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אָז יָשִׁיר

Az Yashir

The song Moshe and Israel sang at the sea, said every morning.

Daven with it Read it here

Draft. This siddur is waiting for a rav's review. For a halachic question, ask your rav.

At a glance

When: Every morning; on weekdays, right before Yishtabach
Where it comes from: Shemot 14:30 to 15:18, plus five closing lines
In the Rambam's day: A local custom, said after Yishtabach
The last line: Said three times, once in Aramaic

The moment behind it

Israel has just left slavery in Egypt. Pharaoh changes his mind, chases them with his chariots, and catches them camped by the sea. The people are terrified. Moshe stretches his hand over the sea, and all night God drives the water back with a strong east wind until it splits. Israel crosses on dry ground, a wall of water on each side. The water returns over Pharaoh's army. That day Israel sees the Egyptians dead on the shore. Then they sing.

The paragraph just before this, from Nechemiah, ends with God splitting the sea and throwing the chasers into the deep. This one picks up right there, on the shore. The Mishnah Berurah (a central book of Jewish law) says to sing it with joy, as if you crossed the sea today.

Shemot 14:5 to 15:1; Nechemiah 9:11; Mishnah Berurah 51:17

The words

Hebrew, then English. Open "What it means" under any line for the explanation.

The siddur's note: this is said in memory of leaving Egypt. Say it with joy, as if you were the one saved at the sea.
וַיּוֹשַׁע יְיָ בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא אֶת יִשְׂרָאֵל מִיַּד מִצְרָיִם וַיַּרְא יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶת מִצְרַיִם מֵת עַל שְׂפַת הַיָּם.
Hashem saved on that day Israel from the hand of Egypt. Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the shore of the sea.
What it means
On that day Hashem saved Israel from the hand of Egypt, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the shore of the sea.
וַיַּרְא יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶת הַיָּד הַגְּדֹלָה אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה יְיָ בְּמִצְרַיִם וַיִּירְאוּ הָעָם אֶת יְיָ וַיַּאֲמִינוּ בַּייָ וּבְמשֶׁה עַבְדּוֹ.
Israel saw the great hand that Hashem used against Egypt. The people feared Hashem, and they believed in Hashem and in Moshe His servant.
What it means
Why add "and in Moshe"? If they believed Moshe, surely they believed God. The Mekhilta (an early midrash on the book of Shemot) answers: to teach that trusting the shepherd of Israel, the leader God sent, is like trusting the One who spoke and the world came to be.
Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael, Beshalach 7
The song:
אָז יָשִׁיר משֶׁה וּבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶת הַשִּׁירָה הַזֹּאת לַייָ וַיֹּאמְרוּ לֵאמֹר אָשִׁירָה לַייָ כִּי גָאֹה גָּאָה סוּס וְרֹכְבוֹ רָמָה בַיָּם.
Then sang Moshe and the children of Israel this song to Hashem. They said: I will sing to Hashem, for He is high above all. Horse and rider He threw into the sea.
What it means
Then Moshe and the children of Israel sang this song to Hashem. They said: I will sing to Hashem, for He is high above all. Horse and rider He threw into the sea.
Az yashir is "then he will sing," not "sang." Rashi (the classic commentator on the Torah, France, died 1105) gives the plain reading: when Moshe saw the miracle, his heart told him to sing, and he did.
Rashi on Shemot 15:1
עָזִּי וְזִמְרָת יָהּ וַיְהִי לִי לִישׁוּעָה זֶה אֵלִי וְאַנְוֵהוּ אֱלֹהֵי אָבִי וַאֲרֹמְמֶנְהוּ.
God is my strength and my song, and He became my rescue. This is my God, and I will make Him beautiful; the God of my father, and I will raise Him high.
What it means
"This is my God" sounds like pointing. Rashi says that is what happened: God showed Himself in His glory, and they pointed at Him with a finger.
Rashi on Shemot 15:2
יְיָ אִישׁ מִלְחָמָה יְיָ שְׁמוֹ.
Hashem is a man of war; Hashem is His name.
What it means
Hashem is a warrior; Hashem is His name.
מַרְכְּבֹת פַּרְעֹה וְחֵילוֹ יָרָה בַיָּם וּמִבְחַר שָׁלִשָׁיו טֻבְּעוּ בְיַם סוּף.
Pharaoh's chariots and his army He cast into the sea; his best officers sank in the Sea of Reeds.
What it means
Rashi says tube'u, "sank," is the word for sinking into mud. The sea turned to mud. It was payback in kind: the Egyptians had worked Israel with mortar and bricks.
Rashi on Shemot 15:4
