him authority over all goodness in order to praise Him. And what are we to do? To praise and bless, and therefore he (the psalmist) said: The entirety of my soul praises Yah (Midrash Socher Tov 99).",
"The midrash in Shir HaShirim Rabbah differentiates between song as shir, in the masculine construct, and shirah, in the feminine construct: Rabbi Berachya said the following in the name of Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachman: Israel is compared to a woman. Just as a female receives a tenth of her father's estate when she departs (as a dowry), thus Israel inherited the land of the seven nations which is a tenth of the Seventy Nations. And just as Israel inherited like a female, their song is in the feminine form (shirah). As it says: Then sang Moses and the Children of Israel this shirah to God. But ultimately in the future, they will come to inherit like a male, as it says: Sing to God a new song (Shir). Rabbi Berachya and Rabbi Yehoshua Ben Levi say: Why is Israel compared to a female? Just as a female is loaded and unloaded (becomes pregnant and gives birth), loaded and unloaded, and continues until she is unloaded not to be loaded again, similarly Israel is oppressed and redeemed, oppressed and redeemed, until they are finally redeemed not to be oppressed ever again. In Olam HaZeh (This World/Age), since their pain is that of the female giving birth, they sing shirah before Him, in the feminine form. But in Olam Haba (the World/Age to come), their pain will not be from birthing, and they will sing in the masculine form, as is it written: \"On that day this shir will be sung (Isaiah 26:1)\" (Shir HaShirim Rabbah 1:5:3)",
" According to the midrash, the Song of the Sea upon the redemption that previously occurred is described in feminine language -shirah. However, the song of the future will be in masculine language - \"a new shir (Isaiah 42:1)\" ",
"And in the Mechilta it says: \"Then (Az) Moses sang\" there is a \"Then (Az)\" that refers to the past and there is a 'Then (Az)\" that refers to the coming future. A \"then (Az)\" that refers to the future to come is \"Then (Az) our mouths will be filled with laughter\", \"Then (Az) the nations will say\" (Mechilta of Rabbi Yishmael, Masechta D'Shira A). And the exegetes have already addressed the contradiction in this verse between \"then (Az)\" in past tense and \"will sing (yashir)\" in the future tense (i.e. Rashi and Ramban on Ex. 15:1). In Olam HaZeh (this world/age), the redemption is incomplete, and thus it used the language of \"Then (az) will sing Moses this shirah\". But in the future to come, salvation will be complete, \"and then (v'az) this song will be sung\".",
"And truly, redemption itself is dependent on song, and Chezkaiah only didn't become the Messiah because he failed to sing: \"The Holy One, blessed be He, sought to make Chezekiah the Messiah and Senchariv into Gog and Magog (have them fill the prophesized roles). Justice said to the Holy One, blessed be He: Master of the World, if King David who said so many songs and praises before You, You didn't make him Messiah, Chezekiah for whom you performed all these miracles and didn't sing shirah before you, you would make him Messiah?! Thus, the letter mem was sealed. (Sanhedrin 94a, see there further for the relevance to Mem)",
"Holiness and Renewal: Rav Tzadok explains what exactly is this new song (shir chadash) in the coming future. He says that the framework to understand the new song (hashir hachadash) in the coming future is the Hallel prayer of Rosh Chodesh (the New Moon/month): \"And in the matter of Hallel of Rosh Chodesh, just as the sanctification (of the new moon) that occurred in the past is established for all future generations, so too is the sanctification of the ancestors (lit. Forefathers) within their descendants. And thus, in general for Israel, every sanctification cached by previous generations, are ever after set and engraved in the hearts of the Children of Israel, as is known.",
"There is a holiness that stems from the past - the holiness of the ancestors. The holiness that the ancestors cached themselves was submersed in the Nation of Israel and became a part of its character. Everything that happened in the past left an impression, and our existence in the present is nothing but a continuation of the existence of our ancestors in the past. (See above, p.53)",
"There is an impression not only from the aspect of the past, but also what will come in the future already has made an impression on the present: And in Israel, who are united as one man, every merit of future generations has left an impression on the generations before them. Because [there is no such thing as] a choice which is fully alone (i.e. free), which is not shaped by previous circumstances at all.",
"Free choice only exists from the perspective of man, though it has an additional level, and this is knowledge. From the aspect of knowledge, the choice is indeterminate. There is a level at which the Holy One, blessed be He, knows the future within the present, and that level is the one which shapes the present. But truly choice only happens in the revealed, Olam HaZeh, but truly the Knowledge of God, may He be blessed, encompasses all things, and it is well and good that it shapes what came before it. Because there is impression left afterward, and this is not shaping it from the side of the revealed, because in revealing is the power of choice, and the effect does not shape the cause, for perhaps he will not choose the good, and this is from the aspect of hiddenness. (Resisai Leilah 8).",
