Beshalah

The Song of the Sea is one of the oldest poetic passages in the Bible, and Miriam leads the women there with the tambourine — a female voice at the origin of liturgy. The haftara gives the Song of Deborah, another great figure: tradition has paired the two. Amalek, who attacks the stragglers, becomes the name of the threat that returns; Jewish memory will reemploy it at each persecution.