תְּהֹמֹת יְכַסְיֻמוּ יָרְדוּ בִמְצוֹלֹת כְּמוֹ אָבֶן.
The deep waters covered them; they went down into the depths like a stone.
יְמִינְךָ יְיָ נֶאְדָּרִי בַּכֹּחַ יְמִינְךָ יְיָ תִּרְעַץ אוֹיֵב.
Your right hand, Hashem, glorious in strength, Your right hand, Hashem, shatters the enemy.
What it means
Your right hand, Hashem, is glorious in strength; Your right hand, Hashem, shatters the enemy.
Why "Your right hand" twice? Rashi's own reading: it is the same right hand. It saves Israel and smashes the enemy at the same time, two jobs with one hand, which no person can do.
Rashi on Shemot 15:6
וּבְרֹב גְּאוֹנְךָ תַּהֲרֹס קָמֶיךָ תְּשַׁלַּח חֲרֹנְךָ יֹאכְלֵמוֹ כַּקַּשׁ.
In Your great majesty You tear down Your opponents; You send out Your fury, it eats them up like straw.
What it means
In Your great majesty You tear down those who rise against You; You send out Your fury, and it eats them up like straw.
Who are "those who rise against You"? Rashi: the ones who rise against Israel. Whoever plots against God's people is called God's enemy.
Rashi on Shemot 15:7
וּבְרוּחַ אַפֶּיךָ נֶעֶרְמוּ מַיִם נִצְּבוּ כְמוֹ נֵד נֹזְלִים קָפְאוּ תְהֹמֹת בְּלֶב יָם.
With the breath of Your nostrils the waters piled up. The flowing waters stood up like a wall. The depths froze in the heart of the sea.
What it means
Does God have nostrils? Rashi: the Torah speaks about God the way it would about a human king, so that people can understand. When a person is angry, breath comes out of the nose.
Rashi on Shemot 15:8
אָמַר אוֹיֵב אֶרְדֹּף אַשִּׂיג אֲחַלֵּק שָׁלָל תִּמְלָאֵמוֹ נַפְשִׁי אָרִיק חַרְבִּי תּוֹרִישֵׁמוֹ יָדִי.
The enemy said: I will chase, I will catch up, I will split the loot; I will have my fill of them; I will draw my sword; my hand will wipe them out.
What it means
Rashi: Pharaoh said this to his own people, to talk them into the chase. I will chase, I will catch up, I will split the loot with my officers and my servants.
Rashi on Shemot 15:9
נָשַׁפְתָּ בְרוּחֲךָ כִּסָּמוֹ יָם צָלֲלוּ כַּעוֹפֶרֶת בְּמַיִם אַדִּירִים.
You blew with Your wind; the sea covered them. They sank like lead in the water, the mighty ones.
What it means
You blew with Your wind; the sea covered them. The mighty ones sank like lead in the water.
Pause after bamayim, "in the water." The Mishnah Berurah (a guide to daily Jewish law, published 1884 to 1907) says adirim, "the mighty ones," means the Egyptians. It does not describe the water.
Mishnah Berurah 51:17
מִי כָמֹכָה בָּאֵלִם יְיָ מִי כָּמֹכָה נֶאְדָּר בַּקֹּדֶשׁ נוֹרָא תְהִלֹּת עֹשֵׂה פֶלֶא.
Who is like You among the mighty, Hashem? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, awesome in praises, doing wonders?
What it means
Ba'elim, "among the mighty," has no yud here. Chizkuni (a French Torah commentary, 1200s) says this hints at ba'ilmim, "among the silent." The Mekhilta reads it so: who is like You, who sees Your children shamed and is silent? The Gemara (the rabbis' discussions on the Mishnah) reads it this way about Titus, the Roman general who mocked God in the Temple.
Mekhilta, Shirah 8; Gittin 56b; Chizkuni on Shemot 15:11
נָטִיתָ יְמִינְךָ תִּבְלָעֵמוֹ אָרֶץ.
You stretched out Your right hand; the earth swallowed them.
What it means
Why does the earth swallow them, at sea? Rashi: from here we learn they were given a burial. It was a reward, because the Egyptians had once said "Hashem is in the right" (Pharaoh's words during the plague of hail, Shemot 9:27).
Rashi on Shemot 15:12; Shemot 9:27
נָחִיתָ בְחַסְדְּךָ עַם זוּ גָּאָלְתָּ נֵהַלְתָּ בְעָזְּךָ אֶל נְוֵה קָדְשֶׁךָ.
You led with Your kindness the people You redeemed; You guided them with Your strength to Your holy home.
What it means
With Your kindness You led the people You redeemed; with Your strength You guided them to Your holy home.
Nachita, "You led," is past tense, though they had not reached that holy home yet. Ibn Ezra (Rabbi Avraham ibn Ezra, Spain, 1100s) says prophecy often uses the past in place of the future.
Ibn Ezra on Shemot 15:13
שָׁמְעוּ עַמִּים יִרְגָּזוּן חִיל אָחַז ישְׁבֵי פְּלָשֶׁת.
Nations heard and shook; trembling gripped the people of Philistia.
What it means
Why would the Philistines shake? Rashi: they had killed men of the tribe of Efrayim who rushed out of Egypt early, by force, before the time God set. The book of Divrei HaYamim (Chronicles) records that the men of Gat killed them.
Rashi on Shemot 15:14; Divrei HaYamim I 7:21
