According to tradition, the crossing of the Sea of Reeds is celebrated on the seventh day of Pesach. In services that morning we will read Shirat Hayam, the Song of the Sea. In the middle of the song is the most familiar quotation: Mi cha-mocha ba-elim Adonai, "Who is like You, Adonai?"
The Torah tells us that "Moshe and the Children of Israel sang." The word for "sang" is in the singular, though the subject of the verb is plural. The word for "sang" is actually in the future tense -- yashir. So how did they sing?
Rabbi Nechemia interprets: Moshe and the Children of Israel sang. Everybody got the idea for the same song individually at the same moment, through divine inspiration. Then they all sang together.
Rabbi Eliezer ben Taddai interprets: Moshe, then the Children of Israel, sang. Moshe taught part of a line, the people repeated it, and then the people added their own words to complete the line of song.
We prepared for Pesach by thinking ahead about freedom and redemption. At our Seders, we reflected and talked together. Now, on this side of the Seder, each of us has to seal in the meaning of freedom. The song has to be our own, so we'll know what to do with it when we leave the Sea. Perhaps you have been struck by a new inspiration. Or perhaps from a teacher, Seder leader, or fellow participant, you have been given a hint to build on. Either way, each of us has to make the song of liberation our own. Each of us has to take this Pesach and keep it as a guide, as we march now into the days of counting the Omer.
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