The Shira

The Shirah was the song of praise sung by the Children of Israel when they crossed over the Red (Reed) Sea after leaving Egypt and the waters split. They walked through dry land between piled up mountains of water and the Egyptians pursuing them were drowned.

The Shira as it is written in a Sefer Torah

The normal way words are written in the Torah is on straight lines following one another with gaps left only at the end of each chapter.

The Shirah is the only place where there is a spacing in a brick like formation as shown on the adjacent page. This layout is according to tradition and is shown in the Rambam’s monumental work Yad Hachazoka. I have not seen any reason given for this layout which is unique in the five books of Moses. Furthermore, the song starts with the words אשירה לה' and ends ה ימלך לעולם ועד.

The question then arises as to why the two lines below the final sentence are still written in the same brick like formation. If you look immediately above you will find that the introduction, which commences with the words אשירה לה' is written in the normal manner with no gaps. Therefore, it is even more strange that after the song apparently ends there should be more brick like formations.

I suggest that the key to the answer lies in the last line of the brick like formation. If you look at the first word of the last line, this reads הים - HaYom, “the sea”, if you look at the final word it once again reads הים HaYom “the sea” and in the middle, you have the words ובני ישראל הלכו ביבשה בתוך “and the Children of Israel walked on dry land in the midst of”.

What we have is a bird's eye view of what happened because of the two gaps which have been deliberately left to emphasis the waters on the two sides and the Children of Israel walking on dry land between them. (See copy of the layout on the adjacent page)

I mentioned earlier on that I had not seen any explanation given as to why the whole Shirah is written in brick like formation. I should like to suggest a possible reason.

There are a number of names of Hashem, most of which we are familiar with as we use them continually during our prayers and are mentioned clearly in the Torah. There is, however, one particular one known as the Shem Ayin Bais שם ע"ב which is quoted by Rashi on a Mishnah in Succah page 45A and he explains that these are in fact 72 separate combinations of three letters which come from three verses just before the Shirah (Chapter 14, verses 19, 20 and 21). Each verse consists of 72 letters and the method used is to take the first letter of the first verse, the last letter of the second verse and the first letter of the third verse, which therefore makes the word
והוVov Hay Vov, and so on. A detailed explanation of this is given by the Zohar on the spot.

The final statement at the end of the third verse isויבקעו המים , “and the waters split”. It would seem, therefore, that this emanation of the 72 words were those used by Hashem to wrought the miracle of the splitting of the sea.

Going back to the brick like formation of the Shirah if you count each brick individually and I mean by a brick, for example, אשירה Oshirah and the next four words as one brick, the word סוס Sus as a separate brick etc., and you then go forward until the final word in brick like formation “HaYom”, you will find that there are exactly 72 bricks. As the Bnei Yisroel then saw such wonders and reached such a high level of holy spirit, Ruach Hakodesh, they instinctively understood the use of the 72 combinations and their song of praise is likewise split into 72 bricks.

To re-enforce my suggestion, I want to turn to the verse before the Shirah which is immediately above and starts with the wordsויראו ישראל את היד הגדולה and endsובמשה עבדו. This states that the Israelites saw the Great Hand which Hashem had brought upon Egypt, the people revered Hashem had faith in Hashem and Moshe His servant.

We know that in addition to the Hebrew letters serving to form words, each individual letter has a numerical value for example, an aleph is one, a yud is ten etc. If you take the initial letters of the whole of the verse and add them together, they total 216 which is exactly three times 72. I mentioned earlier on that the 72 combinations each have three letters and therefore this is really, at a deep level what the Children of Israel saw, namely, that these 216 letters in total had been used to produce the great miracle, the splitting of the sea.

* * *

The Shirah was the song of praise which the Bnei Yisroel sang together to Hashem after the vanquishing of their foes and all future wars and praises pertaining thereto up to the coming of Moshiach are hinted therein. The last phrase ה' ימלך לעולם ועד is in the future tense and we are told that Hashem will be King (recognised by all) for ever and ever, this applies to the time of the Moshiach onwards.