אָז נִבְהֲלוּ אַלּוּפֵי אֱדוֹם אֵילֵי מוֹאָב יֹאחֲזֵמוֹ רָעַד נָמֹגוּ כֹּל ישְׁבֵי כְנָעַן.
Then the chiefs of Edom panicked; trembling seized the mighty of Moav; all the people of Canaan melted away.
What it means
Then the chiefs of Edom panicked; trembling seized the mighty men of Moav; all the people of Canaan melted away.
Edom and Moav had nothing to fear: Israel was not coming for their land. Rashi says they shook anyway, out of grief, pained at the honor Israel was getting.
Rashi on Shemot 15:15
תִּפֹּל עֲלֵיהֶם אֵימָתָה וָפַחַד בִּגְדֹל זְרוֹעֲךָ יִדְּמוּ כָּאָבֶן עַד יַעֲבֹר עַמְּךָ יְיָ עַד יַעֲבֹר עַם זוּ קָנִיתָ.
Dread and fear fall on them; at the greatness of Your arm they are still as stone, until Your people pass over, Hashem, until the people You acquired pass over.
What it means
Why "until they pass over" twice? Onkelos, the Aramaic translation, names two crossings: until Your people cross the Arnon river, until they cross the Jordan. Rashi follows him.
Onkelos and Rashi on Shemot 15:16
תְּבִאֵמוֹ וְתִטָּעֵמוֹ בְּהַר נַחֲלָתְךָ מָכוֹן לְשִׁבְתְּךָ פָּעַלְתָּ יְיָ מִקְּדָשׁ אֲדֹנָי כּוֹנְנוּ יָדֶיךָ.
You will bring them and plant them on the mountain of Your inheritance, the place You made, Hashem, for You to dwell in, the Sanctuary, my Master, that Your hands set up.
What it means
Rashi: the Temple is beloved. The world was made with one hand, as the prophet Yeshayahu says, "My hand founded the earth." The Temple is made with two: "Your hands set up." When will it be built with both hands? When "Hashem will reign forever," the next line.
Rashi on Shemot 15:17
Say this verse twice, then once in Aramaic.
יְיָ יִמְלֹךְ לְעֹלָם וָעֶד. יְיָ יִמְלֹךְ לְעֹלָם וָעֶד. יְיָ מַלְכוּתֵהּ קָאֵים לְעָלַם וּלְעָלְמֵי עָלְמַיָּא.
Hashem will reign forever and ever. Hashem will reign forever and ever. Hashem, His kingdom stands forever and for all time.
What it means
Why twice? The Abudarham (a classic commentary on the prayers, Spain, 1300s) says this verse is the end of the song, and without the repeat it would not look like the end. The Mishnah Berurah adds, in the name of the Arizal (the great Kabbalist of Tzfat, 1500s), to say it once more in Aramaic.
Abudarham, Songs of Praise; Mishnah Berurah 51:17
כִּי בָא סוּס פַּרְעֹה בְּרִכְבּוֹ וּבְפָרָשָׁיו בַּיָּם וַיָּשֶׁב יְיָ עֲלֵהֶם אֶת מֵי הַיָּם וּבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל הָלְכוּ בַיַּבָּשָׁה בְּתוֹךְ הַיָּם.
When Pharaoh's horses came with his chariots and riders into the sea, Hashem brought the sea's waters back over them, and the children of Israel walked on dry land through the sea.
What it means
When Pharaoh's horses came with his chariots and his riders into the sea, Hashem brought the waters of the sea back over them, and the children of Israel walked on dry land in the middle of the sea.
In the Torah this verse comes right after the song. Is it part of it? The Mishnah Berurah brings the view, in the Arizal's name, to say it, since it too belongs to the song. In the name of the Vilna Gaon (the great Torah scholar of Vilna, died 1797), some do not say it.
Mishnah Berurah 51:17
Three verses from Tehillim and the Prophets close it:
כִּי לַייָ הַמְּלוּכָה וּמשֵׁל בַּגּוֹיִם.
For kingship is Hashem's, and He rules over the nations.
What it means
This is from Tehillim 22, the psalm that opens "My God, my God, why have You left me?" Near its end it sees the whole world turning to God. Radak (Rabbi David Kimchi, Provence, around 1200): then all the nations will know that the kingship is God's.
Tehillim 22:2, 22:28-29, with Radak
וְעָלוּ מוֹשִׁעִים בְּהַר צִיּוֹן לִשְׁפֹּט אֶת הַר עֵשָׂו, וְהָיְתָה לַייָ הַמְּלוּכָה.
Rescuers will go up on Mount Zion to judge Mount Esav, and the kingship will be Hashem's.
What it means
The last verse of Ovadyah, a one-chapter book of prophecy about Edom, the nation descended from Esav. Radak says the "rescuers" are the Mashiach and those with him.
Ovadyah 1:1 and 1:21, with Radak
וְהָיָה יְיָ לְמֶלֶךְ עַל כָּל הָאָרֶץ בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא יִהְיֶה יְיָ אֶחָד וּשְׁמוֹ אֶחָד.
Hashem will be King over all the earth. On that day Hashem will be One and His name One.
What it means
"On that day Hashem will be One." Isn't He One today? The Gemara answers: today, on good news we bless "who is good and does good," and on bad news "the true Judge." In the world to come, it will all be "who is good and does good."
Pesachim 50a

