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February 3, 2023 (12 Shevat 5783) A Shabbos for the Birds! Dear Holy Friends, I hope this correspondence finds you well and in good health. We look forward to you joining us in our beautiful sanctuary this Saturday morning for Shabbat services at our new starting time of 10:15am. This Shabbat, we will have the opportunity to hear two beautiful biblical selections related to Shabbat Shira. Dr. Avi Yakobi will chant the Song of the Sea and Andrea Zweig Wagner will chant a Haftarah referred to as the Song of Devorah. As always, Cantor Zim will lead us in joyous and melodious prayer. This week, we are thrilled to invite you to join for the third installment our new adult education program entitled, Tipping Points: Extending the Torah’s Reach in New Ways. This Monday at 8:00pm, we welcome Ayala Wasser, the Assistant Director of the Ramah Darom, the largest Jewish camp in the southern United States. To contextualize Monday’s presentation, in the words of Professor Arnie Eisen, former chancellor of JTS, “Jewish summer camps are an absolutely indispensable resource for all American Jews…Nowhere else do we have the opportunity to create communities and fill them with Jewish meaning.” Ayala will share how the Machane (summer camp) impacts identity formation throughout the year and beyond the boundaries of the “summer bunk.” She is also my niece, so please feel pressured to join! This Shabbat marks the celebration of Shabbat Shira, the Sabbath of Song. While the name is derived from the scriptural reading noted above, there is also a less well-known Minhag (accepted tradition) of feeding the birds on this Shabbat! Here are some explanations of this strange ornithological custom. There is a popular saying among the masses that the birds sang at the sea, and we are therefore grateful to them. Thus, the purpose of feeding them is to remember the joy of Shirat Hayam. In other words, we feed the birds to thank them for singing at the Sea. Another explanation says that we feed the birds kashe (buckwheat) on Shabbat Shirah because they are called Ba’ale Hashir (the singers). No creature can sing like a bird because they rule the air, and music is created by the flow of air. Rabbi Eliyahu Ki Tov says that the birds receive their reward on Shabbat Shirah for the songs which they utter to God every day, and when we recite our Song, we remember their songs. And finally, Rabbi Moshe Sofer, the Hatam Sofer (Pressburg, 1762-1839) says that this custom is based on the verse in our Parashah (Exodus 16:32), “In order that they may see the bread which I fed you” (that future generations should see that when you trust in God with your whole heart, he provides food as he did for the children of Israel in the desert). We feed the birds on Shabbat Shirah to say that if the Jewish people, who are compared to a bird, will devote themselves to Torah and Mitzvot, then God will provide them food without toil. As we enter this Shabbat Shira and marvel at our rich and, even at times, strange customs, I pray that you will have a day of harmony and melody, surrounded by the peaceful sounds of nature and the crescendo of voices of love, support, blessings and peace. Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Eric L. Wasser, EdD, Hon.DM
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