At the time of the second temple, when the חשמנאים - Hasmonians rose up against the Greeks leading to the miracle of Chanukah the acclaimed leader of the war was יהודה המכבי, Yehuda HaMacabi. A reason given for this unusual surname is that when he went into battle with his small band of religious Jews against the mighty armies of Greece, his battle cry was מי כמכה באלם ה'“Who is like unto you among the strong ones, Hashem” the first letters spell out מכבי, and as we all know, he won a series of spectacular victories leading to the recapturing of Yerushalyim and the Bais HaMikdosh.

Why did he choose this battle cry? If you look at the Shirah as a whole, you will notice that this phrase appears right in the heart of it. Yehuda HaMacabi told his followers that in the same way as Hashem performed a miracle to help the Children of Israel when they were going out of Egypt, He would help them again in their struggle to vanquish their degenerate enemies. The numerical value of the first letters of the words מי כמכה באלם ה' add up to 72 and as mentioned above this was the emanation of Hashem at a time of the going out of Egypt and he managed to reawaken this for his own generation.

The miracle of Chanukah took place, according to the Seder Olam, in the year 3595 from the creation of the world, this was 234 years before the second Temple was destroyed. The total numerical value of the four words, מי כמכה באלם ה add up to exactly 234. Would it be too much to suggest that as reward and merit for Yehuda HaMacabi using this phrase as his rallying call Hashem granted a further 234 years from the Ness of Chanukah that the Bais HaMikdosh should remain standing.

Furthermore, if one counts the letters from אז ישיר, Oz Yoshir up to באלם ה, BoElim Hashem, there are 420 which is exactly the total amount of years that the second temple stood.

We begin to understand some of the depth of the Shirah and perhaps part of the reason as to why this was incorporated into the פסוקי דזמרה said every morning…

* * *

King David, Dovid Hamelech, composed תהילים, the Psalms and in his own brilliant and unique way praised and thanked Hashem at length. Anyone who reads the Tehillim is struck by the fact that with his genius he used his own expressions. However, there is one place where he lifted half of a verse directly from the Torah. In chapter 118 which commences הודו לה' כי טוב כי לעולם חסדו “let us give thanks to Hashem for he is good, for His kindness is forever”. He continues מן המצר קראתי י-ה ענני במרחב י-ה “From being oppressed I called upon Hashem and Hashem answered me with expansiveness.” and shortly afterwards he uses the expressionעזי וזמרת י-ה ויהי לי לישועה which translates as “Hashem is my might and my praise and He was a salvation for me.” or “Hashem’s might and His cutting away (of the enemy) was a salvation for me” this is half of a verse taken directly from the Shirah. Surely Dovid Hamelech who was a supreme creator of verses must have had some special reason to have utilised half of a verse from Torah and in particular from the Shirah.

If one looks at the way Dovid vividly describes in this chapter of Tehillim the problems he encountered that, always with the help of Hashem, he managed to overcome, we can perhaps understand why he borrowed this phrase from the Shirah.

When the Children of Israel stood with their backs to the sea, watching with trepidation Pharaoh and his armed hosts coming towards them, they were terrified. They looked to the right, and saw a wilderness with wild animals, snakes etc., they looked to the left and saw the same picture. There were those among them who said that they should nevertheless try to run into the wilderness to escape, others said that they should fight the Egyptians and some even said that they should give in to the Egyptians and become slaves again. But they did pray to Hashem for a salvation. That salvation came in the most unexpected manner, namely, that they turned round walked into the sea which then split and they were saved and the Egyptians drowned.

I believe that Dovid Hamelech especially introduced this verse expression עזי וזמרת י-ה ויהי לי לישועה which can be translated either as “Hashem is my might and my praise and He was a salvation for me.” or “Hashem’s might and His cutting away (of the enemy) was a salvation for me” to emphasise that he likewise had often been in a situation where he could not see a way out and that Hashem had helped and saved him in the most unexpected manner.

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SHABBOS CHANUKAH

The Haftorah of Shabbos Chanukah is taken from the prophecy of זכריה Zachariah, commencing in the middle of the second chapter and going forward to the third and fourth chapters.

Rashi commences his commentary on Zachariah with the following words
נבואת זכריה סתומה היא מאד כי יש בה מראות דומות לחלום הניתן לפתרון ואין אנו יכולים לעמוד על אמיתת פתרונו עד יבוא מורה צדק
(Free translation) The prophecy of Zachariah is very deep, esoteric and difficult to understand. It consists of a number of visions which are more like dreams and they can, therefore, be interpreted in various ways. We cannot really be sure of the true interpretation until Moshiach will come. Rashi then comments that he will attempt to interpret as far as he can with the help of other interpretations and the translation of Targum Yonosan.

