Song from the Heart: Teshuvah Out of Love

1“Then Moshe and Bnei Yisrael sang this song to Hashem …”¹ Rashi comments: “Then: when he saw the miracle, it arose in his heart to sing a song.” Notice Rashi's wording. He says “when he saw the miracle,” though it seems he should have said “when the miracle was done.” Why does he speak of seeing? We must also ask what he means by “it arose in his heart to sing.” Song belongs mainly to the mouth; what does it have to do with the heart?

2Chazal said in the Midrash Shocher Tov: “Not everyone who sings a song has truly sung it. But whoever has a miracle done for him and sings a song, it is known that all his sins are forgiven him and he becomes a new creation.”² What, then, does the forgiveness of sins have to do with song?

3aWe may explain it this way. We find that a korban, an offering, required song: the Levi'im sang while it was offered.³ The holy sefarim, the kabbalistic work Bris Menuchah among them, explain the reason.⁴ A korban comes to bring atonement, so song was instituted over it. The song of the Levi'im stirred the owner of the korban, and by the power of the song he would return to Hashem in teshuvah. We may say that the same happened at the Song of the Sea. Chazal said: “What does ‘And Pharaoh drew near’ mean? He drew Israel near to the teshuvah they did. R' Berechiah said: Pharaoh's drawing near did more for Israel than a hundred fasts and prayers. Why? Because when the Egyptians pursued them and Israel saw them, they were terribly afraid. They lifted their eyes on High, repented and prayed.”⁵ But how could this truly accomplish more than a hundred fasts and prayers?

3bPerhaps Bnei Yisrael first drew close through the teshuvah they did out of fear, and through it they were granted the miracle of the splitting of the Red Sea. But afterward, when they saw the open miracles that took place then, their fondness for the miracle lifted them to the level of teshuvah out of love, through which their deliberate sins became like merits.⁶ That is why this teshuvah was worth more than a hundred fasts and prayers. And that is what Rashi means by “Then, when he saw the miracle.” He does not mean only seeing with physical eyes, but seeing with the heart. Seeing the miracle brought them to a true, inner joy, and by its power they returned to Hashem out of love for the miracle. So, of itself, “it arose in his heart to sing a song.” At that moment song and inner joy filled the heart, and they did not need to work to make their song joyful. Out of this joy Moshe was stirred, of his own accord, to sing. So it is today as well. When we read the Song of the Sea, the time itself surely helps stir us to teshuvah out of love, and so it is especially suited to forgiveness and atonement. That is why Chazal said that whoever sings a song with joy is forgiven all his sins.

4This is also what Shabbos is about. My holy great-grandfather, the Divrei Binah, zy"a,⁷ wrote that the word Shabbos (שבת) is formed from the first letters of Shabbos bo tashuv, “On Shabbos you shall return.” He explained this at length and in many ways, in his own manner. But we can add something more. Shabbos is a time of teshuvah out of love because of the fondness for the miracle that Shabbos holds: on Shabbos the abundance for all the weekdays comes down. As the Zohar says, “All six days are blessed from it.”⁸ That is why the Shabbos prayers speak of love: “And Your holy Shabbos You gave us as a heritage with love and with favor,” and “for You gave it with love to Israel Your people.” So Shabbos and song belong together. Just as song brings a person to teshuvah out of love, so does Shabbos. That is why this Shabbos is called Shabbos Shirah, “the Shabbos of Song.”

5On this Shabbos, when the Song of the Sea is read, the time itself helps us to be stirred and to reach the love that the song reveals. It is like an explanation that the holy sefer Shem MiShmuel gives in the name of the holy Rebbe R' Chanoch Henich of Alexander, zt"l,⁹ for the custom of not saying the Priestly Blessing on Simchas Torah. On that day we read the blessings of Moshe Rabbeinu, so it would not be fitting to bless with the Priestly Blessing then. It would look as though Moshe's blessing were not enough for us and we needed the Priestly Blessing as well. The Shem MiShmuel explains that we always have the power of Moshe's blessing. Yet when it is read, the time it was first said is awakened again, and it is as though Moshe Rabbeinu stands and blesses Klal Yisrael. We may say the same here. When the Song of the Sea is read in the Torah, the time when it was first sung is awakened again, together with all the stirrings felt then. So this time is especially suited to drawing close through complete teshuvah out of love.

6So we should strengthen ourselves and resolve to say the Song of the Sea every day with kavanah, true concentration. Through this we will gain the Song's special powers: teshuvah out of love and forgiveness of sins.

7May Hashem, blessed be He, pour a spirit of teshuvah upon us from on High, especially in the days of Shovavim Tat,¹⁰ which are most suited to teshuvah and to drawing close, and above all to repairing the attribute of Yesod.¹¹ As Chazal said, “‘The sea saw and fled’: it saw the coffin of Yosef.”¹² It was in the merit of Yosef, of whom it is said, “the tzaddik is the foundation of the world,”¹³ that Israel was granted the splitting of the sea. And may we be privileged, by saying the Song of the Sea with kavanah, to repair the attribute of Yesod and so bring the redemption near. As Chazal said, “The son of Dovid will not come until all the souls in the guf have been used up.”¹⁴ Amen, may it be His will.