B’shallach
Exodus 13:17 - 17:16
This is Shabbat Shira, the Sabbath of Song, when we chant the Torah text that describes the Israelites’ perilous and miraculous escape from slavery in Egypt. At our Kabbalat Shabbat services this Friday night, our Temple Isaiah choir and our choir friends from Lafayette-Orinda Presbyterian Church will combine their voices and ours to imbue Shabbat Shira with appropriate, exhilarating joy! Do not miss this chance to remember our past, to celebrate our freedom, to worship together and to honor the steps toward redemption the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave to our country through his work for civil rights.
Our Temple Isaiah graphic-artist extraordinaire, Deb Phillips, created the flyer you received to tell you about Shabbat Shira. She placed the text inside the picture of a tambourine, to help you bring to mind the Torah text that describes the joyous revel that took place among the Israelites after they had crossed the parted Red Sea to safety. “Then Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women went out after her in dance with timbrels. And Miriam chanted for them: Sing to Adonai, for God has triumphed gloriously; Horse and driver God has hurled into the sea.” (Ex. 15:21)
We do not know if the ancient timbrel is identical to our modern tambourine, but we can imagine the need our ancestors felt to jump, twirl, shout, sing and play music with an abandonment only a former slave could express when finding freedom at last. But if you are like most people, including the rabbinic commentators writing in the early centuries of the Common Era, you are asking yourself: Where did they get timbrels in the middle of the desert?
The Israelites only had a short time to prepare for their escape from Egypt. Moses told them to pack in haste and be ready to flee at a moment’s notice. What would you have taken? The necessities, some food, a memento or two? But - a timbrel? Surely that would have been a silly, extravagant choice. No, say the writers of the Midrash. The timbrels were the faithful choice: “These righteous women were so confident that God would work miracles for them that they had brought timbrels along from Egypt, anticipating that God would give them cause to celebrate.” (Midrash Mekhilta)
What a lesson of optimism, of hope, of determination these women give to all of us. They packed symbols of freedom while living in slavery. How do we hold onto our dreams for the future when the present is challenging? Are we full of faith only when our cups are full to overflowing, or can we see blessings even in half-full and empty cups as well? Can we, like the Israelite women, like Reverend King, work today for a joyous tomorrow?
May this Shabbat Shira fill our hearts with joy in the present and the determination always to work for a brighter future for ourselves and all humankind.
Shabbat Shalom!
Rabbi Judy Shanks
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