Hagaon
Rav Levi
Yitzchak of Berditchov zt”l on Parshat Beshalach
(from
Kedushat
Levi )
Preserving
Joy
Print
Version
The introduction to the Shirat Hayam ends in a seemingly
inappropriate way. “Then Moshe and the Children of Israel sang this song to G-d.
They said ‘to say’ . . .” The last word,
“leimor,” (to say) seems out of place. It usually means to tell others. For instance, in the frequently used “Vayidabeir Hashem el
Moshe leimor,” “G-d said to Moshe to say” – “leimor”
means to say to the Children of Israel.
What does it mean here?
Moshe and the People of Israel are all singing
together; who needs to be spoken to?
The
Kedushat Levi answers this question through answering
another question. The People of Israel were happy over the salvation at the Red
Sea. Happiness
is essentially an inner emotional experience,
in the heart. Why was there a need for Israel
to sing at all? Was it not enough to feel the
inner joy?
The
answer is based on an emotional reality.
Inner happiness can be fleeting and end
after a short period of time. The people of Israel wanted to hold on to their joy and celebrate
with G-d for an extended period of time, on and
on. Speech, verbalization, and singing holds
on to joy, expands it, cultivates it and enlarges
it. They sang so they could stay joyous even
longer and prolong their joyous love of G-d after
the miracle he did for them.
This
is what “leimor” means in the verse.
Moshe and the People of Israel spoke in
order to keep on speaking – even though they were
not speaking to anyone else.
They continued to sing so that the joy
would continue and they could keep on experiencing
love of G-d through joy.
[prepared by Eliezer Kwass]
|
