For the week ending 30 January 2010 / 14 Shevat 5770
A Song for Our Time
The Shabbat in which we read Parshat Beshalach is known as Shabbat Shirah (The Shabbat of Song) because it contains the song of praise to Heaven sung by Moshe and the Children of Israel upon experiencing the miracle of the crossing of Yam Suf.
A particular phrase of that Divinely-inspired song calls attention to the "terror which gripped the dwellers of Philistia" (Shmot 15:14).
At a time when those who today call themselves Palestinians seek to sow terror, we must take comfort in the knowledge that, like the Philistines of old, they too will eventually be gripped with terror as the Creator who gave us Eretz Yisrael secures Israel forever.