Musar su Esodo 14:31

And concerning Moses, it is written : "In all my house he is faithful" (Num. 12:7). And it is said in the Midrash : "Great is faith before the Holy One, Blessed is He, for because of the merit of the faith that our fathers believed there dwelt upon them the Holy Spirit and they uttered song as it is said : 'And they believed in the Lord and in Moses His servent. Then Moses and the Children of Israel sang' " (Exod. 14:31, 15:1, Exodus Rabbah 22-23).

Jacob's descendants merited the same advantages in due course. They experienced that the sea was split for their sake, and they witnessed the "great hand" of G–d at work (Exodus 14, 31). Israel merited the “רקיע” when G–d descended to Mount Sinai traversing all seven Heavenly Regions each known as a different רקיע at the time He gave them the Torah, commencing His revelation with the words: "I am the Lord your G–d who has taken you out of Egypt" (Midrash Hagadol Exodus 19, 20 – slightly different wording). Israel's relationship with G–d's throne is alluded to in Jeremiah 17, 12: כסא כבוד מרום מראשון מקם מקדשנו, "O Throne of Glory exalted from of old, our sacred Shrine". The "throne" mentioned is the throne of G–d in His Heaven. The same prophet wrote in Lamentations 2, 1: (after the destruction of the Temple) ‘השליך משמים ארץ תפארת ישראל, "He cast down from Heaven to Earth the majesty of Israel." Our sages in Eicha Rabbah 2,2 commented on this verse: G–d said: "The only reason you have the audacity to annoy Me is the fact that Jacob's features are engraved on My throne; Here I fling it down in your faces!" At that point in time, the letter כ in the ירך of Jacob became dislocated. The three letters in the word ירך, thigh, are the respective first letters of the words ים, רקיע, כסא. The dislocation of Jacob's thigh joint is an allusion to the dislocation of G–d's throne. The numerical value of the word כף in the expression כף ירך יעקב, is 100. It is an allusion to the letter ק which is written smaller in Rebeccah's exclamation קצתי בחיי, in Genesis 27, 46. We had explained previously that that was an allusion to the destruction of the Temple as foreseen by Rebeccah. Allegorically speaking, if one removes the letter ק from Jacob's name, one is left only with יעב, meaning a cloud which blocks out the sun and the daylight. This is the deeper meaning of Jeremiah in Lamentations 2, 1: איכה יעיב באפו א-דני את בת ציון, "How has the Lord shamed (brought dark clouds) the daughter of Zion in His wrath." The prophet refers to the former distinction of Israel having been flung to earth.

The Midrash's question "By what merit did Israel sing the שירה,” is itself difficult to comprehend! It is the practice of the צדיקים to give thanks to G–d immediately upon receipt of the promise of a forthcoming event. The צדיק does not wait until the promise has been fulfilled. The expression of his gratitude is no more than a true reflection of his abiding faith in G–d. If Moses, nonetheless had delayed his song of thanksgiving until after the miracle promised had actually materialised, this was but due to his lack of confidence in Israel's faith. This is why the Torah waited to report that Israel believed both in G–d and in Moses His servant until after the successful crossing of the sea and the drowning of the Egyptians in it (14,31). Only then was Moses able to break out in song. I have found this answer to the query raised in the introduction of a book called ברכת אברהם.

When we keep this in mind we can understand the Midrash Rabbah 3,1 on Song of Songs 3,9 אפריון עשה לו המלך שלמה, that "King Solomon made for himself a canopy," as referring to the construction of the Tabernacle. Rabbi Yehudah bar Ulla explains this by means of the following parable: A king had a young daughter. As long as she did not reach the age of puberty, he would meet her in public and speak with her both in public and private. Once she reached the age of puberty the king said to himself that it was no longer seemly that he should converse with his daughter in public. He therefore constructed a pavilion for her so that whenever he felt the need to converse with his daughter he could do so within this pavilion. We find an allusion to this in Hoseah 11,1: "For when Israel was still a child I fell in love with Israel." As long as the people of Israel were in their national infancy in Egypt, they saw manifestations of G–d all around them such as when G–d smote the Egyptians both in Egypt and later on when He drowned them in the sea. This was a public manifestation as testified to in Exodus 14,31: "Israel saw the great hand of the Lord and what He did to Egypt". Even infants would point with their fingers declaring "This is my G–d I shall glorify Him" (Exodus 15,2). At Sinai they beheld G–d "face to face," as we know from Deuteronomy 33,2: "He (Moses) said The Lord came from Sinai, He shone upon them from Se-ir; He appeared from Mount Paran." At that point Israel received the Torah and declared כל אשר דבר ה' נעשה ונשמע, "All that the Lord has said, we shall do and hear." As a consequence Israel became G–d's nation in the fullest meaning of the word. G–d next said Himself that it was no longer seemly that He should speak to them in public, without the benefit of privacy, so He instructed them to build a Tabernacle so that whenever He wished to speak to them, He would do so from the interior of the Tabernacle. This is the meaning of Numbers 7,89: "Whenever Moses went into the Tent of Meeting to speak with Him, he would hear the voice of G–d addressing him from above the cover that was on top of the Ark of the Covenant between the two cherubim; thus He spoke to him." Thus far the statement of Rabbi Yehudah bar Ulla.

קדושים תהיו כי קדוש אני ה' אלהיכם. (Leviticus 19,2) "Be holy for I the Lord your G–d am holy;" Basing themselves on this verse, the prophets and sages drew a comparison between G–d and the Exodus experience of כנסת ישראל as being similar to the relationship between groom and bride. The entire book of Song of Songs is based on this concept. Most of the liturgical poetry in our prayer-books deals with this concept extolling this relationship between Israel and G–d. It is spelled out more clearly in Deuteronomy 26,17-18: את ה' האמרת היום להיות לך לאלוקים … וה' האמירך היום להיות לו לעם סגולה.. "You have affirmed this day that the Lord is your G–d…and the Lord affirmed this day that you are His treasured people." The relationship is mutual.