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From Yocheved to Miriam, Rachel Imeinu to the daughters of Tzelofchad, the story of redemption has always carried the voice of women. In this series, Rav Shlomo Katz explores how the faith, courage, and leadership of Jewish women guide us toward Geula, revealing why our sages taught: “In the merit of righteous women, we were redeemed, and in their merit we will be redeemed again.”
Okay, בוקר טוב, שכוח for coming everybody. We have in our פרשה something that is very, very, very special to learn to מעורר the גאולה, to מעורר the concept of feeling like we're closer to redemption, and we're doing something about it as well. Like all these שיעורים that we're doing on Thursday mornings, they are לעילוי נשמת David, בעזרת השם, we continue learning strong. And all the learning that we're doing should really arouse רחמנות from above to send down the גאולה בזכות נשים צדקניות, בעזרת השם.
So in our פרשה, there's a lot, there's a lot of different things we can say, a lot of different things we could we could plunge at, but the most obvious one is obviously שירת מרים, is what happens with מרים הנביאה. And when I was looking at all the מפרשים, I was noticing that you have you have so many different, there there are so many different דיוקים on every word that that that רבונו של עולם chose us to be in the in the פסוק describing the שירה of Miriam. ממש, every single word. So we're going to look at every single word and we're going to also mention, you know, just another very important, interesting thing is that you know, the הפטרה, does anyone know what the הפטרה of this שבת is? Of בשלח? שירת דבורה.
Why שירת דבורה? Meaning, עם ישראל has a huge long song, right? שירת מרים is with all the כל הכבוד. How long is שירת מרים? According to פשט, how long is the שירה of Miriam? אשירה להשם כי גאה גאה, סוס ורכבו רמה בים. Yeah, according to the פשט, yeah. Sorry? And oh, is it also yeah.
So the מפרשים are asking, you know, how could it be? Like, you know, you have שירת הים, you have, hey there, you have everybody, you know, singing and it's long, it's long, it's long. There are a bunch of שירות in the Torah that you could, like שירת דוד could have been the הפטרה that you do on בשלח. We save שירת דוד for the הפטרה on שביעי של פסח. But the הפטרה on the הפטרה on פרשת בשלח, בוקר טוב, the הפטרה of בשלח is שירת דבורה.
So also, we have to understand if the שירה is so so short, why does the הפטרה going on what was so short, so to speak? So again, I want to just read the the the פסוק, the two פסוקים that describe that that that that describe the actual שירה, and you'll see a bunch of things are going to come jumping out at you. Look, ותקח מרים הנביאה. I I I don't know why I didn't put in here the other next two words. What are the next two words? Does anyone know from the פסוק? How does the Torah describe מרים הנביאה when it's when it calls her a prophetess? אחות.
אהרן. אחות אהרן דוקא. That's also very interesting. Why she, why is she referred to as אחות אהרן and not אחות משה over here? So what does she take? את התוף בידה.
ותצאנה כל הנשים אחריה בתופים ובמחלֹת. So what does that mean if all the women went after her with תופים ובמחלֹת? What does that mean? What does that mean about the other women too? So every everyone here was like, everyone here seems to be on a much higher level of consciousness than just a flock following a leader. It's a different type of getting together. It's a different type of energy, meaning they're all, they go after her but they all are equipped with whatever she has as well, which we're going to speak about.
ותען להם מרים. Now what's interesting about the second word over here? They answered, right? They answered who? Based on what it said, this word, להם. The men? Or who else according to the מדרש? The מלאכים actually. ותען להם מרים is that they said, whoa whoa whoa whoa, מלאכים, we have what to say as well.
You're not allowed to start singing yet, because we know the מלאכים have a big thing about singing. Where do we know this from? The מלאכים have a big שליחות regarding singing. Remember when it says that the angel of עשו says to יעקב, שלחני כי עלה השחר. You got to send me away now.
רש"י says there, שלחני because it's ועלי לומר שירה. It's time for me to start singing. We learned from there מלאכים have משמרות of שירה. That's part of the stuff they do.
When they finish a a a שליחות down here, so to speak, so they have to go up and start singing. That's what רש"י says over there, ועלי לומר שירה. So ותען להם מרים, other מפרשים explain that they were really saying, okay men, you think you're all that? ותען להם to the males, listen listen to what we're all about. שירו להשם כי גאה גאה, סוס ורכבו רמה בים.
That's basically the שירה of of. of the women. But we're going to see a few very interesting things that will, one from the Rebbe, one from this other רב that I never learned before, from before but I saw something that was just very, very beautiful. And I think we could just pick up some very simple and sweet and important נקודות regarding what the, what the כח the women in our פרשה give us.
So the first thing you have, the Rebbe, is a piece of from a שיחה that he gave on ראש השנה, did you do this? The Rebbe says like this. And this is very important to to notice, to realize while while we're learning this. The Rebbe says like this, בוקר טוב. We have more copies down there? Yeah.
And here there's more. The Rebbe says like this. Every single Jewish woman had a tambourine, even though there might have only been one to a household, emphasizes the woman's great faith. Similarly, the fact that the women did not rely only on Miriam their leader to lead them with a tambourine confirms their deep faith even more.
Very very often members of a faith community rely on their religious leaders to show the great passion, thinking that the leader's passion would represent the rest of them. The women at the time of the Exodus would have none of that. They made certain to obtain drums and tambourines themselves, not relying on Miriam. So this is a very, very interesting נקודה.
It says a few things, actually. One is that they came prepared, meaning they showed up ready. And obviously when we say בזכות נשים צדקניות, we're referring to the fact that they had אמונה that it was going to happen. It's like amazing how נחשון gets all the credit for jumping in first, but I have a feeling that if נחשון wouldn't have jumped in, one of the women holding a tambourine probably would have, because why else would they be holding a tambourine? So it seems that it could be that a woman, for whatever the reasons were, נחשון was the first one to physically jump inside.
But the פנימיות is that if you all show up, you show up ready to, show up ready. Where were the men? Where were the boys? There were no tambourines there. That's one thing. But the other thing the Rebbe is pointing out here, I think, is very, very big regarding women's leadership.
