Friday January 24,1997                           Erev Shabbat Shvat 17, 5757

Bishalach (Exodus 13:17-17:16) Shabbat Shira

Something to think about:
	The title, "Shabbat Shira" commemorates the song (in Hebrew,
SHIRA) that we sang celebrating the miracle of the crossing of the Red
Sea.  This event marked the end of the exile.  We would no longer fear the
return of the taskmaster.  It took but moments to take us out of slavery: 
Much longer to take the slavery out of us.  The slave mentality continued
to haunt us for years.
	Perhaps this concept is alluded to in the opening verse of the
parsha.  "VEYE'YI'HI, (And it was) When Pharoh sent out the nation ..." 
The Rabbinic writings inform us that when a story begins with the word
VEYE'YI'HI, (And it was) it denotes sadness. [VEYE meaning "WOE is me"]
Based on this idea, the Midrash addresses the opening verse and asks, "Who
cried out, Woe is me?" A number of answers are offered.  One of the
proposed answers is, "G-d cried out!"
	I had the honor to be part of a private audience with the saintly
Chassidic leader, the Rabbi of Klausenberg.  In his conversation he raised
this point and asked, "Hashem's nation has been freed, why would He cry?"
The Rabbi explained that the answer can be seen in the next words, "When
Pharoh sent out." Even after all the miracles and plagues; even after the
Egyptian taskmasters had recognized the hand of G-d; still there were
those amongst us who saw our freedom as an act of Pharoh, not G-d! For
this Hashem calls out, "Woe is me!" 
	Often we experience something and we are left to our own senses
and sensitivities to process the event.  Is this a random act or a Divine
wake up call?  The slave can see no further than his own Pharoh.  Not the
hand of G-d. It has been centuries since we celebrated that miracle of
redemption yet we still occasionally find ourselves thanking our own
Pharohs, rather than recognizing the hand of G-d that caresses, corrects
and offers us freedom.
 	Wouldn't it be tragic if the sea opened to offer us freedom and we were
too busy bowing to Pharoh to notice!

 Good Shabbos!!  Rabbi Hirsh Michel Chinn