It, therefore, appears that one is free to interpret the visions oneself, bearing in mind חז''ל.

The time that Zachariah lived and prophesied in was towards the end of the exile of the 70 years, just before the second Bais Hamikdosh was built. The Haftorah commences with the words 'רני ושמחי בת ציון כי הנני בא ושכנתי בתוכך נאום ה
(Free translation) Rejoice and be happy daughters of Zion because I am coming and I will dwell among you, so says Hashem.

The beginning of the third chapter speaks about the Kohen Godol whose name was Yehoshua. The fourth chapter which is towards the end of the Haftorah speaks about a Menorah of gold. This would appear, at a first glance, to be the reason why this Haftorah is read on the Shabbos Chanukah, because of the nes of the oil and the lighting of our menorahs on Chanukah, and this is similar to the Menorah shown to Yehoshua the Kohen Godol.

I believe, however, that substantially the whole Haftorah can be explained as referring to the time of the Chashmonaim and the miracle of Chanukah.

Firstly, as I mentioned earlier on, the Haftorah itself starts with the words
'רני ושמחי בת ציון כי הנני בא ושכנתי בתוכך נאום ה
As translated above, this would refer to the Bais Hamikdosh which had been defiled by the Greeks and Hellenists and was rededicated by the Chashmonaim when they retook Jerusalem and the Bais Hamikdosh. At that time, there was a fresh השראת השכינה, The resting of Hashem’s Shechina on the Holy site. This, of course, caused great simcha and the oil carried on burning miraculously for eight days.

We say in Shemonei Esrai on Chanukah, concerning the actual happenings at that time,
חשמונאי ובניו בימי מתתיהו בן יוחנן כהן גדול,
In the days of Mattisyahu the son of Yochanon the High Priest and his children.
He was the first person who stood up and fought against the Greeks. In the same way, the Haftorah talks about Yehoshua Kohen Hagodol. It is interesting to note that יהושע means salvation. This was represented by Mattisyahu, who raised the flag of revolt which led to the eventual salvation and victory of the Chashmonaim.

Zachariah continues, והשטן עמד על ימינו לשטנו, (Free translation) the Satan stood on his right hand side to accuse him (Yehoshua). This hints at the Greeks who were intent on destroying Yiddishkeit, as we say in davening, להשכיחם תורתך וכ''ו-.

The next verse continues
ויאמר ה' אל השטן יגער ה' בך השטן ויגער ה' בך הבחר בירושלם הלא זה אוד מצל מאש.
And Hashem said to the Satan, May Hashem denounce you O Satan, May Hashem who chose Jerusalem denounce you. Indeed this man (Yehuda Hamaccabee, the son of Mattisyahu, who took over from him) is like a fire brand saved from a fire.

This obviously refers to the Greeks who defiled Yerushalayim and the Bais Hamikdosh and the children of Mattisyahu who recleansed it.

The prophet continues, ויהושע היה לבוש בגדים צואים and Yehoshua was dressed in dirty garments.

This refers to the fact that, instead of wearing the בגדי כהונה, the holy vestments, Mattisyahu and his children changed into warriors’ clothes in order to defeat the Greeks and their Hellenistic Jewish allies.

Zachariah carries on, telling people to remove these dirty garments from him, and says to Yehoshua,
העברתי מעליך עונך והלבש אתך מחלצות I have removed your sins from you and dressed you in clean attire. Implying that Yehuda Hamaccabee should not think that by killing these people, he was, in any way, defiling himself.

The verse continues וישימו הצניף הטהור על ראשו וילבשהו בגדים
And they (the angels) put a pure turban on his head and dressed him in clean clothes.

This, refers again to the donning of the בגדי כהונה, the vestments of the Kohen Godol and that it would continue in the next generations of Kohanim, the Chashmonaim.

The novi then admonishes as follows:
כה אמר ה' צבאו' אם בדרכי תלך ואם את משמרתי תשמר וכ''ו ונתתי לך מהלכים בין העמדים האלה

Hashem said, If you will go in My ways and safeguard My commandments, I will grant you “walking” among the angels who stand.