Men's leadership is much more surrounded around a leader, a figure, needing to then really לעורר and to constantly cause people to feel, follow me, this is what we have to do or whatever, you know, something of that sort. What the Rebbe's pointing out over here is that even though Miriam was a leader on the level of she was the sister of אהרן, she was the sister of משה, she's the sister, maybe that's why it says אחות אהרן, she's the sister of the כהן גדול and the sister of משה רבינו. So מצד זה, she has some level of, you know, status of leadership. But they didn't rely on her, meaning the Rebbe's saying that even if she wouldn't have brought a drum, they were ready to go for it as well.
Each of them were ready to go for it as well. We could probably understand where that comes from, this, this, this, this readiness to go for, you know, leadership moments. I think very much based on last week's שיחה that we did from רב מלמד about, you know, how a woman's initiatives really saved the existence of יידישקייט throughout the time that we were in מצרים. That was a very strong piece from last week.
But here the Rebbe just points out something that's not so clear when you learn the פשט. They made certain to obtain drums and tambourines themselves, not relying on Miriam. You don't really, that doesn't really stand out when you read the פסוק on its own. But I think that when you think about it, a lot of things, a lot of things come up.
So, obviously, I'm only reading, I'm, I'm reading this very objectively, or subjectively I should say, because I'm reading it from my lens, but what, does it stand, does anything from this last sentence stand out to you about roles of women today, in, in contrast, or not contrast, but in light of what we just learned about how they, how they acted, just based on what the Rebbe said? I can see the women are in green. Women in general, they're just more active, they're not as They're not as what, say it. It's okay. It's safe.
For it to get done, you know. They're not waiting. They're more ראש גדול, they're not ראש קטן, you know. Also advocating for like other people.
Like, you know, a woman who's like in her own household, generally speaking, is like the one that's ensuring that the kids are in the right class and going to the right doctor and going getting their teeth checked and like generally the day, daily, like making sure everything's happening, functioning, moving along. נכון. And, and so that, that mindset, you know, kind of continues on to whatever project or, נכון. you know, continues on.
So how would you say that so to tie this into here, how would that how would that how would that fit in with the רבי's saying of they didn't they wouldn't have waited for מרים if she wouldn't have sung? They would have done it on themselves because they brought the What do you think that? Do you understand what I'm asking? How does that what you just said is true, they're very much so אחראי on making sure that the things happen, right?That's a question.Yeah. At that time, did they believe that they needed music for prayer and that would be why they would be sure to bring that along?At that time, they believed that they wanted to be ready to praise השם with utmost beauty. So the way we with utmost beauty would be with instruments. Yes.
So I think that the answer to your question is yes, if I understood it correctly. Did I understand your question correctly? Okay, yeah, yeah. That's what we were saying that they had a whole level of I know that I'm going to have a moment to praise השם, because something big is going to happen. So I want to come, I want to show up, ממש as ready as possible.But to get back to what you were saying, Shoshana.It's like the idea of not needing to wait for permission or waiting for someone else to take the initiative.Correct.So if it needs to be done, get it done.That's the נקודה that the רבי is is is is pushing home.
A man is more or the way that for some reason, I don't know why it's this, but the way that it's kind of developed in יידישקייט is more you wait for the רב or the מנהיג or the פוסק or whatever, and if whatever he feels, then you'll do it because we have an ענין of על פי, you're supposed to follow. But a woman is less a follower, she's more a leader in her own right. Yes, Jenny.So I had an issue with something that was said this week in one of my husband's שיעורים. It said that women don't need to go to שולן as a very big rabbi.
They don't need to be דאווענען in a מנין because they don't need not need, they don't מבטל themselves. And I was like, what does that mean? So maybe this is what it has to do with, because I'm not comparing it to men, but maybe in reference to the statement that women aren't making themselves small. Like you said, they're just doing what they need to do. Like they're able to be connected to השם and channel that without a group of people, without individually.As opposed to so let me just understand.
So as opposed to a man.I didn't understand the statement and it was maybe out of context, but it was in reference to men at a גמרא שיעור that men need to דאווענען in a מנין and women don't. Uh-huh. In reference to מבטל. מבטל would be making yourself small, no?Yeah, but you know what it's probably, we have I'd have to you have to see inside what the context is to to see.So you're not going to help me make.
No, no, no.I'll ask the rabbi.I love your husband way too much to say. No, no, no, I'm not gonna. Okay. I'm Batya, do you need a copy? Do you have a copy? You have? Okay, good.
Okay. So I came across this other, this other מקור. Rabbi I don't know if any of you have heard of him? Rabbi, I don't even know what the יוד למד is. I could have guessed it's יהודה לייב Grabart.Huh?Toronto, Canada.In 1937 he died.And she and she's from and you're from Montreal anyway, so.Yeah.Okay.
He says like this. I never lived in Toronto. מרים was the first woman to raise the standard of women's rights. She was the first to lead the women out of the tent, publicly expressed their feelings of happiness and joy together with the men at this momentous occasion of redemption.
That's why מרים is identified in the תורה as the prophetess, the sister of אהרן rather than the sister of משה because it's אהרן who sacrificed offerings representing both men and women, without distinguishing between males and females. That's a pretty far out, right? Isn't that interesting? I mean, there are a lot, again, as I said before,Whatever you read.Right, right, especially saying this exactly.Especially in here.Especially that you're saying this in the beginning of the 20th century. Again, maybe he was even the end of the 19th century, could be. He gave a פירוש, you know, while he waited, you know, born in 1861.
So like I said before, there are a lot of different opinions why she is known as אחות אהרן when it's in reference to נבואה, which is very weird because we don't say about אהרן הכהן, we don't reference him as a being a נביא, even though I'm sure he was. We say אהרן הכהן. משה רבינו, his whole thing is he's the נבואה is אספקלריא מאירה. חז"ל are saying that the way that he had נבואה, no other prophet had נבואה, and yet when מרים is being here, only here is brought into the picture, she's referenced as a נביאה, sister of.
of Aaron. The way that he said it here was pretty, pretty שטארק. Actually, it's very not שטארק, meaning שטארק sounds like it's very cool. It's very amazing what he's saying.
So then he continues, right, he continues this. The חתם סופר points out that regarding the men, the Torah says ויאמינו בה' ובמשה עבדו. The men that saw Moshe as a representative of God who performed miracles, miracles for them. That's why when Moshe's return from Mount Sinai was perceived as delayed, the men immediately ran to find their find the replacement in the form of the golden calf.