The story

Written like a brick wall

Open a Torah scroll to this song and the page looks different. The Gemara (the rabbis' discussions built on the Mishnah) says all the songs in Tanach are written like a brick wall: a half brick over a whole brick, and a whole brick over a half brick. Rashi (the classic commentator, France, died 1105) explains: the half brick is the writing, the whole brick is the blank space, twice as wide. Two lists, Haman's sons and the kings of Canaan, are stacked straight instead, so that their fall is never undone.

Megillah 16b, with Rashi

The Levites sang it in the Temple

Every day in the Temple, the Levites sang a psalm. Shabbat afternoon was different. Rabbi Yochanan says that at the Shabbat afternoon offering they sang Az Yashir, then Mi Chamocha, then the Song of the Well from Bamidbar. Rashi explains that the Song at the Sea was cut in two: from the start up to Mi Chamocha, and from Mi Chamocha to the end. The Gemara concludes they sang one part each Shabbat. You will say Mi Chamocha again soon, in the blessing right before the Amidah.

Rosh Hashanah 31a, with Rashi; Siddur Sefard, weekday Shacharit

Not always part of davening

The Rambam (Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, the great codifier of Jewish law, died 1204) calls this song a custom. Some places said it every day after Yishtabach. Some said Ha'azinu, Moshe's song near the end of Devarim, instead. Some individuals said both. "It all depends on the custom." Today it comes before Yishtabach. Abudarham (a commentary on the prayers, Spain, around 1340) says why it is here: the Torah tells us to remember the creation of the world and the Exodus. This song is the reminder of the Exodus.