"That is to say, from the aspect of the Divine eternal truth the future exists in the present, for it is timeless, and He knows all things. There is a contradiction here and it is not possible to resolve the contradiction between (fore)knowledge and free choice because we are trying to discuss them at two different levels.",
"Rosh Chodesh (the New Moon/Month) symbolizes the future, renewal. The holiness of Rosh Chodesh is not mentioned in the Torah for the Torah is of the holiness that continues out of the past, but Rosh Chodesh deals with the holiness of the future. And this matter of the holiness of Rosh Chodesh which is not mentioned at all in the Torah, for the Shekhinah was not revealed in the past, only in the future, as it says: And it shall come to pass, that every new moon, and every sabbath, shall all flesh come to bow down to the ground before me, says the Lord (Isaiah 66:23). For ultimately in the future there will be singing at all times of the Shir Chadash (the new song), just as God, blessed be He, has no bound or end, thus perception of him will be boundless. And at every moment they will perceive further recognition at new and additional levels without end. Only in this world (Olam HaZeh) which is finite is our perception bounded.",
"In Olam HaZeh there is a limit to perception. The newness is not constant, but falls and rises. But in the future it is called a new song because it will always be new, for the song arises from recognition and at every moment that recognition will be renewed and the song new, and there will not be a moment when the song being sung is like the song a moment before... This is the essence of Rsh Chodesh.... And this hints that Israel too will be renewed like her (the moon). And King David a\"h specifically as the Sages taught... For the Sabbath ha a simple holiness established from the six days of Creation, which is not the case for the month... and it is certain that with every generation we come closer on the heels of the messiah the holiness of the new month is revealed further, just as the holiness of the sabbath come through the days of the week.",
"As we approach the days of redemption, the holiness of Rosh Chodesh is revealed more and more.",
"What is the holiness of Rosh Chodesh and what is this New Song?",
"Rav Tzadok differentiates between the holiness of the ancestors and the holiness of the descendants. The holiness of the ancestors is the holiness from the side of choice, the Forefathers chose the side of good, and this choice influence us as we are a part of them. We are born within a specific reality, within which we are specific characters- Jews. The holiness of the descendants, despite this, is the holiness of renewal^3. We have already mentioned on holy Shabbat Eve two concepts: of Kiddush (sanctification) and Chiddush (renewal). (The Rabbi is herein referring to his talk on Shabbat of the Portion of Bo, 5742 \"Sanctification and Renewal... Sanctity emanates from above. His Holiness from all generations, is free, and not contingent upon man. The renewal is the productive creation of man, a new thing which did not previously exist... \"This month shall be for you\" (Ex. 12:2), this is the freedom of Jews to create, and to renew and to bring more and more into domains into holiness\"). - The child makes new things that his ancestors had not.",
"How can the child make anew? What is this matter of this ultimate future holiness?",
"Ultimate future holiness stems from a level considerably higher from the level of 'foreknowledge': The future is grasped as being in the present - the Holy One, blessed be He, knows what man will do before he chooses. These two levels are not able to the bridged, but when a person understands that essentially from the Holy One (blessed be He)'s perspective his choice has already been made without him doing a thing, this new insight of his also sanctify him. The ability of man to make anew like this appeared when he has absolute faith and trust that all is the work of the Holy One, blessed be He. So whatever he makes anew has already been established, and this has an element of establishment per the holiness of the past. The holiness of Rosh Chodesh is this: When one believes all is in the hands of Heaven, they know that the new is also holy, it too is divine.",
"Shir and Shirah: These are the attributes of the shir and of the shirah: The shirah is a song of the past - we thank the Holy One, blessed be He, on all the good He has performed for us, for redeeming us and removing us from suffering (confinement) to success (expansiveness). Thus, every time a person required removal from suffering to success it is worth signing this song that is just 'shirah' - it is partial, just as a woman can only partially inherit. This shirah is a limited song for this salvation is a limited salvation, not a permanent/eternal one (infinite). Just as the female becomes burdened (pregnant) and unburdened (gives birth, burdened and unburdened, thus the salvation of persons in this world (Olam HaZeh): One day I am happy because I have experienced renewal and I sing, but this sort of renewal ultimately tires and descends. If a cause is necessary for there to be joy and to sing, this sort of joy is just limited. It is impossible to be joyous with an infinite joy over finite (limited) things.",
"This is the aspect of the 'feminine', an aspect of reception, it is always necessary for her to receive things in order to be joyous. Just as temporal redemption is of the aspect of the feminine. Shirah is dependent on causes, on process, to be joyous.",
