Parsha Beshalach: Getting Wowed by God

The "Song of the Sea" takes us back each morning to the Jewish peoples' first awareness of God's greatness. It gently reminds us that God is ever-present, and that we all deserve a chance to be wowed and awed by life.
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This week, Parsha Beshalach, we read the account of the splitting of the Red Sea. After crossing the sea on dry land, and then watching their oppressors drowned by the ocean, the Israelites broke into a spontaneous song, which is recorded in the Torah.

The compilers of the liturgy in ancient days included this "Song of the Sea" every morning at prayers. Why is this section of the Torah so critical to be said every day, and why during the preparatory prayers?

God's providence over all of Creation, taught by the Sfas Emes in 1871, only became truly revealed when He split the sea for the Jewish people and drowned the Egyptian army. It was at that point that they burst out in to song -- at the realization that God was everywhere.

The "Song of the Sea" takes us back each morning to the Jewish peoples' first awareness of God's greatness. It gently reminds us that God is ever-present, and that we all deserve a chance to be wowed and awed by life.

Shabbat Shalom.

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