Rambam, Laws of Prayer 7:13; Abudarham, Songs of Praise

First they believed, then they sang

Look at the line just before the song: "They believed in Hashem and in Moshe His servant." Then: "Then Moshe and Israel sang." The Mekhilta (an early Midrash on Shemot) reads the order as cause and effect. Faith is great before God, it says. As a reward for believing, the holy spirit rested on them and they said the song. Rabbi Nechemiah adds that anyone who takes on even one mitzvah with faith is worthy of having God's presence rest on them too.

Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael, Beshalach 7

How does a whole nation sing one song?

There were no songbooks at the sea. So how did everyone sing? The Gemara gives three pictures. Rabbi Akiva: Moshe sang each line and the people answered every time with the opening words, "I will sing to Hashem," the way a congregation answers the leader of Hallel. Rabbi Eliezer son of Rabbi Yose HaGelili: they repeated every line after him. Rabbi Nechemiah: Moshe started, and then they all sang it together. Each view is built on the words "and they said, saying."

Sotah 30b

"This is my God, and I will make Him beautiful"

Zeh Eli ve'anvehu. How can a person make God beautiful? A teaching in the Gemara answers: make your mitzvot beautiful. A beautiful sukkah, lulav, shofar and tzitzit, a Torah scroll written in good ink by a skilled scribe. Abba Shaul reads it another way: be like Him. Just as He is gracious and merciful, you be gracious and merciful. Rashi explains how he got there: he hears ve'anvehu as ani vaHu, "I and He." I will make myself like Him and hold on to His ways.

Shabbat 133b, with Rashi

Hard questions

The song celebrates an army drowning. Is that okay?

Read the words slowly and it is hard to miss. Horse and rider thrown into the sea. Sank like a stone. Sank like lead. It is a fair question.

The Kadesh Li prayer already told you the Gemara's teaching that God stopped the angels from singing while the Egyptians drowned. Here are a few more pieces, from the song itself and from those who read it closely.

First, who that army was. The song quotes the enemy's own plan: "I will chase, I will catch up, I will split the loot... I will draw my sword, my hand will wipe them out." They were riding after people who had just walked out of slavery.

Second, why Israel had to see the bodies on the shore. The Mekhilta (an early Midrash on Shemot) gives four reasons. The first: otherwise Israel would say, "Just as we came up on this side, they came up on another side." They would never feel safe. The Mekhilta also says how close it was. Israel was like a bird in a person's hand. If he squeezes a little, it is dead.

Third, the line "Hashem is a man of war, Hashem is His name." Rashi brings a reading of the second half: even while God fights and takes revenge on His enemies, He holds on to His mercy for what He created, and keeps feeding everyone in the world. A human king at war has no room for anything else.

None of these sources pretends the drowning did not happen. What they put in the center is the rescue. Whether that fully answers the question is for you to weigh.

Shemot 15:1, 15:5, 15:9-10,Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael, Beshalach 7,Rashi on Shemot 15:3,Megillah 10b

Az yashir means "will sing." Why is a song about the past in the future tense?

Anyone who knows Hebrew notices it. The song happened once, at the sea. But its first verb, yashir, is future tense: "Then Moshe and Israel will sing."

Rashi gives the plain meaning first. When Moshe saw the miracle, it came into his heart that he would sing, and then he did. The future tense describes the plan forming. Rashi shows the same pattern in other verses, like "then Yehoshua would speak."

Then he brings a second reading, from the Gemara. Rabbi Meir says: it does not say "sang," it says "will sing." From here, he says, the revival of the dead is in the Torah. Moshe and Israel will sing this song again.

The last line works the same way: "Hashem will be King forever." Onkelos, the ancient Aramaic translation, turns it into the present, "His kingship stands forever," and that is the Aramaic line you say right after it. Ramban (Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman, Spain, 1200s) writes that Onkelos was uneasy with the future, since God's kingship is already forever. Ramban says he does not understand that worry. To him the future tense is a wish: as God showed His rule here, may He show it in every generation.