In stark contrast, the women always had faith in Miriam the prophetess, even though she did not perform miracles like Moshe. Again, this is, I wanted to bring this piece because this is going on what the Rebbe was saying. Their perception of leadership. Their needs for inspiration are much different than a man's need of inspiration.
משה רבינו doesn't come down for one day, let's go run and make an עגל זהב. By the women, there was no even need for Miriam to do a miracle. Yes.You know, in this week's פרשה, I guess, and throughout the מדבר, whenever the Jews, you know, like when they didn't have water, they ran to Moshe. And whenever anything came up, they always went to Moshe.
Like, it does, I don't know, maybe there's some instances where it says they דאווען to Hashem, but in general, like, it says they went to Moshe and he דאווען or he spoke to Hashem. נכון. So does that, should we assume it's only the men for running to Moshe? Interesting. I mean, the way that this sheet is developing, it seems it seems like, you know.
It seems like they didn't say, okay Miriam, go for it. It's a, It'd be interesting to know if this was all the women or a group of women, because it could be like a group of the entire women who brought their tambourines and not everyone, because usually when women have an issue, they go to their husband and the husband runs to Moshe. You're you're you're totally right, but because of כל הנשים, כל הנשים, there's a דיוק here that everyone had it. That's what the Rebbe was saying.
That's what's so special about this moment, is that everyone it was like, you're right. The way it usually is, is like that. But here was different. Something different.
כל הנשים. The Rebbe said, tambourine in every household.Okay. That's why, back in this piece, that's why the women, I'm sorry about this the way it came out. That's why the women were not seduced by the golden calf, knowing that even without Miriam, the other leaders and prophets could emerge to effectively lead the people.
In fact, Miriam is identified here as sister of Aaron, rather than sister of Moshe, to underscore that her power of prophecy preceded Moshe. Now, how do we know that? Kind little Miriam. Right. The little girl Miriam.
Right? Because the גמרא's we already learned about her prophecy to her father. Right? She became a, she was a prophetess before Moshe was even conceived. She was saying this stuff, she was saying this stuff already back then. According to the tradition, it was Miriam who prophesied that a redeemer would come to ישראל and it was she who encouraged her father Amram to reunite with her mother יוכבד.
It was due to her intervention that Moshe was born. But ולא קם, I'm not sure if that's what it means. The Torah clearly states ולא קם עוד בישראל, ולא קם נביא עוד בישראל כמשה, but it cannot be denied that the special wisdom with which God endowed Miriam had a more profound impact on the women than the impact that Moshe had on the men. That is the point of what why we brought this piece.
It's it's very interesting. It's true. Don't say Miriam הנביאה was a greater prophet than Moshe because we already know לא קם בישראל כמשה עוד. We know that to be just facts, that's what the, that's the מסורה.
But what what does it saying over here? You could be the greatest prophet in the world, but that doesn't say anything about your השפעה. You can prophecy can come through you because you could be completely מבוטל to the רצון עליון and for whatever the reasons are that Hashem says, through you I will deliver messages. That that's one thing, but it seems based and many would argue about this statement that he just said over here. But he's all basing it on the fact that the way that the the little bit that we know from the Torah, that the Torah shares with us regarding women's adherence and the השפעה they felt for Miriam, it seems that, okay, נבואה-wise Moshe's here, Miriam's here.
But נבואה-wise Moshe can be here and the people are still so far from him. Miriam might have been a lower level of נבואה, but they were right there with her. So yeah, in line with too, it's not saying like Shoshana said that women Interesting. I mean his, the words of the, that רב הירש said are that specifically, it says those women, it doesn't say women.
Well, it's interesting. You could choose to say here who's the, you could choose who the hero is in this context. Is it Miriam or is it the women? What you're saying that Miriam, here, Miriam, the level isn't what's important, it's the connection that... Again, yeah, but even the connection.
I'm saying, whose merit is the connection? Do you understand my question? Meaning, is it Miriam that was such an amazing inspirer that caused all the women to feel that they don't have to wait for her? Or was it the fact that Miriam was in the presence of such holy women that that was the flow? If you say the men had the same potential to reach these heights as women, then it would be the influencer. But if the statement is saying only woman had this potential to do this, then it's the woman. So what, what do you, so what do you think? I think when you're saying women, you include Miriam. Ah.
I see what you're saying. You don't know who is it, who is it... Uh-huh. It says, I guess so.
ותעננה להם מרים? It's a problem because it says ותען להם מרים, she still has some, she still has some status as being somewhat of a, start, like starting the cheers. Yeah, and it says נשים אחריה, so that's also... Right, and they came in after her, but yeah. A focal point.
Yeah, but as a but again, focal point but not, you know, not not what we always feel about משה רבינו and עם ישראל. By משה רבינו and עם ישראל it's משה רבינו, עם ישראל. Oh, something's not clicking. He's showing up late, we got to exchange, we got to change what this is for us.
Why? Because what's a man's need for this? Something to follow. A fixer, the the person to just fix things, the person... Now, in a in a in a weird way, it's also what a man is looking for... What's that? A leader.
Yeah, but... Yes. But also... Yes.
Absolutely. That's why. In his wife. In his wife.
Yes, I mean they would never, they would never say it, but in in a very... But that's what makes an interesting dichotomy between real life and רוחניות. In real life, it's the husband, I don't really know, but... it's the husband who's often fixing things, as מנחם said, while רוחניות-wise, I think it's definitely the wife who's pushing...
Absolutely. Depends what household. No no no, I'm just saying in general, but... Yeah.
It's it's absolutely... It really is the man here, maybe they're given their job, like his job's to go... Maybe they specifically are given the job for a reason. They're given the...
It's their תיק because it's maybe it's, yeah, it's more their, that's what you have to busy, be busy with while you're while you're here. about the מצוה... Oh yeah, to involve yourself in it as opposed to... I'm sorry, if you what? If a man was חייב in the מצוה of חינוך, he'd be much less likely to involve himself in it.
Just not saying naturally. Yeah. Yeah. I think men are amazing, by the way.
Really, really, really. I think they are also the ones who brought up this discussion. I'll have him. Well...
the problems in my house. I think also that there is, just that Miriam is more like a grassroots kind of a thing. Also later on when she complains that משה is separated from צפורה. Right.
