Miriam, Sacred Song, and a Reflective Torah Commentary

There’s a moment in the Torah that always stops me in my tracks.

It happens right after the Israelites cross the Red Sea — after centuries of slavery in Egypt, after Pharaoh’s army is swallowed by the waters, after the terrifying uncertainty of escape gives way to something almost unimaginable: freedom. The people stop, and soon they sing with Miriam.

This isn’t just any song. It’s the first full song in the Torah, known as the Song of the Sea (Shirat HaYam). And the Torah goes out of its way to tell us this moment matters.

But how do you emphasize something in an ancient scroll with no bold or italics?

A Song That Stands Apart

In the handwritten Torah scroll, the Song of the Sea is laid out in a totally unique format — a kind of brick-like visual structure, with staggered lines and open spaces. It’s the only place in the entire Torah that looks like this. Even if you don’t read Hebrew, you can spot it.

And it sounds different, too. The melody used to chant these verses isn’t the standard Torah trope — it’s a special musical system reserved just for this passage. Even the way we chant God’s name changes here. All of it says: pay attention. Something holy is happening.

Was It Miriam’s Song All Along? Rethinking the Song of the Sea

The Torah says that Moses sang this song. But then, a few verses later, Miriam — Moses’s sister — picks up a timbrel and leads the women in dance and song. That detail has sparked centuries of interpretation and debate:

Who actually led the singing at the sea?

Some scholars believe that in earlier versions of the story, Miriam’s Song may have come first — and that Moses’s voice was emphasized later, in part because of male editors shaping the final text.

There’s support for this in the Dead Sea Scrolls, which include references to the “Song of Miriam.” And in many ancient Near Eastern cultures, it was women who sang songs of victory and played drums after battle. That cultural context strengthens the idea that Miriam may have been the true origin of this sacred song.

This isn’t just a footnote in Torah commentary. It’s a reminder of how easily women’s voices have been diminished in sacred texts — and how important it is to keep listening for them.

Why This Moment Still Matters

You may have sung parts of the Song of the Sea without even knowing it. Phrases like “Mi chamocha ba’eilim Adonai” (“Who is like You, O God?”) appear in daily Jewish prayer and in Shabbat services around the world. This song still lives in our spiritual DNA.

But it’s more than beautiful poetry. This ancient moment of celebration invites each of us into a deeper kind of reflection:

• What moments of liberation have we experienced — and how did we mark them?
  
• Who do we honor as our storytellers, our singers, our spiritual leaders?
  
• What sacred voices have been lost, and how can we help recover them?
  

This is what I love about Jewish spirituality — it’s rooted in deep memory, but it keeps calling us into the present.

I share Torah commentary like this to help spiritually curious people connect more deeply with tradition, justice, and soul. If that speaks to you, I’d love to invite you to sign up for my newsletter — or reach out and schedule a time to talk.

Note: I used AI to help me write a blog post from a transcript of this video