The siddur then adds verses from the prophets that also look ahead: rescuers will go up to Mount Zion, and "on that day Hashem will be One." The Hashem Melech prayer already asked what it means to call God King "someday." Here the point is simpler. By its own grammar, this song is not finished.

Rashi on Shemot 15:1,Sanhedrin 91b,Targum Onkelos and Ramban on Shemot 15:18,Ovadyah 1:21; Zecharyah 14:9

I was not at the sea. How am I supposed to sing like I was?

The Mishnah Berurah (a central commentary on daily Jewish law, published 1884 to 1907) asks a lot here. Say the song with joy, it says, and picture in your mind that today you crossed the sea. Whoever says it with joy is forgiven for their sins.

The idea is much older. The Mishnah says about Pesach night: in every generation a person must see himself as if he left Egypt. Its proof is a verse where a parent tells a child, "It was for this that Hashem acted for me when I left Egypt."

The Mekhilta (an early Midrash on Shemot) finds the same thing inside the song. "He became my salvation." Why "my"? Because, it says, God is salvation for everyone in the world, but for me most of all. And it reads the phrase in two directions: He was there for me in the past, and He will be there for me in the time to come.

It also says who got to see. On "This is my God," Rabbi Eliezer asks: how do we know that a maidservant at the sea saw what the prophets Yeshayahu and Yechezkel never saw? When a human king enters a city surrounded by guards, people have to ask which one is the king. At the sea nobody had to ask. They saw Him and knew Him, and they all said, "This is my God."

The song itself is written in the first person: my strength, my God, my father's God. The Mishnah Berurah's request is to say it that way.

Mishnah Berurah 51:17,Mishnah Pesachim 10:5,Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael, Shirah 3

Sparks

Short ideas from the Chassidic masters, the Kabbalah and the Mussar teachers.

Chassidut

Singing before the rescue

Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev (an early Chassidic master, author of Kedushat Levi) explains why the Torah says Moshe "will sing," in the future tense. The idea of singing came into their hearts before they were saved. Nachshon (the leader of the tribe of Yehudah) walked into the sea before it split, and the people trusted so fully that God would save them that they already meant to sing. He compares King David, who would sing about a rescue before it came, because he was sure of it.

לשון עתיד על שעלתה בלבם לומר שירה קודם התשועה

Kedushat Levi, Parashat Beshalach

Zohar

A song you will sing again

The Zohar (the central book of Kabbalah) teaches that whoever says this song every day, and means it, will get to sing it again in the future. The reason it gives: this song holds the world that already happened and the world to come, and it holds the days of the Mashiach (the future king who will bring the final redemption). So Az Yashir is not only a memory of one day at the sea. Now read the last lines, about Hashem ruling forever, again.

כָּל בַּר נָשׁ דְּאָמַר שִׁירָתָא דָּא בְּכָל יוֹמָא, וּמְכַוֵּון בָּהּ, זָכֵי לְמֵימְרָא לְזִמְנָא דְּאָתֵי. דְּהָא אִית בָּהּ עָלְמָא דְּעָבַר, וְאִית בָּהּ עָלְמָא דְּאָתֵי

Zohar, Parashat Beshalach

Chassidut

Thanks for what you got, or a song for who God is

Rabbi Elimelech of Lizhensk (an early Chassidic master, author of Noam Elimelech) describes two kinds of praise. One person praises God for a good thing that happened to him, and the more good he notices, the more he praises. Another praises all the time. When good comes, he does not thank more for the gift; he sees more of how great God is. At the sea, he says, Israel was at the first level. The Gemara reads "will sing" as a hint that the dead will live again, and he says that then they will praise at the higher kind, which he calls "song."

שאז ביציאת מצרים היו במדריגה קטנה שהיו משבחים בשביל הכרת הטובה

Noam Elimelech, Parashat Mishpatim

Rav Kook

Two ways to love God

Rav Kook (the first Chief Rabbi of the Land of Israel, who died in 1935) reads "This is my God" and "the God of my father" as two kinds of love. The first is natural: God made us and gives us strength every moment, and everything is drawn to where it comes from. That love should never weaken, not even for a moment. The second comes from thinking hard about how God runs the world. With all of life's distractions it is almost impossible to keep it burning all the time, but it can always climb higher, and there is no top.

