Reflections of Mi Chamocha and Martin Luther King, jr
Tonight we celebrate Shabbat Shira, the Sabbath of Song. This weekend it happens to be the confluence of three events. Shabbat Shira, Tu B’shevat and Martin Luther King, jr. Weekend. So today, there is going to be very little words from me, and more from music and song. It is called Shabbat Shira because this is the week we read the Song at the Sea. Moses, and then Miriam led all the people in song once they got to the other side. We do part of that song every service. You know it as Mi Chamocha. I asked people to bring their favorite tunes for Mi Chamocha—and there are many. But first. How did they get there:
Peter Paul and Mary:
Peter Paul & Mary – A Man Come into Egypt
There was one brave soul, Nachson ben Aminidav, who saw what was happening at the shores of the sea. The midrash teaches us that he put is toe in and then waded into the wate—up to his nostrils. Who among us would be brave enough? This next song, Rabbi Gordon , Father Jack Lau and I sang in the pouring rain in Ferguson. It is an old African American Spiritual that perhaps captures the mood of Nachson:
Wade into the Water:
Wade in the Water: Live | The Spirituals (Official Music Video)
Not everyone saw the miracle. Rabbi Larry Kushner tells the midrashic story of Reuven and Shimon. They kept their heads down complaining about the muck. While the sea parted and was safe to walk on, (I imagine it like the walk to Bar Island in Bar Harbor), it wasn’t completely dry, more like a beach at low tide. “This is just like the slime pits of Egypt!” replied Reuven.“What’s the difference?” Complained Shimon. “Mud here, mud there; it’s all the same.”
And so it went for the two of them, grumbling all the way across the bottom of the sea. And, because they never once looked up, they never understood why on the distant shore, everyone else was singing and dancing. For Reuven and Shimon the miracle never happened. (Shmot Rabbah 24:1)
And yet, the Mekhilta also tells us that even a lowly bondswoman could see G-d. Zeh Eli they all exclaimed together. This is my G-d. Unlike Isaiah and Ezekiel that only had distance visions of G-d.
So what feelings would you have as you walked across to the other side? How would you express that thanksgiving? Awe, gratitude, joy, relief, apprehension, what’s going to happen next, fear.
The tune we often do on Friday nights as part of Shabbat Zimrrah was composed by David Propis and captures many of those emotions, including pointing and singing Zeh Eli:
Propis:
https://open.spotify.com/track/6nCTT6RQOsEy5Yhom1DOTV
The men were not alone in singing. Miriam the prophet took a timbrel in her hand and led the women in song and dance. This version of Mi Chamocha is based on Debbie Friedman’s “Miriam’s Song.” The cadeence of this upbeat version fits perfectly. I often use this one during Passover. It captures the song and the dancing:
Friedman:
Mi Chamocha (Friedman)
I worked with a rabbi who did not like the joyous ones. She believes, and she is correct that with freedom comes responsibility. This fits with our responsibility as Jews as we approach Martin Luther King Day as well. The Rev. Martin Luther King had a dear friend, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel. In fact they shared a birthday. In 1963, Heschel met King at a conference on Race and Religion. Here are his introductory remarks:
“At the first conference on religion and race, the main participants were Pharaoh and Moses. Moses’ words were: “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, let My people go that they may celebrate a feast to Me.” While Pharaoh retorted: “Who is the Lord, that I should heed this voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and moreover I will not let Israel go.”
The outcome of that summit meeting has not come to an end. Pharaoh is not ready to capitulate. The exodus began, but is far from having been completed. In fact, it was easier for the children of Israel to cross the Red Sea than for a Negro to cross certain university campuses.”
He then marched with King famously saying his feet were praying. How will we enable our feet to pray, today and every day? That is what our freedom demands. That level of responsibility.
So I offer you Hannah Tiferet Siegel ‘s version which captures a more reflective emotion:
Hannah Tiferet – Mi Chamocha (Judea Reform Congregation)
Lastly for these times, I offer you the upbeat and even newer Nefesh Mountain version, recorded in Memphis. Listening to Eric’s introduction, this one seems just right for a weekend that celebrates freedom and Martin Luther King, Jr. It was filmed in Memphis, the place where Martin Luther King, jr, was assignated. The night before King died, he gave his famous “Moutain top” speech. https://www.afscme.org/about/history/mlk/mountaintop
His dream, however, didn’t die with his death. It is still the work and the responsibility that we all need to do, the responsibility that comes with freedom. When we experience that exhileration that we have finally crossed over to the other aide.
Nefesh Mountain:
Nefesh Mountain perform “Mi Chamocha” on DittyTV
Shabbat Morning:
Every journey of liberation
Crosses the sea,
Pursued by a vicious past,
Surrounded by fragile miracles,
On a steady march
To an unknown destination.