To understand these phrases, one needs to be aware that whereas an angel, once created, cannot elevate himself but is what is known as an “עומד”, always continuing on one spiritual level, a person can elevate himself in holiness and purity etc. and is therefore referred to as a הולך, going further. The implication is that the future generations of Chashmonaim would only succeed if they continued in a pure unadulterated Torah way.

Zachariah then continues,
שמע נא יהושע הכהן הגדול אתה ורעיך היושבים לפניך כי אנשי מופת המה
(Free translation) Listen now, Yehoshua, the Kohen Godol, you and your friends who are sitting before you, they are people of miracles.

This is referring not only to Mattisyahu as Kohen Godol but his five sons who all had miracles performed, both in war and then at the time that the Menorah was lit.

Zachariah continues, על אבן אחת שבעה עינים, there are seven eyes towards one stone.

This alludes to the fact that there was only enough oil to light the Menorah for one day and the miracle was that it continued to stay alight for a further seven days and could be see by all eyes.

The verse continues
ומשתי את עון הארץ ההיא ביום אחד וכ''ו and I will remove the sin of this land on one day.

This refers to immediately before Chanukah when the evil forces were defeated and the Jews could rest in peace.

The Haftorah then continues with the story of the golden Menorah which Yehoshua saw. This hardly needs any explanation but there are clear indications that this refers to the Menorah lit in the Bais Hamikdosh. Rashi explains that וגלה על ראשה means, and a bowl on the top (of the Menorah). This is obviously a hint to the פך שמן, the crucible of oil that was found and the verse continues regarding the seven lamps and seven ducts for the lamps, meaning that the oil lasted for an extra seven days.

The final words of the novi are to exhort לא בחיל ולא בכח כי אם ברוחי אמר ה' צבאו', Hashem said, Not through an army, and not with strength but through My spirit said Hashem, Master of the legions.

This obviously was a further warning to Mattisyahu and his children that once they had won the war against the Greeks, they should not think that it was anything to do with their own strength but they should, instead, concentrate on spiritual matters keeping Torah and mitzvos.

I believe that I have demonstrated how the whole of the Haftorah can be shown as full of allusions to the story of the Chashmonaim and Chanukah.

כ''ו כסלו תשס''ט

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CHANUKAH פך שמן – THE CRUCIBLE OF OIL

There is a Midrash that states that when Yaakov Avinu had the famous dream with the angels going up and down the ladder and he then woke up in the morning, the Torah tells us that he made the stone on which he slept into a מצבה, the Torah continues ויצק שמן על ראשה, He poured oil onto the top of it. The Midrash asks where did he have the oil from. It answers that this was sent to him “מן השמים” this was heavenly oil. Because Yaakov found the oil, unaccountably there, he realised that he was supposed to anoint the stone with oil. That way he would be able to recognise which particular stone it was and, therefore, to eventually, when he returned to that place, comply with his promise והאבן הזאת אשר שמתי מצבה יהיה בית אלקים And this stone which I have set aside as a testimony shall become the House of Hashem.

I heard a tape by Rabbi E Meisels where he quoted that Midrash and continued with the story of Yaakov being attacked overnight when the rest of the family had been transferred by him to the other side of the river יבק. The Torah says ויותר יעקב לבדו And Yaakov remained on his own. Rashi comments שכח פכים קטנים, He forgot the small vessels and Rabbi Meisels suggested that this in fact refers to the oil that had been found by Yaakov Avinu and which he had used to anoint that famous stone.

Rabbi Meisels then added that this was the very same פך של שמן, the crucible of oil, which was found almost 1400 years later when they were searching for oil with which to light the Menorah. This was the oil from which came the נס, miracle, of Chanukah.

It occurs to me that immediately after the Torah states ויותר יעקב לבדו, That Yaakov remained on his own and Rashi comments that he forgot the small vessels, the Torah then says ויאבק איש עמו, A man wrestled with him. Our Chazal tell us that this was the angel who looked after Eisav, שרו של עשו. Would it be too fanciful to suggest that because Yaakov “forgot” these vessels with the special oil in them, although the angel could not defeat Yaakov, nevertheless, he managed to touch כף ירכו, the socket of his hip. You will note that the word כף is exactly the same letters as פך but inverted.