So that's a very, I think it's a very significant piece because she doesn't really understand this separation from the people that you're leading. You know, she doesn't really understand that משה is in a different category and he's, you know, being completely changed, his his role in this world is is totally different than than hers, for example. Right, because she says about herself, what do you mean if I, if I would have, you know, if I would separate, then you wouldn't have something like this happen, right? Remember, I don't know if if we learned it last year or two years ago, the amazing כלי יקר about what you just brought up, about about why she really said, how could it be that you left your wife? Remember this? Last year. Remember the סמיכות פרשיות? What's right after that פרשה is the מרגלים.
So the, I think it's the כלי יקר that said מרים was really saying to משה רבינו, if you wouldn't have left your wife and you'd remember what it's like to be around the wisdom and counsel of a woman, you would have chosen female מרגלות to go into ארץ ישראל, right? Yeah. It's... then it wouldn't be between males and females. There is a huge difference between male and female.
There is such a difference. And that's okay. נכון, נכון, נכון, it's fine. Here, I think that's that's why, based on what you're saying, potential.
I think that here the נקודה is not about the distinction between male or female in leadership, it's the distinction between followers. That's what I think the distinction is much more about. How a man follows, what he needs in order to follow, as opposed to how a woman, you know, goes and what she gravitates towards and it's more grassroots, it's more I don't need this, I don't need this like it sounds so funny because the modern world's flipped it over. I don't need, but I think everything is so mixed up now, there's no way you can generalize.
נכון. There's so many different types of men and women now, it's like it's a much more, I'm saying based on the, I'm just saying based on the תורה. Hopefully our outlook will always be based on how the תורה provides it. But even if you think about the biological model, the way that a baby survives is through its mother.
So השם created this sort of template that women have to be bound more to their children at the beginning. נכון. You know, that's for sure. נכון, נכון.
So even though society keeps changing, certain things. That biological truth will always, hopefully. I don't know, even. It's so interesting that you said that.
I was just listening this morning to, sorry, I don't want to like hijack this, this like שיחה about the חובות הלבבות and he talks about levels of trust, and and and how like the initial idea of trust from a baby is that it's going to be fed by its mother. So the very first relationship of trust, like in the whole world, is between a child and its mother. And only later does a child trust its father, kind of like based on the idea that the mother trusts the father, so like, okay, I can trust the father also. But that's like a קשר.
That's interesting. It's like a, it's like a foundational kind of an idea in all of every single human being, basically. Do you think that that's, that explains their ביטחון here? I think there could be something. Meaning they're not going to walk out of מצרים after all these miracles, they trust that that's they have this trust saying, of course, like like my mommy's going to feed me, so, you know, השם is going to do this.
100%. That's what it seems like, yeah, on a level of ביטחון and אמונה. It's very interesting. Like I said before in the beginning of שיעור, like the דיוקים that we're that we're bringing up here all come from every letter that's written regarding describing the women's relationship to Miriam and to הקדוש ברוך הוא and to song בכלל, shed a lot of light.
And there's a lot of different opinions here. We just brought down three opinions why she's referred to as אחות אהרון and not אחות משה. There are plenty more that don't come close to what how the way we described it. בכלל, בכלל, בכלל, no.
But it's very interesting here, these two pieces were really for me, they're very eye opening and they really shed a lot of light on a lot of עניינים that I think that men, like if the concept of our שיעור is to attach ourselves more to the light of the גאולה of today, so it doesn't mean men have to become women on any level. Right? That's not the עניין, it just means that women have to be more women. You understand? Like I hope it's clear with these שיעורים when we learn about the גדולה of women, the words, the world's בלבול is, okay, that means that men have to start becoming like the way women feel and interact and perceive things. It's like, you're not supposed to.
השם would have created you like that. The עניין more here is, it's it's to empower, להעצים ולחזק the women's roles and perception and and their relationship with the רבונו של עולם. Yeah, Lori. When you were just describing the different like, the way that a man react to a leader versus a woman, I was thinking about the bus on the Ukraine and the way that like the women were like just sharing and sharing, and like it didn't really matter like who the leader was, but we were all like involved.
And then, I mean, from your description, that was not necessarily the case on the men's bus. On our side, no, it was the opposite. What? Yeah, continue on that one. No, and I I just think it's interesting, like for they, maybe I'm reading it wrong, but for my understanding from your description, like they were waiting for you to, you know, say your thing and to do their own davening and stuff like that, whereas for the women it was more like everybody was, everybody was doing their own thing, but sharing it ביחד.
And in terms of logistics, you said that it was the opposite, and that's my path. No, like the men, they'd like go their own way and they they don't follow, like they're not necessarily waiting for the group to go somewhere. It's like seven people are here and nine people are there. And then, like they're all doing their own place.
And that's the difference is between the like logistical things where the men really do their own thing, and in the רוחני, where they need a leader. I get you. I'm keeping with it. You're keeping, you're sticking with your שיטה.
That's good. It's good. Bringing the מקורות. This year, your statements about the women doing their roles.
Yeah. We should just know that what we do is like, they have a great potential, like amazing potential, doing the roles that they do. Like, I think that's something that the society forgets. Who, who does? The women.
Like If they, well, yes, and men, both. And but the women in themselves, like based on this שיעור, it's saying there's great potential that they have. That they, that these women, by being women. By being women.
By just being themselves. And not trying to be... And that that's, that's a really amazing thing. I think that I agree with you, yeah.
It reminds me of my husband when he used to work in his kosher market and several people would approach him, and he'd say, wait a minute, I'm not a woman, I can't multitask. I'll take care of you, then I'll take care of you, and then I'll take care of you. You know what's amazing? Today if you said that, that statement, you're basically trying to give a compliment, and but because you say those words, you're already, you're already disqualified as whatever you're going to say right now is probably going to be provocative and derogatory when you're really just trying to actually point out something nice.עולם הפוך. What's that? That's why people ought to have a good eye, and then they'll hear it.
עולם הפוך. We also have to... Right, you can just say I'm not a multitasker. Because I'm a woman and I'm a terrible multitasker.
But it's also like you just said, רב שלמה, that the the goal of this isn't that men should be more like women, but הפוך also. Like when we learn in many שיעורים, we learn a role of a man, and then it tends to be or it has been in the last, I think, many decades, that women feel like, oh, well that's then what I have to do. But I think it's really important. נכון.
נכון. To understand that we have, we were created differently, we have different roles. Like, be the best you that you can. And you know, the same thing with every individual, obviously.
