D'var Torah

March 2007/Adar-Nisan 5767

Seder Melodies

As I write this column, it is Erev Shabbat Shira, the Sabbath on which we read Shirat Ha-yam, the song at the Sea of Reeds. The Israelites, leaving Egypt, are in a hurry but find themselves stuck with the Sea of Reeds in front of them and Pharaoh's army behind them. The waters part, the Israelites cross, and the Egyptian army drowns when they pursue the fleeing slaves. Afterwards, both Moshe and his older sister Miriam sing songs of praise to God for the miracle of liberation:

"Then Miriam the prophetess, Aharon'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 the Lord, for The Almighty has triumphed gloriously;
Horse and driver God has hurled into the sea.' " (Exodus 15:20-21)

Miriam's song is short but has an interesting expression in the Hebrew. The Hebrew says
va'ta'an l'hem, literally, she "answered to them," but meaning "called out to them" or as the JPS translates it, "chanted for them." The medieval exegete and quintessential commentator, Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaki, Rashi [104—1105], cites an earlier midrash to explain that both Moshe and Miriam chanted the songs out loud and the people repeated it back to them, "answering" the leader with the words of the song. Picking up on this, the contemporary rabbinic scholar Adin Steinsaltz, in his book Biblical Images, suggests that Miriam’s leading the women in communal chanting and song, proves her status as a leader of the people in her own right.

As pointed out my one of my rabbinic colleagues, Rabbi Neal Loevinger, it is obvious that Miriam is prominent among the Israelites; what is more interesting about this interpretation is its metaphor of leadership: the leader brings the people to song, brings out their voice and helps them articulate words of celebration and hope. I relish this image of Miriam and Moshe composing verses and the people chanting them in response. It suggests that both Miriam and Moshe were worthy leaders precisely because of their ability and willingness to be creative and freely expressive with the people, by helping to bring out the pent-up emotions waiting to be expressed after years of oppression. Miriam's leadership consisted not of commands but in finding her voice so that she could help others bring out their own. Seen this way, leadership can be understood as consciously seeking to nurture the human potential of an organization or community. It is practiced not only by great prophets, but by ordinary humans who bring forth fromothers the song within.

One of the great joys of the Seder is the singing that punctuates the Seder ritual. We enjoy listening to the songs of our childhood, and the voices of our children (and other family members) as we sing and rejoice around the table. Perhaps we need also to see our own role in the process of the Seder ceremonial, by lifting up our own voices in song, teaching by example the melodies that fill our souls and our hearts. In much the same way that the call-response pattern allows for the active engagement of church-goers in the African-American religious tradition, so, too, can the call-response more actively engage and involve each and every one of us as actual an d potential leaders of the Jewish people, assuring and invigorating our collective future as a people.

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