Gendered Singing in Parshat Beshalach

(1) Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Eternal. They said: I will sing to the Eternal, Who has triumphed gloriously, hurling horse and driver into the sea. (2) The Eternal is my strength and might, and has become my deliverance. This is my God, Whom and I will enshrine; The God of my father, Whom I will exalt . (3) The Eternal is a Man of War, Whose name is Eternal! (4) Pharaoh’s chariots and his army God has cast into the sea; And the pick of his officers Are drowned in the Sea of Reeds. (5) The deeps covered them; They went down into the depths like a stone. (6) Your right hand, Eternal One, glorious in power, Your right hand, Eternal One, shatters the foe! (7) In Your great triumph You break Your opponents; You send forth Your fury, it consumes them like straw. (8) At the blast of Your nostrils the waters piled up, The floods stood straight like a wall; The deeps froze in the heart of the sea. (9) The foe said, “I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; My desire shall have its fill of them. I will bare my sword— My hand shall subdue them.” (10) You made Your wind blow, the sea covered them; They sank like lead in the majestic waters. (11) Who is like You, Eternal One, among the celestials; Who is like You, majestic in holiness, Awesome in splendor, working wonders! (12) You put out Your right hand, The earth swallowed them. (13) In Your love You lead the people You redeemed; In Your strength You guide them to Your holy abode. (14) The peoples hear, they tremble; Agony grips the dwellers in Philistia. (15) Now are the clans of Edom dismayed; The tribes of Moab—trembling grips them; All the dwellers in Canaan are aghast. (16) Terror and dread descend upon them; Through the might of Your arm they are still as stone— Till Your people cross over, Eternal One, Till Your people cross whom You have ransomed. (17) You will bring them and plant them in Your own mountain, The place You made to dwell in, Eternal One, The sanctuary, Eternal One, which Your hands established. (18) The Eternal will reign for ever and ever! (19) For the horses of Pharaoh, with his chariots and horsemen, went into the sea; and the Eternal turned back on them the waters of the sea; but the Israelites marched on dry ground in the midst of the sea.

(20) Then Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women went out after her in dance with timbrels. (21) And Miriam answered to them: Sing to the Eternal, Who has triumphed gloriously; hurling horse and driver into the sea.

(22) Then Moses caused Israel to set out from the Sea of Reeds. They went on into the wilderness of Shur; they traveled three days in the wilderness and found no water...

Shmuel stated: A woman’s voice is nakedness, as it is stated: “Sweet is your voice and your countenance is alluring” (Song of Songs 2:14).

An Miriam answered to them — Moses sang the Song to the men — he sang it and they repeated it after him; and Miriam sang the Song to the women. (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 15:20:2).

Sing to the Eternal - They sang the whole song, but since it was all written above, only one verse is written here.

And Miriam answered them -

aniah/answering always means either that someone hears something said from someone else and then says it after them, or that someone hears one thing and then responds with something else related to the first thing...

If that is so, then we have to understand why it uses the language of ‘she answered’ here, when it should have been, ‘she said/sang.’

What happened, then, is that the women composed a long song which wasn’t recorded in the Torah because it didn’t come from the flow of the Spirit of Prophecy.

And Miriam answered them: Sing unto the Eternal, Who has triumphed gloriously, hurling horse and driver into the sea -

One must ask, why did Miriam sing this song only about the sufferings of the Egyptians - “hurling horse and driver into the sea” - and not about the salvation of Israel, like Moses and the Children of Israel did: “In Your love you lead the people You redeemed”

And we may answer: It is known that something is called a ‘miracle’ when the Holy Blessed One pushes aside nature and the workings of the heavens. And it is also known that nature is subservient to Torah...

If that is so, then the more righteous a person is, the more likely it is that nature will be changed for their needs and their well-being. So the ‘miracle’ itself becomes smaller for them, because nature is already inclined in this way. And the less righteous a person is, the grander the miracle seems for them.

And we know [from the Talmud] that here it was in the merit of righteous women that they were redeemed... Therefore, for the women, the salvation and redemption were smaller than a miracle, because nature was already inclined to help them.