The Song of Miriam and the Cosmic Collapse of Gender
We see a very interesting concept in this week’s Parashas Beshalach. Right after the epic Song of the Sea where Moshe Rabbeinu sings a long song of praise for the miracle of the splitting of the sea and the downfall of their Egyptian enemies, his sister Miriam adds a song as well.
Take a look for yourself:
Shemos 15:20-21
(כ) וַתִּקַּח֩ מִרְיָ֨ם הַנְּבִיאָ֜ה אֲח֧וֹת אַהֲרֹ֛ן אֶת־הַתֹּ֖ף בְּיָדָ֑הּ וַתֵּצֶ֤אןָ כׇֽל־הַנָּשִׁים֙ אַחֲרֶ֔יהָ בְּתֻפִּ֖ים וּבִמְחֹלֹֽת׃ (כא) וַתַּ֥עַן לָהֶ֖ם מִרְיָ֑ם שִׁ֤ירוּ לַֽיהוה כִּֽי־גָאֹ֣ה גָּאָ֔ה ס֥וּס וְרֹכְב֖וֹ רָמָ֥ה בַיָּֽם׃
(20) Then Miriam the prophet, Aaron’s sister, picked up a hand-drum, and all the women went out after her in dance with hand-drums. (21) And Miriam chanted for them: Sing to GOD, who has triumphed gloriously; Horse and driver have been hurled into the sea.
Some basic questions jump out from the text itself. Why was this song necessary at all? Especially with the fact that the Midrash tells us that even unborn fetuses in their mothers wombs sang in the Song of the Sea, all the more so the mothers themselves! What was Miriam adding that wasn’t already included?
In fact, all she did was repeat the first line of Moshe’s song. A little bit anticlimactic, no?
Let’s try to dive a little bit deeper into the true essence of the Song of Miriam to be able to understand the answer to these questions and so much more.
The Lubavitcher Rebbi points out that the fact that Miriam’s song was met with instruments and dancing we see that their joy surpassed the men. He explains that the women experienced a deeper pain in the slavery of Egypt and therefore they experienced deeper joy upon the redemption. But why? What enabled Miriam and the women to experience this higher level authentic simcha that the men could not achieve?
The Chasam Sofer, in his commentary on Chumash asks why in the Song of Miriam was there only a mention of the downfall of the enemies and not the rest of the miracles included in the Song of Moshe?
He gives the most incredible answer. The Chasam Sofer explains that the whole redemption came because of the merit of the righteous women. For them, the splitting of the sea wasn’t even such a miracle, because they earned it. For the women, it was expected and normal. The downfall of their enemies at the exact time of their salvation was the only miraculous part on their level and the only thing they felt deemed to sing Shira. Wow!
But, back to our question, what enabled the women to single handedly earn the Geula to the point that the splitting of the sea wasn’t even a surprise to them?
Rav Nachman of Breslov in Likutei Moharan 27:6:10 says that the first letter of the first four words of the Song of Miriam spelled backwards reads Shalom, completion. Very nice, a cute hint, but what deeper concept is Rav Nachman alluding to with this reference?
To fully understand the depth of this topic, let’s explore the holy words of Rav Kalonymus Kalman Epstein in his commentary Meor Veshemesh. He starts off by quoting a Midrash in Shir Hashirim Rabba 1:5:3 that discusses the difference between a song in the feminine vs masculine tense, Shira vs Shir.
The midrash explains that right now, the Jewish people are compared to a female, who only inherits 1/10th of her father’s estate for her dowry. So too says the Midrash, Klal Yisrael inherited Eretz Yisrael which came from the seven nations of Canaan, but in the future, we will sing a song like a male, which inherits the full father’s estate and we will inherit the land of all 70 nations of the world.
This itself needs explanation, what does this cryptic comment of this Midrash really mean? The Meor Veshemesh shares a deep kabbalistic insight into the creation of the world where he describes that Hashem created the universe with a certain ebb and flow, where he contracted His Essence and created layers of Divine Energy that brought the world into existence. He compares this to male and female energy, where in a cosmic sense there is a giver and receiver throughout His creation.
But says the Meor Hashemesh, that is only from our worldly perspective. In the World to Come, there is only cosmic unity, the idea of male and female collapses into one higher reality. And he explains that this is the depth behind the song of Miriam. Moshe’s song was in the future. Az Yashir, then we will sing. Only when things actually reveal themselves to be good, just and perfect can we truly sing to Hashem. But Miriam challenged him to a deeper consciousness, one that was met by her uniquely feminine energy that allowed her to bring the future into the present and sing the full song to Hashem right now!
This is alluded to in the verse where it says וַתַּ֥עַן לָהֶ֖ם מִרְיָ֑ם, Miriam answered them, but in the masculine form. Because Miriam had arrived at this level of cosmic unity where a woman could now sing a Shir, the song of Masculinity.
And with this in mind, we can answer all of the questions we started. The Midrash describes the Jewish people only connected to 10% of the Land. In our current state of reality, we only reflect a fraction of Divine Light. But just like our sages teach us in Pesikta Rabbati 1:1 that Eretz Yisrael will spread over the whole world, it’s not referring to a giant real estate takeover.
