One of the most exhilarating events in the calendar year - especially for the Torah cantor - is the reading of the Shirat HaYam, the Song at the Sea. The unique tune that is used for much of the Shira (essentially those verses containing God's name) brings home the drama and sheer exultation that the Jews must have felt when the Almighty's power was awesomely revealed, as their tormentors were finally vanquished. Yet there is a phrase - said twice - that actually precedes the Shira, yet is sung in the same style: "V'Hamayim lahem choma, mimina u'mismola (And the water was a wall for them, on the right & on the left)." Obviously, there must be something quite special about this phrase.
In one sense, God is saying that He will put a shield around us, but only on two sides; the front and back will always remain open. That is, whether we progress or regress is up to us. Indeed, Moshe and God debate this very point. Moshe tells the Children of Israel to "stand and see God's salvation," but God corrects him and tells him "to speak to the Children of Israel and move." The path is always there for us, but we must choose to follow it.
On another level, we know that "water" is a synonym for Torah. I suggest that God is teaching us that the Torah - through its mitzvot and halachot - provides a "walled" protective corridor between "right" & "left" through which all Jews must travel. We must be guided by the halacha - which is by nature a middle path - and not decide our course of action based on "leftist" or "rightist" considerations, for the Torah is neither "right" nor "left."
The great poskim (leading rabbis) are our models in this case. They made their decisions based on what the halacha dictated and could never be second-guessed, nor labeled "strict" or "rigid." They decided Jewish law purely on the merits of the issues, not letting outside pressure dictate their rulings. Thus the Rav (Rabbi J.B. Soloveichek) could support co-ed Jewish education (e.g. at Maimonides in Boston), yet adamantly forbid women from dancing with the Torah on Simchat Torah. Thus, Rabbi Moshe Feinstein ruled that women should not say Kaddish - even on their own side of the Mechitza - yet he permitted a glass mechitza (separation between men and women in synagogue) to be used, provided congregants dressed modestly. These bold decisions may not have been "politically correct" or what the masses wanted to hear, but this was their sense of the halacha and they refused to budge from it, "left" or "right." All the great poskim had similar approaches.
The Torah is, indeed, a "wall" which keeps us on the "straight and narrow." If we steadfastly stay the path, it will surely lead us forward until we, too, sing the song of Moshiach (Messiah)in a Geula Shlema (complete redemption).
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Rabbi Weiss is Director of the Jewish Outreach Center in Ra?anana.
In one sense, God is saying that He will put a shield around us, but only on two sides; the front and back will always remain open. That is, whether we progress or regress is up to us. Indeed, Moshe and God debate this very point. Moshe tells the Children of Israel to "stand and see God's salvation," but God corrects him and tells him "to speak to the Children of Israel and move." The path is always there for us, but we must choose to follow it.
On another level, we know that "water" is a synonym for Torah. I suggest that God is teaching us that the Torah - through its mitzvot and halachot - provides a "walled" protective corridor between "right" & "left" through which all Jews must travel. We must be guided by the halacha - which is by nature a middle path - and not decide our course of action based on "leftist" or "rightist" considerations, for the Torah is neither "right" nor "left."
The great poskim (leading rabbis) are our models in this case. They made their decisions based on what the halacha dictated and could never be second-guessed, nor labeled "strict" or "rigid." They decided Jewish law purely on the merits of the issues, not letting outside pressure dictate their rulings. Thus the Rav (Rabbi J.B. Soloveichek) could support co-ed Jewish education (e.g. at Maimonides in Boston), yet adamantly forbid women from dancing with the Torah on Simchat Torah. Thus, Rabbi Moshe Feinstein ruled that women should not say Kaddish - even on their own side of the Mechitza - yet he permitted a glass mechitza (separation between men and women in synagogue) to be used, provided congregants dressed modestly. These bold decisions may not have been "politically correct" or what the masses wanted to hear, but this was their sense of the halacha and they refused to budge from it, "left" or "right." All the great poskim had similar approaches.
The Torah is, indeed, a "wall" which keeps us on the "straight and narrow." If we steadfastly stay the path, it will surely lead us forward until we, too, sing the song of Moshiach (Messiah)in a Geula Shlema (complete redemption).
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Rabbi Weiss is Director of the Jewish Outreach Center in Ra?anana.