זה אלי מצד עצמי, לחזק ולקבע את האהבה והיראה הטבעית, שלא תשחת ולא תמעט ממנו אף רגע

Rav Kook, Olat Re'iyah, on Az Yashir

Rav Kook

When the inner glow is dim

The song says twice: "until Your people pass through." The Gemara reads this as two arrivals in the Land: the first with Yehoshua, the second with Ezra. Rav Kook explains the difference. In First Temple times, the holiness that comes from who Israel is was great, and God's presence rested there openly. In Second Temple times that inner holiness was smaller, but the holiness of deeds was great, and the Sages added many mitzvot. So "the people You acquired": even when the inner light is dim, God still makes them His through their good deeds.

שגם בהאפלת אור הקדושה שמצד הסגולה העצמית, מ"מ קנית בהם קנין מצד פעולת המעשים הטובים

Berakhot 4a; Rav Kook, Olat Re'iyah, on Az Yashir

Halacha

The practical laws. For a final ruling, ask your rav.

How should I say it?

With joy. The Mishnah Berurah (a central commentary on daily Jewish law, published 1884 to 1907) rules: say the Song of the Sea with joy, and picture that you crossed the sea today. Whoever says it with joy, he adds, is forgiven for their sins. The note printed above it in Siddur Sefard says the same, from the Chida (Rabbi Chaim Yosef David Azulai, 1700s). The Kaf HaChaim (a Sephardic law commentary, early 1900s) adds that it must be said with great focus.

Mishnah Berurah 51:17; Siddur Sefard, from Tziporen Shamir; Kaf HaChaim, Orach Chaim 51:40

Why is the last line said twice, and then in Aramaic?

Twice, because it ends the song. The Rema (Rabbi Moshe Isserles, who added Ashkenazi practice to the Shulchan Aruch, the main code of Jewish law) rules this, from Abudarham (a commentary on the prayers, Spain, 1300s). He does the same with the last verse of Pesukei DeZimra. The third time, in the Aramaic of Onkelos's translation, comes from the Arizal (the great Kabbalist of Tzfat, 1500s). The Mishnah Berurah calls it "twice Scripture and once translation," the formula used for reviewing the weekly Torah portion.

Rema, Orach Chaim 51:7; Mishnah Berurah 51:17; Pri Etz Chaim, Gate of Songs 6; Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 285:1

The song ends at "forever and ever." Why does my siddur keep going?

This siddur follows the Arizal. Rabbi Chaim Vital, his student, records that he said the next verse, Ki va sus Par'oh, "when Pharaoh's horses went into the sea," because it is still part of the song. Then three more verses, ending "on that day Hashem will be One." He warns not to add Shema Yisrael there, as some printed siddurim did. The Vilna Gaon (Rabbi Eliyahu of Vilna, 1700s) skipped Ki va sus and went straight to Ki laShem hamelukhah. The Aruch HaShulchan (a code of law from around 1900) brings both.

Sha'ar HaKavanot, Nusach HaTefillah; Maaseh Rav 29; Aruch HaShulchan, Orach Chaim 51:8; Mishnah Berurah 51:17

Which words are easy to say wrong?

Three letters. The Mishnah Berurah and the Ben Ish Chai (Rabbi Yosef Chaim of Baghdad, 1800s) say: in the second mi khamokha, before ne'dar bakodesh, the kaf is hard, mi kamokha. The Kaf HaChaim explains that a soft one sounds like "Hashem, Micha," the man who, he says, made the golden calf. In yidmu ka'aven the kaf is hard, or it sounds like "they will compare You to stone." In am zu ga'alta the gimel is hard. The Ben Ish Chai admits grammar does not call for it, but a soft one sounds like a word for filth.

Mishnah Berurah 51:17; Ben Ish Chai, Year 1, Vayigash 14; Kaf HaChaim, Orach Chaim 51:38

Where should I pause?

Between bamayim and adirim, in tzalelu ka'oferet bamayim adirim. The Mishnah Berurah and the Ben Ish Chai both say so, because adirim, "the mighty," means the Egyptians, not the water. So the line reads: they sank like lead in the water, the mighty ones. The Kaf HaChaim proves it from the Gemara (Menachot 53a), which lists four "mighty" ones: God, Israel, the Egyptians and the water, and uses this verse for the Egyptians. He adds that the cantillation mark under bamayim is itself a pause.