It is speaking to the ideal that the Light of Hashem that is manifest currently in the Holy Land will one day shine on all of existence. This is the full “masculine” song that will be sung, which Miriam tapped into herself at Krias Yam Suf.
We can understand, based on this, why the Lubavitcher Rebbe highlights that Miriam’s song was with greater happiness and joy. She was singing in the present tense while Moshe’s song was only in the future. She was living the Final Redemption, the true source for dancing.
We can understand better the words of the Chasam Sofer that for Miriam and the rest of the women, Krias Yam Suf wasn’t even such a miracle. They were in a place of total unity, where Godliness and nature were just two sides of the same coin. We can understand the deeper truth to the allusion of Rav Nachman of Breslov that describes in this short song, the deeper Shalom, unity and perfection was completely revealed.
It’s amazing how so much depth can be packed into two small Pessukim. Miriam wasn’t being short changed with her one line song. She was quietly hinting at her inner greatness and the high level of the rest of the women of Klal Yisrael.
We should all merit to sing the Shir Chadash speedily within our days.
The full sources of this article can be found here: https://voices.sefaria.org/sheets/704612?lang=bi
He gives the most incredible answer. The Chasam Sofer explains that the whole redemption came because of the merit of the righteous women. For them, the splitting of the sea wasn’t even such a miracle, because they earned it. For the women, it was expected and normal. The downfall of their enemies at the exact time of their salvation was the only miraculous part on their level and the only thing they felt deemed to sing Shira. Wow!
But, back to our question, what enabled the women to single handedly earn the Geula to the point that the splitting of the sea wasn’t even a surprise to them?
Rav Nachman of Breslov in Likutei Moharan 27:6:10 says that the first letter of the first four words of the Song of Miriam spelled backwards reads Shalom, completion. Very nice, a cute hint, but what deeper concept is Rav Nachman alluding to with this reference?
To fully understand the depth of this topic, let’s explore the holy words of Rav Kalonymus Kalman Epstein in his commentary Meor Veshemesh. He starts off by quoting a Midrash in Shir Hashirim Rabba 1:5:3 that discusses the difference between a song in the feminine vs masculine tense, Shira vs Shir.
The midrash explains that right now, the Jewish people are compared to a female, who only inherits 1/10th of her father’s estate for her dowry. So too says the Midrash, Klal Yisrael inherited Eretz Yisrael which came from the seven nations of Canaan, but in the future, we will sing a song like a male, which inherits the full father’s estate and we will inherit the land of all 70 nations of the world.
This itself needs explanation, what does this cryptic comment of this Midrash really mean? The Meor Veshemesh shares a deep kabbalistic insight into the creation of the world where he describes that Hashem created the universe with a certain ebb and flow, where he contracted His Essence and created layers of Divine Energy that brought the world into existence. He compares this to male and female energy, where in a cosmic sense there is a giver and receiver throughout His creation.
But says the Meor Hashemesh, that is only from our worldly perspective. In the World to Come, there is only cosmic unity, the idea of male and female collapses into one higher reality. And he explains that this is the depth behind the song of Miriam. Moshe’s song was in the future. Az Yashir, then we will sing. Only when things actually reveal themselves to be good, just and perfect can we truly sing to Hashem. But Miriam challenged him to a deeper consciousness, one that was met by her uniquely feminine energy that allowed her to bring the future into the present and sing the full song to Hashem right now!
This is alluded to in the verse where it says וַתַּ֥עַן לָהֶ֖ם מִרְיָ֑ם, Miriam answered them, but in the masculine form. Because Miriam had arrived at this level of cosmic unity where a woman could now sing a Shir, the song of Masculinity.
And with this in mind, we can answer all of the questions we started. The Midrash describes the Jewish people only connected to 10% of the Land. In our current state of reality, we only reflect a fraction of Divine Light. But just like our sages teach us in Pesikta Rabbati 1:1 that Eretz Yisrael will spread over the whole world, it’s not referring to a giant real estate takeover.
It is speaking to the ideal that the Light of Hashem that is manifest currently in the Holy Land will one day shine on all of existence. This is the full “masculine” song that will be sung, which Miriam tapped into herself at Krias Yam Suf.
We can understand, based on this, why the Lubavitcher Rebbe highlights that Miriam’s song was with greater happiness and joy. She was singing in the present tense while Moshe’s song was only in the future. She was living the Final Redemption, the true source for dancing.
We can understand better the words of the Chasam Sofer that for Miriam and the rest of the women, Krias Yam Suf wasn’t even such a miracle. They were in a place of total unity, where Godliness and nature were just two sides of the same coin. We can understand the deeper truth to the allusion of Rav Nachman of Breslov that describes in this short song, the deeper Shalom, unity and perfection was completely revealed.
It’s amazing how so much depth can be packed into two small Pessukim. Miriam wasn’t being short changed with her one line song. She was quietly hinting at her inner greatness and the high level of the rest of the women of Klal Yisrael.
We should all merit to sing the Shir Chadash speedily within our days.
The full sources of this article can be found here: https://voices.sefaria.org/sheets/704612?lang=bi
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