"But there is also the 'shir' of joy that is not of the past and is not on release from suffering to success - this is the joy of the 'masculine' and this is the shir of the future. Joy like this appears when a person looks toward the future, on his eternal telos, the infinitude of the existence that the Holy One, blessed be He, gave us, on the Divine hope.",
"Such hope (in Hebrew a word that derives from the etymology of line) that derives exists for every person. The present is bad for them, they fall, but they know that there is a great future, infinite-divine, and at the terminus of all processes they will simply reach it. However, now it is bad, but this same badness is bound with a think rope to the future, such that that selfsame future will transform into the present. Today's bad will transform into good.",
"Shirah has feminine elements: She suffered, but it becomes clear to her that her suffering is but for birth. When a woman gives birth, the pain is great, she feels awful, but she knows that it is for the sake of birth and these are healthy pains and not signs of illness. In a certain sense, she is joyous for such pains. If a person can frame their failures in this perspective, if they know that all their suffering or failures have an element of birth to them, then they will be capable of gratitude for them and even find a sense of joy.",
"A person must grasp every problem they face as if it was a challenge. Not to become downhearted, to say \"its not going my way\" and despair, but the opposite: \"I have a problem? Lets solve it\" and grapple with it. It didn't go right initially? Go again; it didn't go right the second time; it will go right the fifth, the tenth, the hundredth. But not once giving up, for those thing for which we have come into this world to do we cannot give up on them. To put it another way, what do I live for? We didn't come into this world to give up. If a person thinks that everything is a challenge, a battle, this mindset itself remedies the failing. ",
"When the joy is limited to the facet of Shirah, then after every birth will come another. This process of suffering and song continues to repeat. A person is never free from it, just like the mother who keeps getting pregnant and giving birth. Currently, a person cannot constantly be on the higher plane (lit. line). In fact, it is suspicious if one no longer fails - perhaps such a person is already spiritually dead, God forbid. A living person will always have failures, and will always experience moments where the suffering turns to success and they sing to the Holy One, blessed be He. (See above, page 99)",
"According to Rav Tzadok, release from this process only occurs when the Shirah transforms into a Shir, and the feminine to the masculine, and the person no longer needs saving for they have no more suffering. The 'masculine' does not need reason to sing. This is the new Shir, that is eternally renewed. Here there is no fatigue, but an ever re-freshening, which happens when one rejoices in the Holy One, blessed be He.",
"I rejoice in the Holy One, blessed be He. I am not rejoicing that I have left suffering for success. This does not interest me at all. I believe in the Holy One, blessed be He, and in relating to Him, partial things have no meaning. The Holy One, blessed be He, is infinite, He is No-Thing, and thus renewal within Him is eternal self-renewal. This is complete redemption, that which is 'eye to eye' (Isaiah 52:8), of the future to come. In every moment there is something new, a new taste, a new achievement, a new perception.",
"Will only exists in the world of relations governed by birth and suffering. From the side of knowledge, Divine knowledge, this is all but a game. From His perspective it is all one. The future, the present - it is all the same, such that the suffering loses its meaning. This, understandably, is a level of the future to come, though a person may discern sparks of this when they consider what will come a thousand years from now, in a million years, and when he realizes his own eternity. The eternity of man exists, and if it does exist, one can rejoice in it, If a person hopes for this good future, then he grasps the relevance of the present, however much bad it is, as but temporary. The present in relation to eternity is naught, like any finite number in relation to infinity.",
" This is the aspect of Shir. This is the song that renews (Creation) constantly, every single day, on which we will arrive at the future to come.",
"A New Shirah As it says, there is Shir and there is Shirah, but there is also a New Shirah: \"A new shirah the redeemed praised... as one together they coronated and said: HaShem will reign forever onward.\" This shirah is about the past, but she is also new, hence the future tense: 'HaShem will reign.' The framing go the blessing \"True and standing\" is indeed \"redeemed Israel\" in the past tense - as clarified in Pesachim 117b, that this blessing is on the previous redemption and not on the future - but in that very same blessing is a new shirah, in which we say \"HaShem will reign forever onward\". Indeed this is an expression of gratitude on the exodus from Egypt and the splitting of the sea, nonetheless the blessing is particularly \"HaShem will reign\", as this shirah cannot be just on the past without any newness. It can't be an old song. Song is eternally new and fresh.",