It's true. It's true. I'll share that I was when I was preparing this שיעור, so I was looking at all different things and when you see on the on the net this topic, so it's amazing how like, whatever, to be a כף זכות to the they, we should do a זמרה on them, that they want so badly to connect to the Torah. So they, a lot of people that are not affiliated connect with this very much because it's means it's time for women to dominate, like basically to dominate.
Like basically that's really what what what the לשון is. Whatever, the כף זכות is they just want to be connected to maybe when I'll be here. And that's that's where the whole רצון is coming from and that'll bring the גאולה שלימה על אמיתית. Okay.
So this is all, this was all a preparation for this bottom thing in Hebrew really. This is um, sometimes when when people take the Rebbe's שיחות, and I mean yesterday was also a very big day as you know, it was י' שבט, and it's a very, it's a very strong day for many, many people. It's the the יארצייט of the פריערדיקער רבי, of the of the the sixth Rebbe, and it was the a year later was the day that the Rebbe became Rebbe. And there was no more, there was no bigger an empowerer of women to be women than the Rebbe.
Never was, never will be. Never, ever, ever, ever. איתן ירמיהו was saying to me that he was, when he was in, where was he in? Birmingham, Alabama, right? So the only other, I mean it was him, maybe three יידן and the and the Lubavitchers there. So, we were discussing that Lubavitch שליחה, the Rebbetzin there.
But it's, I've seen this, you know, when I travel, so of course I'm always with contact with Chabad houses, this and that. It's an amazing thing how how Chabad women have this regal, ממש a regal, מלכות'דיקע presence and השפעה as well, just as much as the husband, and in quite often even more than the husband does, as well. Where does it come from? The Rebbe knew that he understood the times and he understood the needs and he understood where the world is heading towards as well, way before it even got there. He was always like this with everything.
Way before, way before they even got there. And this concept, of course, in the 20th century, the whole concept of the revolutionizing the thinking or the approach and positioning of women's roles, the Rebbe was fully, fully with it. And one of the one of the things the Rebbe was, I think that maybe the imagery of the Rebbetzin back in the shtetl was that she wasn't really, didn't feel like it was so חשוב that her presence should be glory. She's כל כבודה בת מלך פנימה, meaning, doesn't really matter what I look like because that's not the ענין anyway.
And I just have to follow whatever's happening by the בעל הבית in the front of the house. And the Rebbe knew that's not gonna work in America, that's not the 20th century. And you see ממש a דגש on presence. It's just such a beautiful thing.
And the Rebbe's words here describing, uh, connecting what we just learned based on the first thing he said and what this רב said will bring us to now the the heart of what we're talking about which is a שיר. Basically everything we said right now is just to help us now understand the role of of a song, of a... singing. So of course, when I was doing the research on this topic, half the stuff all brought up the concept of קול אישה, right? And then you see people that realize that that's that's not what this סוגיא is supposed to bring up.
You know, there was one חסידישע פירוש that I saw many years ago. I I probably saw it 15 years ago. I don't think I saw it again until last night I saw it again. I knew like it would never work today.
Why why did women bring drums? To drown out their voices. Yeah. In some circles? In some in some circles that's what they need to hear. What do I know? What do I know? The רבי's way to me seems the healthiest, the most beautiful, and the most real, the most קדושה, the most גאולה'דיק too, the most redemptive too.
So this is a take, this is a שיחה of the רבי, but it was done a little bit more in modern Hebrew to make it a little bit more easier to digest. So the רבי then, paraphrasing the רבי says like this: אנו לא שרים כשאנו מפוחדים, מיואשים, עייפים, או אחרי ארוחה כבדה. We don't sing when we're when we're frightened, despaired, tired or after a heavy meal. That's not when you choose to sing.
After a heavy meal? שבת. Oh, שבת, we do sing. אנו שרים כשאנו מתגעגעים לאדם אהוב. We sing when we long, when we miss someone that we love.
כשאנו כמהים לזמנים טובים יותר. We long for better times. כשאנו חוגגים הישגים או מצפים להתגלות כלשהי. When we when we celebrate achievements, or when we expect a cert when we're expecting a certain revelation.
אין אנו שרים כשאנו זכוכי דעת. We don't sing when we're a, what do you say, זכוך דעת? Lightheaded? Lightheaded, yeah. Could be, although some will differ differ in this room because they they like to sing when they're lightheaded, so I don't know. משהו כזה.
אנו שרים כשאנו חותרים להשיג דבר מה. We sing when we aspire to to achieve something. או לאחר שטעםנו את טעם השמחה, or after we tasted the taste of happiness, ואנו מטפסים עליה עד לשמיים. And we climb on this taste, we we we we thrive on it up to the heavens.
שיר הוא תפילה. המאמץ להתעלות מעל הדאגות הקטנות של החיים. When I am singing, I'm basically דאווענען in an attempt to raise myself to be above the small worries of life, ולפלס דרכנו למקור שממנו באנו, and to find a way back to the source from where I came from. שיר הוא החיפוש אחר גאולה.
Singing is basically searching for redemption. As I'm reading this now, I realize I would love to see the initial, the way the רבי said this, because it does you know this is ממש worked on. But the תמצית of what he's saying, that this is this is what a song, singing is, I'm searching for you, ריבונו של עולם, I'm searching to, I'm searching for me, I'm searching for you, I'm searching to feel and to be redeemed. המדרש מדבר על עשרה שירים בולטים בהיסטוריה של עם ישראל.
עשר פעמים שבהם חווית הגאולה שעברנו מצאה לה ביטוי במנגינה ובשיר. There are ten moments throughout the תנ״ך, ten moments of momentary redemptions which then resulted in עם ישראל expressing themselves, having the need to sing a song. By the way, this connects very much to what we were learning yesterday in the in רבי נחמן's שיעור about אזמרה. The the the need, the will, the want to start singing once I was able to find a good point.
So he's saying over here, when you taste a little bit of a גאולה, what do you want to do at that moment? A יד's natural reaction after tasting redemption is to start singing. It happened, we have the מדרש says there's ten ten moments like this. התשע ראשונות היו, he's gonna go through the the the first nine. השיר שהוא שר בליל יציאת מצרים, שירת הים.
שירת הבאר, that's in פרשת חוקת. You know that, you know it's right after Miriam dies. שירת משה עם השלמת כתיבת התורה, that's referring to האזינו, the שיר of האזינו. השיר לאחר שיהושע עצר את השמש מלכת.
