This week’s parsha is one of glorious redemption!
We overcome our adversaries, rise high on the wings of Hashem’s love for us, and cross the sea on dry land.
This Shabbat is known as Shabbat shira- The Shabbat of Song, for the song that we sang on the shores of the Red Sea, and continue to sing until this day!
We are told that all of creation sang praises to the Creator in the wake of the splitting of the sea.
A beautiful tradition is to feed the birds this Shabbat, to honor them for their song then, and their constant song and praise of the Creator.
The Chatam Sofer says that this custom is based on the verse in our parashah “In order that they may see the bread which I fed you”
Future generations will see that when we trust in the Creators goodness with our whole heart, He provides food from heaven as He did for us in the desert. We feed the birds on Shabbat Shirah in order to say that if the Jewish people, who are compared to a bird, will live with this awareness, singing praises to the Source of all life, we will merit to receive our sustenance directly, like the Manna in the desert.
May the mitzvah of challah—recognizing that all we have is a direct gift from above—continuously inspire us to a song of gratitude for the miraculous goodness that is our life and sustenance!
May the song we sing be strong and true and reverberate throughout the world.
Shabbat Shalom!
Birdie challah in honor of Shabbat shira!
(please note, no actual birds were harmed in the making of this challah ;)