Parashas Beshalach

After the Jews miraculously crossed the Sea on dry land, they sang Az Yashir, the song of gratitude and praise to Hashem.

It is a song so profound, it was instituted as part of our daily Shacharis, and it will be sung at the time of techiyas hameisim, the Resurrection of the Dead (see Rashi 15:1).

When Moshe first approached Pharaoh to allow the Jews to leave Egypt to serve Hashem, Pharaoh responded by harshening his subjugation of the nation. When Moshe cried out to Hashem, Hashem responded by noting that our forefathers had been given many assurances, but although they never actually experienced the “Name Ado-nai,” – they never saw the fulfillment of those promises – they had never complained.

In Az Yashir, it is the Name Ado-nai is the one used almost universally. Az Yashir celebrated the fact that the Jews perceived how all the pieces fit together.

We are taught (Mechilta Shemos 15:2) that when the Jews crossed the Sea, even a maidservant saw G-d more immanently than the Prophet Yechezkel, whose prophecy describes in detail the Heavenly retinue. The Kotzker Rebbe famously commented that somehow, despite this experience, the people did not all become righteous prophets. The maidservant became a maidservant.

Interestingly, when the Jews demanded food in the wilderness, Hashem responded, הִנְנִי מַמְטִיר לָכֶם לֶחֶם מִן הַשָּׁמָיִם וְיָצָא הָעָם וְלָקְטוּ דְּבַר יוֹם בְּיוֹמוֹ לְמַעַן אֲנַסֶּנּוּ הֲיֵלֵךְ בְּתוֹרָתִי אִם לֹא, Behold I will rain upon you bread from the Heavens, and the nation shall go out and collect the portion of each day on that day so that I might test them to see if they follow in my commandments or not.

G-d could have provided the Jews nourishment and satiation without the manna. The purpose of the manna was not to provide food, it was to see if the Jews had learned their lesson, it was to test whether the experience of the Miracles at the Sea had left a lasting impact.

As Ramban notes, Hashem performs the open, obvious miracles, to show us that he controls all events.

In our own lives, we must thank Hashem for his goodness and kindness not only when we experience open acts of Providence; it behooves us to seek out and acknowledge Hashem at every juncture. We repeat Az Yashir every day to remind us that.

As Chaye and I give gratitude to Hashem for blessing us with the simchah of the upcoming marriage of another child, we thank Him for the infinite other kindnesses that He does for us every day, and be beseech him to continue to grant us and all Klal Yisroel simchos, berachos, refuos and yeshuos.

May the day soon come when all of us merit to sing Az Yashir after techi’yas hameisim, when we will actually again perceive how every event and all of history fits into place in the Divine Master Plan.

Gut Shabbos