Remember when the שמש בגבעון דום? The day that the sun Yeah, just as a side note, you know what day that was in the in the calendar when the sun did not set, it just stayed? שושנה, I take a wild guess. Take a wild, no, you have to take a wild guess. איך? Only you. ניסן.
Take a wild guess. listen to how I'm phrasing it. Yeah. What day, close.
What day did the sun not set in the time of יהושע? She said י"ט כסלו and I said close. עשרה בטבת? Close. You're getting closer actually, very close. Yeah, ג' תמוז, yeah.
ג' תמוז is the day that this happened. Which is was the summer solstice. And the רַבִּי's, the רַבִּי's, my daughter's born on that day. On ג' תמוז? Yeah.
It's the day the רַבִּי passed, was מסתלק. נסתלק, the day he was concealed. שירת הבאר, okay. Now you understand why I asked.
I should have known. שירת דבורה is the next one. And then there's also שירת המלך דוד, שירת שירת דוד actually it's called, שירת דוד. השיר דחנוכת בית המקדש, ושיר השירים של המלך שלמה, שהוא שיר הלל, שהוא שיר הלל לאהבה שבין החתן השמימי, בורא המעולם, לכלה עם ישראל.
ושיר השירים is a love song between the heavenly חתן, רבונו של עולם, and the heavenly כלה, which is כנסת ישראל, which is us, עם ישראל. That was only nine. השיר העשירי, השיר החדש של הגאולה הסופית. There'll be a song that we're going to sing with with with the coming of משיח.
הגלובלית והמוחלטת, the absolute global גאולה. גאולה, גאולה שתמחה מעל פני אדמה כל סבל, כל בורות, כל קנאה וכל שנאה. It'll be a גאולה that will wipe off from the face of the earth any pain, suffering, shallowness, jealousy, and hatred. גאולה בקנה מידה כה גדול, it will be such a, whatever you think redemption is, it's infinitely larger than your even most, you know, expanded mindset.
Wherever you are consciously as as aware and conscious as as any human may be in his picture of what גאולה is, infinitely larger than that, ידרש שיר חדש, it will be demanding a new song. אוצר מילים מוזיקלי חדש לחלוטין, a completely new vocabulary. Vocabulary, yeah. משהו חדש לגמרי.
In order to what? כדי להביע את הכמיהה. In order to express that which you were longing for for so long, שהיא תעורר, ואת השמחה שהיא תביא. It'll it'll bring such a שמחה that whatever we think we know of שמחה is nothing compared to what the גאולה is going to bring to each and every one of us. Which means that don't try writing the song for it now, because you write a song of גאולה based on what you've tasted.
He's saying over here, you don't even know, you don't we have no idea the כלים that we're going to need for the גאולה that's about to come. So let wait for the גאולה to happen in order for you to write the song to greet it, to to escort it. Yeah, Jenny. Are we supposed to be making our own redemptive songs currently then practicing? Yes, תפילות, you should send them to me.
But it can't be from a place of sadness. You have to move yourself out of that area. תפלה you could write from any place, whatever you're feeling. No, no, no.
This is something else. This is the שירת הגאולה. This is something else. וכדי לתת ביטוי לכל שאיפתה הנשגבת של הבריאה.
And to also give an expression to the voice of where all of creation was has been longing to reach since ה' created the world. That's why this song that we're going to sing with the גאולה, it's not just our expressions. We're going to be so in tune with every I'm just looking at, you know, the wind now and the leaves over there. I'm saying like, every, every article of nature, every expression that's ever been through the way ה' created the world, we'll have the ears to then understand that every piece of the creation was longing for redemption.
So the song that's going to come with it will be a song that the whole כל עצי השדה ימחאו כף. That all the trees of the of the field will also start clapping. That's what we say on Friday night. Everything will be in unison.
We'll be this this energy of everyone and everything will feel like, yes, this is expressing the thousands of years that I was waiting for this גאולה to happen. It'll be all inclusive and everyone will find a place in it. השירה הידועה ביותר מעשרת שירות הגאולה היא שירת הים. The most famous song from the ten שירות that we just mentioned right now is אז ישיר, obviously, because I think, you know, we we we do it every single day, שירת הים.
And we were we reference it, you know, we're always referencing to it as well. השיר מבטא את כמיהת עם ישראל שיצא יוליך אותם לארץ מולדתם וישכון בתוכם בבית המקדש. This song expresses the crying out of עם ישראל that God will lead us to our homeland and will build the בית המקדש. Like it's the first reference of בית המקדש in שירת הים.
Does anyone know which words in שירת הים reference בית המקדש? It's actually the word מקדש. מקדש השם כוננו ידיך. The מקדש of השם your hands actually made. השירה נחתמת בהתייחסות לגאולה הסופית and this song ends with a reference to the future גאולה where what? שבה, השם ימלוך לעולם ועד.
That's a when we say that, by the way when we whenever we I always think about this, that I always want to pause the קהל during קדושה and ask everyone in here, what was your כוונה right now with what sentence? ימלוך השם לעולם, אלוהיך ציון לדור ודור הללויה. Because that's really calling for משיח. We're just, we're just not so, we don't really understand most of the stuff we say, so that's why this is a clear example of if we had the concept of once עם ישראל is saying קדושה, what a high moment. We're all together יחד, כולם קדושה, everyone's together, ממקומך מלכנו תופיע.
How does it end when עם ישראל is in קדושה together? משיח. ימלוך השם לעולם. That's describing משיח, גאולה. And he says that's, that's the signature.
That's how the שירת הים ends with a, with a משיח statement. Like כאילו we're saying, this is cute, we're waiting for, we're waiting for the tenth song. Even though this is a very famous song, it's actually the first song in the תורה, we're already waiting for the tenth song that that we're, that all of creation is waiting for. למעשה ישנם שני נוסחים של שירת הים.
Really there's two נוסחים of שירת הים. הנוסח הגברי והנוסח הנשי. Male נוסח and female נוסח. לאחר שמשה ובני ישראל שרו את שירת הים, after the men sang, ותיקח מרים הנביאה אחות אהרון את התוף בידה, ותצאנה כל הנשים אחריה בתופים ובמחולות.
ותען להם מרים שירו להשם כי גאה גאה, סוס ורכבו רמה בים. הגברים שרו ואחריהם שרו גם הנשים. The men sang, then the women sang. הגברים שרו ולאחר מכן שרו הנשים.