The Gemorra says that the פך שמן was found בחותמו של כהן גדול, had on it the seal of the Kohen Godol. Before the Kohanim were appointed, the עבודה, service to Hashem was carried out by the בכורות, the firstborn.

In view of the fact that Yaakov had purchased the right of the בכורה from Eisav, and he was presented with this crucible of oil, מן השמים, it would be, I would suggest, possible to say that the בחותמו של כהן גדול mentioned by the Gemorra was, in fact, from Yaakov Avinu.

When the Bnei Yisroel fought לשם שמים, for the sake of heaven, at the time of the second Bais Hamikdosh and on 25th day of Kislev, they entered the Bais Hamikdosh, they found that very same פך, crucible of oil, and it was only fitting that this should be the oil that should be used. This is especially as Yaakov Avinu had said in his tefillo to Hashem והאבן הזאת אשר שמתי מצבה יהיה בית אלקים. It came back full circle to the original place where Yaakov had anointed the stone. Bearing all the above in mind, one can also understand how the oil burned miraculously for eight days.

כ''א כסלו תשס''ט

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HALLEL ON CHANUKAH

Our Chochomim enacted that we should read the whole of Hallel every day of Chanukah to praise Hashem for all the miracles and salvations including those of Chanukah. But where is the נס of Chanukah hinted at in הלל.

If one takes the posek אנא יהו'' הושיעה נא, the first letters, ראשי תיבות, add up numerically to 66. This is exactly the numerical value of יון, Greece. It was מלכות יון, the Hellenistic Kingdom, that Dovid Hamelech saw in advance and he was pleading with Hashem that the Chashmonoim should have a ישועה, a salvation in their fight against Antiochus and his henchmen.

Furthermore, the ראשי תיבות, first letters, of the next phrase אנא יהו'' הצליחה נא, also equals 66 and also refers to יון, the Hellenists. This was to reinforce the fact that after they had achieved salvation, they should have further success, הצלחה.

We also say in the Hallel, הודו לה' כי טוב כי לעולם חסדו, praise ה' because He is good, His kindness is forever. This is followed by further pesukim with the phrase כי לעולם חסדו repeated. The first letters of כי לעולם חסדו add up to 58 this is exactly the same as the ראשי תיבות, the first letters of, נר חנוכה, which also add up to 58, therefore, one has a further hint to Chanukah in Hallel, namely we praise Him for His kindness concerning the נס of Chanukah.

One can add, I think, that the famous son of Mattisyahu known as יהודה המכבי, is called so because before every battle, he used to rally his troops against far superior numbers and better equipped enemies with the rallying call of מי כמכה באלים יהו''. The first letters of that phrase are מכבי.

He was telling his faithful followers that in the same way as at the time of the קריעת ים סוף, there appeared to be no natural way for the Bnei Yisroel to escape the oncoming army of Pharoh. Nevertheless, Hashem made the miracle of splitting the sea and the Egyptians lost the battle and were drowned. Likewise, יהודה המכבי told his troops, Hashem will help us against all odds!! And so it was.

The letters מ כ ב י add up together to 72 and this, the Zohar Hakodosh (see also Rashi on a Mishnah in Succah מ''ה) tells us was the שם ע''ב, the name of Hashem as spelled out amounting numerically to 72. This, in turn, is taken from the three verses before the Shira which commence with the words ויסע ויט ויבא, the last words at the end of the third verse are ויבקעו המים, the waters split. 72 is also the gemmatria of חסד.

Please note that the second chapter of הלל speaks about קריעת ים סוף. Once again we have a connection between Hallel and Chanukah.

To return to Hallel, the verse before אנא יהו'' הושיעה נא is as follows זה היום עשה יהו'' נגילה ונשמחה בו, this is the day made by Hashem, let us be happy and rejoice in it.

Again this can refer to Chanukah.

The numerical value of the first letters of that posuk are 150.

The next verse continues אנא יהו'' הושיעה נא, the first letters together totalling 66. Added to the previous 150 mentioned just above, they total 216. That is exactly the complete numerical value of שם ע''ב which itself consists always of three letters one from each verse mentioned above (ויסע ויט ויבא) three times 72 equals 216.

כ כסלו תשס''ט

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