Mishnah Berurah 51:17; Ben Ish Chai, Year 1, Vayigash 14; Kaf HaChaim, Orach Chaim 51:39; Menachot 53a

Do I stand for it?

Customs differ. The Aruch HaShulchan writes that some stand for Vayevarech David, the Song of the Sea and Yishtabach, and some sit, based on Kabbalah. By law, he says, it does not matter; you must stand only for the Amidah, Kedushah, Kaddish and Barchu. In the Torah reading, a question sent to Rav Ben-Zion Uziel (the first Sephardic Chief Rabbi of the State of Israel) noted that people stand from Vayosha to the end of the song. He ruled that an aliyah should not break between Vayosha and the song.

Aruch HaShulchan, Orach Chaim 51:8; Rav Uziel, Mishpetei Uziel, volume 3, Orach Chaim 59

Do I say it on Tisha B'Av?

Customs differ. The Tur (a code of Jewish law from the 1300s) records places that skip it that day. The Beit Yosef (Rabbi Yosef Karo's commentary on the Tur) gives the reason, it is no time for singing, and says people say Ha'azinu, Moshe's other song, in its place. The Rema, in his own notes on the Tur, answers that his community says it as on any other day. The Kaf HaChaim reports that the Jerusalem community that prays by the Arizal says the Song of the Sea even on Tisha B'Av, not Ha'azinu.

Tur and Beit Yosef, Orach Chaim 559; Darkhei Moshe 559:6; Kaf HaChaim, Orach Chaim 51:54 and 559:32

Sources

Show the 9 sources quoted on this page

Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael, Shirah 3
מנין אתה אומר, שראת שפחה על הים מה שלא ראה ישעיה ויחזקאל
How do we know that a maidservant at the sea saw what Yeshayahu and Yechezkel never saw?
Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael, Shirah 3
ישועה את לכל באי העולם, אבל לי ביותר.
You are salvation for everyone in the world, but for me most of all.
Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael, Beshalach 7
גדולה האמנה לפני מי שאמר והיה העולם, שבשכר אמנה שהאמינו, שרת עליהם רוח הקדש ואמרו שירה
Faith is great before the One who spoke and the world came to be. As a reward for believing, the holy spirit rested on them and they said the song.
Sanhedrin 91b
שר לא נאמר אלא ישיר מכאן לתחיית המתים מן התורה
It does not say "sang." It says "will sing." From here we learn the revival of the dead from the Torah.
Shabbat 133b
אבא שאול אומר ואנוהו הוי דומה לו מה הוא חנון ורחום אף אתה היה חנון ורחום
Abba Shaul says: "I will make Him beautiful" means be like Him. Just as He is gracious and merciful, you be gracious and merciful.
Megillah 16b
כל השירות כולן נכתבות אריח על גבי לבינה ולבינה על גבי אריח
All the songs are written as a half brick over a whole brick, and a whole brick over a half brick.
Rambam, Laws of Prayer 7:13
יש מקומות שנהגו בהן לקרות בכל יום אחר שמברכין ישתבח שירת הים... ויש מקומות שקורין שירת האזינו ויש יחידים שקורין שתי השירות הכל לפי המנהג.
There are places where the custom is to read the Song at the Sea every day after Yishtabach... Some places read the song of Ha'azinu, and some individuals read both songs. It all depends on the custom.
Mishnah Berurah 51:17
ויאמר שירת הים בשמחה וידמה בדעתו כאלו באותו היום עבר בים והאומר בשמחה מוחלין לו עונותיו
Say the Song at the Sea with joy, and picture in your mind that today you crossed the sea. Whoever says it with joy is forgiven for their sins.
Ramban on Shemot 15:18
ואונקלוס נתיירא ממנו בעבור שהמלכות לאלהים היא לעולמי עד, ולפיכך עשאו לשון הוה... ולא הבינותי דעתו בזה
Onkelos was uneasy with it, because kingship belongs to God forever, so he made it present tense... I have not understood his view on this.

Every prayer in the siddur