The men sang, then the women sang, רקדו והיכו בתוף. They start dancing, playing drums. הגברים שרו. What's the difference in the נוסח of the men's שירת הים and the women's שירת הים? הגברים שרו, שרו את שמחתם על הצלתם.
They were praising השם for being saved. שרו על כמיהתם לגאולה שלמה יותר. They were also singing for hoping for a more complete גאולה. אך, the Rebbe says, דבר מה היה חסר.
Something was lacking in the men's singing. דבר מה שרק שירת אישה יכולה להשלימו. Something that only a woman's singing can complete. So what what what was missing? It's very interesting because when you look at like שירת הים of the men, it's very long.
Like we saw, שירת הים of the woman was one פסוק more or less. So what what is, what is he referring to when he's saying something that was missing in the men's שירת הים that only a woman could complete? So מרים ניצחה על הדרן הנשי לשירת הים. He says over here, you know what, it's interesting. You know what מנצח means in Hebrew besides victorious? A conductor.
Yeah, a conductor is called a מנצח. The guy that stands up there with that with the like the wand, what's that? A baton. He's conducting, he's called a מנצח. So he says here she was conducting the the women's the women's singing.
הייתה זו מרים, it was מרים, ששמה פירושו מרירות. Miriam's name means the name itself alludes to bitterness, שנקראה כך, she was called this, כיוון שבשעת הולדתה נכנסו בני ישראל לשלב הקשה ביותר של גלות מצרים. Because when she was born, עם ישראל was going into the most bitter part of the גלות of Egypt. מרים, אשר כשהניחו את משה הקטן בסל על גדות הנילוס, עמדה מרחוק מתוך דאגה לשלומו.
It's the same מרים that when her little brother, her baby brother was placed in the basket, she she was standing from far but ותתצב אחותו מרחוק לדעה מה יעשה לו. Concerned what's going to be with my younger brother? I have אמונה it's going to happen, everything's going to be fine, but I still have to see that everything will be, will be fine. שכן הייתה זו מרים, בעלת הבאר העמוקה של הרגש הנשי. It was מרים.
who had this deep well of the the the female emotion שחפתה באמת את מר הגלות והרדיפות. She really tasted the bitterness and the hunting down that everyone felt in the גלות. מרים אף היתה זו שנצבה ושמרה לבדה על התינוק הרך שבתיבת הגומא על גדת הנילוס רחב הידיים. It was her again that was alone going down to see, to take care of her younger brother, שניחנה ביכולת נשים לסובלנות, that she this amazing thing about her, what do we know about Miriam? She has patience to see the the plan unfold.
How do we know Miriam is a master of patience? This is very important. This is a very important נקודה. Miriam's not here today, right? Miriam's upstairs? Whatever, you're you're רבקה for Miriam, right? You can connect to this. Any other Miriams here? This is a very important thing.
Oh, that's right, you're Leah Miriam? אלישבע Miriam. Miriam, how do we know according to the גמרא that she also mastered patience? Because when she prophesied that משיח, that her parents were going to bring a a a redeemer, the גמרא says the house became filled with light. Her father comes up to her, remember he strokes her face, sweetie, wow, look at your נבואה. Then what happens? He leaves.
They they have to get rid of him. The גמרא then says, I think the גמרא says, that he then slapped her and said, \"What happened to your נבואה now? משהו כזה." משהו כזה. Yeah, something like that. But what does she have and what does she respond? Nothing.
Because she knows that even if it's not right now, I have אמונה that it will be. She mastered patience. And she was basically what what this piece is saying, she was giving that over to the women. The men didn't have patience.
You see in the you see a few, you know, a few a few פרשיות later that משה רבינו's not he's missing by a day and he is just and they just don't have patience. You know, and אמונה means you have patience as well. And Rebbe Nachman says, משיח's going to come to teach us one מידה. That's the מידה of סבלנות.
That's what משיח is actually going to teach everybody. So I'm looking at the words and I'm thinking about how Hagar couldn't look at her son. I'm sorry? Like how Miriam stayed close to watch over משה to see what would happen, but Hagar with ישמעאל couldn't look. She had to put him away from her because she couldn't look, because she didn't have that אמונה.
Interesting. Yeah. שקידה ותקוה מרים ששמרה בערנות בלתי פוסקת על מי שעתיד היה להיות גואל עם ישראל. She had such patience to see her initial prophecy unfold.
You know, with us, when we have a good idea and we see it's not happening, not us, I I should say me, I don't know how it is with women but with with with a man when he has an idea and he tries to make it happen and it doesn't work, so immediately he says, \"That must mean that I was off or this isn't meant to be.\" As opposed to a more enlightened person who would be like, why do I think that when, you know, just because I had an idea it has to happen right now? Maybe the seeds are just being, you know, they're integrating into the ground, and they will grow something. The שול will be built. Tell me about it. Oh my god.
I needed that. I needed to hear that. מרים ומקהלתה הביאו לשירת הים את עוצמת הרגש. Miriam and her מקהלה, her, her choir, yeah.
They brought to the whole experience of שירת הים the power of feeling ואת עומק האמונה הייחודים למין הנשי. They brought to this, to the picture of what was happening in שירת הים something a very important piece, like he said before was missing, which is what? The depth of אמונה that eventually everything will work out. הנשים חוו את מר הגלות בחריפות רבה יותר מן הגברים. Like we said before, the women experienced the years of slavery in Egypt much, in a much more harsher way than the men did.
Remember what he's referring to here? The Rebbe has another שיחה, he's saying as much as the slave labor was so hard on the men, we say the גאולה was because of women because as hard as it was for the men it doesn't compare to one moment of a Jewish mother having her baby taken from her and she still continues to believe באמונה שלמה. The Miriam resembles, her name resembles what all the women were really feeling, utter bitterness, such bitterness. It's a פלא that there was even one woman left believing in the רבונו של עולם after all of them suffered such a horrible, horrible thing. Or at least many of them, we don't know exactly how many.
but at least many of them. אולם אמונתם היתה חזקה יותר ובת קיימא, but their אמונה was stronger and more existing than the men's. לפיכך היתה קמיעתן לגאולה נוקבת יותר. And it's for that reason their longing for אמונה was more, how do you say נוקב? More like, sorry? Focused? Specific? Demanding? Piercing? I'm not sure.