"(Even reading midrash at its surface level one can bring forth powerful insights. If a person reads midrash with attention and emotion, it awakens insights greatly.).",
"The midrash on this parish says: And why is it necessary to recall the splitting of the sea in \"True and standing\"? For when He split the sea for them they placed their trust in Him, as it says \"And they trusted in HaShem and Moshe, His Servant\" (Ex.), and in the merit of this trust which they placed their faith in they merited to say shirah and the Shechinah rested upon them. As it is written immediately following: \"Then sang Moshe\" (Ex.), Hence, a person must say (the blessing of) redemption to their prayer (Amida), just as they (the Israelites) sang Shirah immediately following their trusting and the splitting, as they purified their hearts and sang shirah, as its written: \"And the nation was in awe of HaShem and trusted,\" and after it says: \"Then sang\" so to a person must purify his heart before he prays (Shmot Rabbah 22:3).",
"The midrash perceives the blessing of \"True and standing\" and \"True and trustworthy\" as a purification of the heart before prayer. There is a process here: Recalling the splitting of the sea - which is the redemption, the liberation - which brings them to trust, and trust which brings a person to sing and rice. And prayer (the amida) is nothing but a song.",
"According to the midrash, before prayer, within which I stand before my Creator - before He who said \"and let the world be\", before My Papa - I must cleanse myself and purify my heart, What is this purification? This purification is \"the true\", this purification is \"the trusting\" - \"True and standing\", \"Trust and trustworthy\" - and it comes fat on the heels of redemption. The redemption which alone doesn't create song. Being saved brings one to joy and within the extent to which being saved is expressable as trust. At the moment that I perceive the saving as confirmation of my eternal truth, how the Holy One, Blessed be He, strengthens me, how close He is to me, I begin to sing. Shirah comes from the faith which emerges from salvation, and this is the reason we say (the blessing of redemption) immediately before prayer. ",
"In the Jerusalem Talmud Berakhot 1:1:30 there is a particularly nice parable on this: One who doesn't immediately follow the blessing on salvation with the prayer (of the amida) is likened to what? To the love of a king who came and knocked on the kind's door, but when the king emerged he found his love had departed, so the king departs.",
"The blessing on salvation is naught but our knocking on the King's door. That is to say, we do not pray in order to escape from suffering, but the inverse, every suffering is a way to enter into an expression of prayer. The suffering knocks upon our heart, and the purpose of the blessing of salvation before prayer is naught but the knocking on the door of the King. The moment that I grasp the saving as the opening of the door - there the Master of the World is connecting to me, He hasn't discarded me, He is near to me, praise His Name - this itself brings me to cleave to the Holy One, blessed be He, which is done through Shirah.",
"The purpose of the blessing of salvation is just for bringing me near to the Holy One, blessed be He. And this is what the students of Rabbeinu Yonah explain in Berakhot 2b (per the pagination of the Rif) on the immediacy of the blessing of salvation before the prayer: And the reason the liturgy now recalls the salvation when our ancestors trusted in HaShem and He saved them and then we pray directly afterward, is because he too finds himself trusting in Him to answer him as He answered Israel since they placed their trust in Him... and this trust is the essence of awe and faith.",
" ...... "
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"The Chassidim explain the service of the month of Adar, \"From when Adar enters, we increase joy\" (Taanit 29a), like this: Joy is an expression of spontaneity and of my freedom; a person is satisfied when he is unburdened and things are well with him. He expresses this good through joy and through song. The service is to reach my truth, my freedom and to discover that that freedom and that spontaneity bring me to the Holy One, blessed be He. \"From when Adar enters, we increase joy.\""
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"There is a connection between the Red Heifer and the sin of the Golden Calf, as explained by Rabbi Moshe HaDarshan, as cited by Rashi. In Numbers 19:22, it states: \"And it shall be for them a perpetual statute: that he who sprinkles the water of impurity shall cleanse his clothes, and he who touches the water of impurity shall be unclean until evening.\" Rashi explains this verse with a parable: The Red Heifer is likened to a maidservant's son who dirtied the king's palace, and they said, \"Let his mother come and clean up the filth.\" Similarly, the Red Heifer comes and atones for the sin of the Golden Calf.\n"
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"versions": [
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"heTitle": "פניך אבקש",
"categories": [
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"heTitle": "פניך אבקש",
"enTitle": "Panekha Avakesh",
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"heTitle": "הקדמת העורכים",
"enTitle": "Editors' Introduction"
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"heTitle": "דברי פתיחה וזכרון",
"enTitle": "A Commemorative Introduction"
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}