It Longs So Much for Song and Melody

"And it came to pass when Pharaoh sent the people away..." (Exodus 13:17).

"On Shabbos Shira, one can merit that the sealed heart will be split open just as all the waters in the world were split" (Tefilah L'Ani, 12).

"Then Moshe and the Children of Israel sang this song to Hashem" (Exodus 15:1).

When a person plays music and sings, he immediately connects to Hashem. Song and melody are the most wonderful connection between man and the Creator. Our soul comes from the upper worlds, where it was accustomed to hearing the song of the ministering angels. Therefore, even now, when it is within a body, it longs so much for song and melody. A person must accustom himself to walk with a melody because this is what will gladden him, for this is what will awaken his heart to Hashem.

The melody is such a wonderful thing. If you see a person humming a tune to himself, it is a sign and indication that joy dwells in his heart.

Rebbe Nachman tells us stories about a princess who was lost, and how she is searched for. A wind came, and the wind carried the one searching for her and brought him to a mountain of gold and a fortress of pearls. The wind is the melody, which carries us to the highest, most wonderful places.

Man was created to say songs and praises. Hashem specifically wants our song, more than the song of the angels. [He wants] the song of one who is down below, who was born with difficult inclinations, and who fights all his life to overcome.

The prayer that is most accepted is a prayer with melodies and songs. If a person wants to draw down salvations, he should clothe the prayer in songs and melodies. "Give thanks to Hashem for He is good, for His kindness is eternal." There are always kindnesses, kindnesses are always being drawn down, there are always miracles, says King David; one must constantly give thanks for them.

The Midrash says that since the creation of the world, the Holy One, Blessed be He, yearned for song to be recited before Him. He split the sea because He knew that afterwards there would be the Song of the Sea. Hashem waits so much for our song; of all things, Hashem chooses song, "Who chooses musical songs of praise."

On Shabbos Shira, we sing emunah (faith). The sea is in front, the Egyptians behind, wild beasts on the sides—where can one flee? One flees to Hashem. One cries out to Hashem. Because only He can save. One cries out to Hashem from the deepest place, "From the depths I called to You, Hashem." And what does Hashem answer them? "Speak to the Children of Israel and let them journey forth." Let them strengthen themselves in faith with all their hearts, and enter the sea before it splits. And in the merit of this trust, I perform a miracle for them (Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh).

And this is what Nachshon ben Aminadav does, who became for us the concept of sticking to the goal despite all dangers. He stands before a stormy sea, enters it, and continues walking even when the water reaches his nose. He continues walking, and then the sea splits and all of Israel enters after him. What faith! What trust! What adherence to the goal!

And us? What about us? We don't truly believe that Hashem can do anything for us. Our day is full of such examples. According to nature, there is no chance. We don't even begin to believe that it can happen. But we forget that Hashem is great and He is truly omnipotent. "When a person throws away his intellect, then there is no limit to the solutions and salvations, for he suddenly believes that Hashem can save him. Because faith is the highest intellect there is. An intellect that tells you to cast away the intellect. An intellect that tells you: You know what, believe. People returned in teshuvah (repentance) because they received an intellect, from a Divine understanding, that it is worthwhile to throw away the intellect and follow faith" (Be'or Pnei Melech).

The essence of faith is that everything Hashem does, He does for the good, and this is the thing that conflicts most with the intellect. Because we see difficult things in life, and we ourselves go through difficult things, and if we do not precede the intellect with faith—the faith that everything is good and there is no bad at all—then we will, Heaven forbid, fall from faith.

Hashem wants us to exert ourselves. To exert ourselves to believe in Him. To exert ourselves to believe that He does nothing bad to us in life. To exert ourselves that in every path we have reached in life—every path, the worst in the world, where we were thrown here and thrown there, such difficult paths that we reached in life—where suddenly we see that the ways are blocked for us, we have such difficulties, suddenly we arrive at a place where we don't see Hashem at all, we don't see anything, everything is dark, everything is blocked—but there is a melody there... such a tremendous melody... a melody that one merits to hear when one pays no attention to all the confusions, when one fights with the questions, when one says: "There is a Hashem in the world who does everything, and everything is with mercy."

Hashem created the world to reveal His tremendous mercy. He consulted with the angels whether to create man, and they told Him it was not worthwhile. That he would not be able to withstand the tests. And what did the Holy One, Blessed be He, say to them? You do not know how much mercy I have. Such tremendous and hidden mercy I have. With this mercy, I create man. This mercy is within the judgment, within the troubles. Because if there were only kindness, then it would be as if it were taken for granted. There is nothing else. But when there is judgment upon a person, Heaven forbid, and within the judgment, within the troubles, he sees how Hashem had mercy on him, how Hashem performed a miracle for him, then he begins to feel Hashem, to draw close to Hashem: "Hashem, You are so great, what a miracle You performed for me. Hashem, You are so merciful."

Faith is the secret of joy. Faith that says there is no bad in the world; Hashem, may He be blessed, is good and does good, and does the very best for us. Every lack, every difficulty, every mishap, every delay, every trouble, every illness—it is all good, because Hashem saw that only in this way would we merit to reach our ultimate purpose, which is to believe in Hashem, to draw close to Hashem, to know Hashem.