אך גם שמחתן על הגאולה המתקרבת ושאיפתן להגשמתה היתה גדולה יותר. But they were aspiring to taste what was going to be tasted was greater, which is the same today as well. I think what the Rebbe is saying here is that that what happened there, the experience, and that which the women were משלים in the picture of גאולה back then is the same עבודה of today. In a certain way, women are expecting and wanting גאולה more than men.
They have a way, I shouldn't say more than men, they have a way to express it in a much more powerful way more than a man does, based on everything that we learned right now. Because for them, a משיח, משיח not in the world and raising children is much more painful than משיח not being in the world and raising children for a man. Why? Why is that? Because what does משיח resemble? The removal of every type of hatred, every type of pain, every type of suffering, every type of torture. A man has a way of saying with חינוך, we even have this expression, man up, meaning it's part of being in this world, right? A woman, it's not, that's not part of the way that she wants to.
Inevitably many many women have to go there as well because the world outside the ד' אמות of the house is is pretty crazy and and scary וכולי. But לכתחילה, it's like בלכתחילה a man is more like, okay, gotta, you gotta, you gotta figure out a way how to tough up. But that's not a woman's לכתחילה at all. So their longing for משיח, their longing for the גאולה when they were in Egypt is was much more נוקב.
We have to figure out what the exact word over there is, but it was much more focused and demanding than the men back then. The Rebbe is saying also today. It's the same ענין. The women's expectance and longing for גאולה needs to be expressed more.
Their ביטוי, their התבטאות, their expression for it. And that's what I would like to offer is that the the speech amongst yourselves for משיח should just go up a few notches. Just because you have a way of of bringing out that longing that will משלים את התמונה. It'll complete the picture just like it did by שירת הים.
It won't be, you know, it it just won't happen unless the women's longing for משיח is expressed more. A man says, I want משיח to come, עד מתי, but I'm a man, right? That means what? I'm supposed to figure it out without, כביכול so to speak. It's like embedded in us in the way that we are. But a woman לכתחילה, that's not her, that's not her זאך.
It's not her thing at all. That's what it was back then and that's what it is today, meaning the bitterness of a משיח-less world, Miriam is still much more, is is the same ענין. The bitterness of it is felt more in a much more personal way by a woman than it is by a man. It doesn't mean women are higher than men, men are higher than women.
We're not talking about that. It's just we're talking about things that are naturally in a woman as opposed to things that are naturally in a man. Yes, Esti.I heard this from Rebbetzin Yamima once that that the צער that a woman has, whether it's over שלום בית or anything that's happening in her life, is really צער השכינה. That there's some sort of like a הזדהות, a identification, identification between צער השכינה and and and a woman's sorrow specifically.
So maybe that'sOf course. That's definitely it. צער השכינה. Okay, so this the bottom paragraph, we're going to end with this.
I know we're a little bit late, but this is very important. האריז"ל כתב שהדור האחרון שלפני ביאת המשיח הוא הגלגול החוזר של דור יציאת מצרים. This is unbelievable. This is unbelievable.
כיום, כשאנו עומדים על סף הגאולה הסופית, האישה היא שוב מי ששירתה נוקבת ביותר, שהטוף שלה חדור תקווה רבה יותר, שהמחול שלה הוא השמח מכולם. The woman whose song is on a much more נוקב level, her drum. drum has more resembles more hope and בטחון that it'll happen more than anything else, and her dance is more שמחדיק the way women dances with גאולה. Whatever that means, her expression physically even of of of of a שמחה of a גאולה is much more powerful than anything else.
כיום, כמו באותם ימים. Today like in those days. הגאולה תתממש בזכותם של נשים צדיקות. The גאולה will literally happen in the merit of righteous women.
כיום כאז. Today like then. כמיהתה של האישה למשיח. A woman's longing for משיח.
כמיהה שהיא עמוקה יותר מזו של הגבר. A longing which is deeper than that of a man. מעניקה השראה לכמיהתו של הגבר ומרוממת אותה. You know what it does? When when women are longing the way they naturally can and should be longing, it definitely shows the man how he should do it.
Not like her, but it it awakes something in a man to want it more as well. כמיהתה של היית, של האישה היא הזמירה העיקרית במנגינת הגאולה. That a woman's longing and her eventual singing for greeting משיח is the עיקר זמירה in the in the in the מנגינת הגאולה, in the song of redemption.Usually I would say now, women no pressure, but I'm gonna say pressure because we can't get it together. You know, we're trying but it's it's like if the Rebbe is saying what the אריז"ל says, and we're saying, you know, we have to really what we need to hear you guys long for גאולה.
We need you to we need to hear you long for גאולה. That's very important. Us men need to hear it more from our wives, from from the voice, not just like all the other holy things that we hear, but this ענין. And I believe that maybe that's one of the reasons why רב שמואל אליהו told you what he told you about the focusing of of this ענין.
That's what he basically said to you, right? And that's what needs to be heard right now. That's the עבודה that needs to be heard right now in the world. So if we're already saying, we're already starting to prepare for, what is it? In English? Remember? For the 4th of April. April 4th.
We're all going to be back on הר הזיתים, hopefully not. הלוואי לא. Celebrate a הלוואי לא? Why are you choosing to say celebration? הלוואי לא. Right, we'll be in, well, we won't be in הר הזיתים celebrating, you'll be in the mountain that you're looking at.
בית המקדש. בעזרת השם. If חס ושלום your voices aren't heard enough by then, so then that'll that should be a strong זעקה גדולה לשמיים and it'll awaken all those that all humankind to long more for משיח because that is the missing link in the picture. That's what the Rebbe is saying over here.
בזכות נשים צדקניות, in the merit of righteous women and their longing for גאולה. And מרים הנביאה should finally be consoled. And she will lead us.I want to share with you, I feel so close with all of you, I'll just share what that that sentence that רב שמואל told me. We spoke to him before יום הזיכרון.
Both of us, שמעון and I, were like really not doing too well, to say the least. And, he put him on, you know, on speaker and and he said, and שמעון said, we really need נחמה now. And he said like such a, like way out statement, but coming from רב שמואל it just sounded right. And he said, you have a שליחות to bring גאולה.
He said David's doing it from there, and you're doing it from here. So please come and see me because this דאווענען for גאולה of women, this must go on. That's what he said, like, very clearly. Amazing.Okay, so יאללה, let's make it really stronger than ever this ראש חודש ניסן.
יישר כוח.