Every journey of liberation
Begins at midnight,
In the darkest hour of oppression,
With the blood of a sacrifice,
With secret signs
And anxious anticipation.
Let us sing a song of salvation.
A song of absolution, benevolence, and compassion,
Of deliverance, freedom, and emancipation,
Of power, rescue, and release,
Of pardon, restoration, and reprieve,
Of the might and the mercy of our Maker,
Of God’s generosity and grace.
!מִי כָמֹכָה בָּאֵלִם, יי! מִי כָּמֹכָה נֶאְדָּר בַּקֹּדֶשׁ, נוֹרָא תְהִלֹּת עֹשֵׂה פֶלֶא
Mi chamochah ba-eilim, Adonai!
Mi kamochah, nedar bakodesh,
Nora t’hilot, oseih feleh!
Who is like You, O God, among the gods that are worshiped?
Who is like You, majestic in holiness,
Awesome in splendor, working wonders?
Let every journey of liberation
End on the opposite shore,
Exhausted but jubilant,
On the edge of an undiscovered land,
With shouts of joy and delight,
When our struggle leads to redemption.
© 2021 CCAR Press from “This Precious Life: Encountering the Divine with Poetry and Prayer”
“And they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees; and they encamped there beside the water.”
Tomorrow afternoon we will celebrate Tu B’shevat, the New Year of the Trees. Last night we looked at what you would feel if you had walked through the walls of water: amazement, awe, anticipation, apprehension, joy, relief.
And since you left Egypt quickly, so very quickly, you might also be tired. Fast forward to this scene,
You need to rest. You’ve just run for your life. You still need basic necessities. Food, water, housing. It is like Maslow’s pyramid. Or Risa’s list: Eat, drink (water), exercise, sleep, take your meds. Right now you just need to rest. Take a deep breath and another. You have come to an oasis with 12 springs of fresh, clear water, enough for each tribe and 70 palm trees providing shade from the desert heat, one for each of the elders to sit under as we’ll see soon. It is idyllic. A little like Gan Eden. The Garden of Eden. Paradise. This is freedom. The freedom to rest. The freedom to be secure. Take another deep breath. Drink it in. Hear the birds in the trees. Smell the date palms. Feel the breeze, Breathe.
There are other trees. Abraham sat under the oak at Mamre. Saul sat under a pomegranate of Migron. Deborah, who we will read about later, judged under a date palm. She was one of the seven women prophets, Sarah, Miriam, Hannah, Abigail, Huldan and Esther. She was the wife of Lappidot, because she furnished wicks for the sanctuary lamps. She brought out the light.
In later kabbalistic/mystical work, Rabbi Moshe Cordovero, wrote a book called Tomer Devorah, the Palm Tree of Deborah. Trees are often seen as mystical. They even breathe and in their own way draw close to G-d. Tomar Devorah explores a mystical understanding of the mitzvot, commandments and teaches us to emulate G-d in everything we do which then gives us a sense of purpose and responsibility according to one review.
From these two portions, The Song at the Sea and the Song of Deborah, two of the oldest sections of scripture, we learn that women’s voices were not shunned. Rather, they were listened to deeply. Here is Debbie Friedman’s Devorah’s Song: Devorah’s Song” – HUC-JIR Debbie Friedman Memorial Concert 2012
So sitting under a tree is a chance for renewal, and rest. A chance to dream. A chance to administer justice. And a chance to draw close to G-d.
Another prophet, Isaiah, said, there will come a time where we can sit under our vine and fig tree and none shall make us afraid. I dream of spending Shabbat afternoon resting, sitting under a tree, reading a book,
Eternal Protector—
Grant me the courage to enter
the waters of the unknown,
and the faith to believe
You will always provide a path.
When I am stumbling across the desert
of uncertainty and despair,
help me remember that
You accompanied my ancestors
as they journeyed from slavery to freedom—
and that You are with me
on my journey, too.
As I reflect on my journey
and pause in awe of
the wonders it continues to hold,
my soul, unbidden,
begins to unfold the melody
my heart whispers–
a song of belonging, awakening,
gratitude, hope and love.
Joanne Fink
May the Source of Strength
Bless you
With health and wholeness
And also all those who’ve been exposed
To the pain of this pandemic.
May you be blessed with fortitude and patience,
Courage and love,
As you allow capitulation to the coronavirus
To overwhelm your usual intentionality and intensity.
And holding onto hope,
May you move speedily
Through the depths of disease,
That saps strength and stamina,
Down the road to recovery
As you are renewed to fullness and healing.
May you be blessed with
refuah shleimah –
A complete healing –
A healing of body and a healing of spirit
Now go on and say,
[Amen]
Paul Kipnes