📜 שירת הים | Shirat haYam :: the Song of the Sea (Exodus 15:1-19)

According to Rabbinic tradition, the 21st of Nissan is the day in the Jewish calendar on which Pharaoh’s army was drowned in the Sea of Reeds, and the redeemed children of Yisrael sang the Song of the Sea, the (Shirat Hayam, Exodus 15:1-19). The song, as included in the the morning prayers, comprises one of the most ancient text in Jewish liturgy. The 21st of Nissan corresponds to the 7th day of Passover, and the recitation of the Shirat HaYam is part of the daily Torah Reading. Rabbi Hillel Ḥayim Yisraeli-Lavery shares a performance of a melody he learned for the Shirat Hayam from צוף דבש Tzuf Devash, a Moroccan synagogue in the Old City of Jerusalem. If there is something about this tune that strikes one as particularly celebratory, it might be because the relationship between G!d and the Jewish people is traditionally described as a marriage consummated with the Covenant at Mt. Sinai. The passage of Bnei Yisrael through the Sea of Reeds towards Mt. Sinai thus begins a bridal march commencing in the theophany at Mt. Sinai, 42 days later.

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אז ישיר Az Yashir, conflicting messages, קריעת ים סוף qriyat yam suf, safe passage, שירת הים Shirat haYam, Song of the Sea, symplegades, Yom Vayosha

Contributor(s):

the Mesorah (TaNaKh) and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

שִׁירַת מִרְיָם | The Song of Miriam — a reconstruction based on the fragmentary pseudobiblical composition found in the Dead Sea Scrolls (4Q365)

This is the Song of Miriam from a parabiblical (or pseudo-biblical) attestation in 4Q365, as reconstructed by scholars based on the work of largely based on the work of Dr. Ariel Feldman, and with addition lacunae filled in by Issac Gantwerk Mayer. Isaac also vocalized, cantillated, and translated the test according to Masoretic norms, and provided a rendering of the text styled according to the Shirat ha-Yam as reproduced by scribes in the Masoretic tradition.

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Parashat b'Shalaḥ, Shirat ha-Yam, 7th Day of Pesaḥ

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21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., Classical Antiquity, Dead Sea Scrolls, Jewish Women's Prayers, Miriam, גאולה geūlah (redemption), Second Temple Period, שבת שירה shabbat shirah

Contributor(s):

Isaac Gantwerk Mayer, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation) and Unknown

אָשִֽׁירָה כְּשִׁירַת מֹשֶׁה | Ashira k-Shirat Moshe (Let me sing like the song of Moses)

Ashira k-Shirat Moshe is a brief piyyut of uncertain origin, recited in Moroccan Jewish practice as an introduction to the Song of the Sea at the end of Zemirot on Shabbat Shirah and the seventh day of Pesaḥ. It lists seven Biblical songs — those of Moses, Miriam, Joshua, Deborah, Hannah, David, and Solomon — and concludes with an eighth song, the song that Israel will sing at the the future redemption.

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Shirat ha-Yam, Parashat b'Shalaḥ, 7th Day of Pesaḥ

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Devorah, Hannah, Life of David HaMelekh, Miriam, Mosheh Rabbenu, גאולה geūlah (redemption), שבת שירה shabbat shirah, Song of Songs, Yehoshua (Joshua), זמירות zemirot

Contributor(s):

Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation) and Unknown

Parashat b’Shalaḥ

📜 שירת הים | Shirat haYam :: the Song of the Sea (Exodus 15:1-19)

שִׁירַת מִרְיָם | The Song of Miriam — a reconstruction based on the fragmentary pseudobiblical composition found in the Dead Sea Scrolls (4Q365)

אָשִֽׁירָה כְּשִׁירַת מֹשֶׁה | Ashira k-Shirat Moshe (Let me sing like the song of Moses)

יוֹם לְיַבָּשָׁה | Yom le-Yabashah (The Day On Which to Dry Land) — a geulah piyyut for the 7th day of Pesaḥ and Shabbat Shirah by Yehudah haLevi (early 12th c.)

הנסים שהיו על הים סוף | The Miracles at the Sea of Reeds as related in Rambam’s commentary on the Pirqei Avot

Lord, Do Thou Guide Me — a prayer-poem for Shabbat parashat b’Shalaḥ by Alice Montefiore Lucas (1898)