Holy faith takes this gray life, this difficult life, this confused life—where a person does not find himself, and everything is blocked, and all the difficult things that happen to us, each one and his affairs—it seems to him that he fell into a trap, and he has such a problem in the family, and he has such a story, and he has such a child, and he has such a problem in domestic peace (Shalom Bayis), all types of problems that people have—holy faith comes and makes from all of this such a tremendous and wonderful melody. A melody that says that everything is planned in advance, that besides Hashem there is nothing here in the world, that Hashem does everything and everything is for the good. Master of the World, help me to always remember that You do everything for me, that this is exactly how You love me, that what happened to me is from Your love for me.

When does a person know that he has merited complete faith? When he constantly says "Thank you." In all situations. He lives with Hashem, he lives with the faith that everything that happens to him is from Hashem and everything is for his benefit. Just to say thank you. To say thank you for everything. In this world it is darkness, we do not see that it is good. We need to believe that it is good. That everything that happens is good. When we start saying thank you, it shows that we believe it is good. That everything Hashem does, He does for the good. And what salvations people see who walk on this path of gratitude—miracles above nature. Truly above nature.

If a person believes that everything is from Hashem, and everything that happens to him in life is all for the good, he does not need to get worked up over any problem, he does not need to react with anger. As long as a person still gets annoyed by everything he goes through, it is a sign that he is still far from holy faith. Something happened to me—it is for the good, it is an atonement for sins; on the contrary, through this a greater miracle will happen to me. Everything that happens to a person is only to benefit him; Hashem seeks the very best for the person! A person's entire work is to say about everything "This too is for the good," and for everything that happens to him, he must overcome and rejoice and sing and dance.

In what merit was it said of Joseph that he was a "successful man"? What is a successful man? It is one who rejoices and dances to Hashem in every situation. The Rav says: ["A person has a mishap every second, every second he has an incident in life, every second he has a new problem in life, and for everything that happens he must say 'This too is for the good' and continue to rejoice and dance. This is such a tremendous test! He needs such faith! For everything that happens, he needs self-sacrifice (mesirus nefesh) to rejoice, to sing, to dance, to say everything is for the good. For every slap, to say another song, another thanks, another thank you. He needs to sing and praise Hashem at the peak of disappointments and at the peak of bitterness, because Hashem does only better! If a person says about everything 'This too is for the good,' then he will exit all the suffering in the world, he will have miracles! He will have miracles and wonders! The moment a person understands that it is for the good, and overcomes [his nature] to sing, to dance, and to rejoice, he gives strength so that specifically from this thing he will have miracles. 'Yehudi' (Jew) comes from the language of 'hodaya' (thanksgiving); he always gives thanks, he always sings. What Hashem does is good, Hashem is always with us, Hashem walks with us, Hashem will never leave us! Not for a moment! A Jew does not lose faith for a moment, not for a second; he dances, sings, and is happy in every situation in life, and in this way is saved from all troubles."] (Up to here from The Rav).

Faith means not blaming—neither others nor oneself. Pangs of conscience are a terrible thing, and there is almost no one who is saved from them.

A person wants to sell an apartment, states a price that does not please the buyer, and the buyer backs out of the purchase. "Why did I say such a price? Why didn't I compromise?"

A person has a sick family member in his home, Heaven forbid, and he prefers a doctor from the health fund [to save money]. After the illness becomes complicated: "Why did I look to save money? Why didn't I take the best doctor?"

A good shidduch (marriage match) is almost finished and then stops. And one side is sure that because of one word that was said, or because of the parents' stubbornness about where they would live, the shidduch was stopped. And like these, there are dozens more examples where the common denominator is frustration, feelings of guilt, pangs of conscience. With one tiny change, everything could have been different.

Faith is the only thing that fights all these thoughts. Everything that happened is a decree from Heaven. We do everything possible, we make an effort, we pray, but in hindsight, the Master of all deeds, the Lord of all souls, leads everything. When a person merits complete faith, nothing can break his spirit anymore and he truly feels no pain, just as Rebbe Nachman says in Torah 250: "Know that all types of pain and all suffering are only from a lack of Da'at (knowledge/awareness), for whoever has Da'at and knows that everything is by Divine Providence from Hashem, may He be blessed, has no suffering, and feels no pain, for 'Hashem gave and Hashem took'."

"Everything that happens to you is all by the will of Hashem, may He be blessed. That is how Hashem wants it, period. There is no one to blame, neither other people nor yourself. You are now in a test of faith; you must cast away the intellect because the intellect causes you to fall from the faith that everything is by the will of Hashem. The intellect gives you all kinds of explanations that lead to anger, to pain, to despair, to vengefulness, to self-blame. You must cast away this intellect and strengthen yourself in the faith that there is nothing else besides Him! Everything is by the will of Hashem, and everything is for your benefit. And the main faith is in a place where his intellect shows him regarding a specific incident that it is not for the good, and he casts away his intellect and holds only onto the faith that everything is for the good" (HaMevarech Et Amo Yisrael BaShalom).

In the heart of every Jew, in the depth of the soul, a melody plays. This melody, for most people, is hidden; it is covered by sadness and worries, by anger and confusion. Shabbos Shira is the time to renew this melody in the heart. A melody of faith. A melody of yearning and longing for Hashem. "As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for You, O God."

A person needs to find one verse every day, one that illuminated something for him, something he merited to feel; he should fit a melody to it, and hum that melody all day long. A person cannot live without some melody playing inside him, of something that was renewed for him that day, a verse that shone for him, that gave him strength, a verse that will accompany him all day.

We sing the Song of the Sea every day in the Shacharis prayer. Because every single day, in the world and within every single person, the miracle of the Splitting of the Sea takes place. And so, from amidst all the crises and waves that pass over us, a new song comes out every single day—a song of faith, a song of building the soul and its healing.