The parashah This week's reading recounts the events immediately following the Exodus from Egypt. Among them is the parting of the Sea of Reeds, through which the Jewish people passed, and which then closed over the Egyptian army. Seeing such a miracle and God's salvation, the men sang a song, led by Moses. When they finished, Miriam, Moses' sister, sang another song, along with the women.
At a time when the Jewish people were forbidden to study Torah, our sages instituted the weekly reading of a portion of the prophets related to the weekly Torah reading. Technically speaking, the Torah is divided into Torah (the five books of Moses), Nevi'im (prophets) and Ktuvím (writings). If what is forbidden is Torah itself (the five books of Moses), then let's read it! Nevi'imThis is called Haftarah (which means something like “that which comes after”), and, to this day, it is read on Shabbat, Yom Tov and fast days, in remembrance of those times.
The Haftarah This week's reading also includes a song: the song Dvora sang after winning the battle against Sisra, the general of Yavin, a king of the land of Canaan. Dvora lived in the Land of Israel in 1107 BCE. She assumed leadership of the Jewish people as a judge and led them for forty years, alongside her husband, Barak ben Aminoam.
The story goes that when they went to fight this war, Barak was afraid of what might happen and only agreed to fight on the condition that Dvora accompany him to the battlefield. Dvora warned him that, if he accompanied her, the victory would be in her name, not Barak's. Barak agreed, and indeed, they defeated the enemy, and the victory was proclaimed in Dvora's name.
Now, there is clearly a difference between Miriam's song and Dvora's. Miriam's song emphasizes that it happened after Moshe's, while Dvora's emphasizes that she was the victorious warrior. What factor distinguishes the two songs?
The Rebbe explains in a letter (The Jewish womanThe difference lies in the times in which both songs were sung, which defines the role of women in general. Miriam's song was sung before the conquest of the Land of Israel, a time when men, as conquerors, held a dominant role. Dvora's song was sung when the Land of Israel had already been conquered, and it was necessary to maintain and strengthen the Jewish people as a family. Therefore, the role of a woman, Dvora, takes center stage, ahead of that of men.
This idea is a very important encouragement and support to Jewish women, whose primary role is to lead the family according to the ways of Judaism. This does not mean that a woman cannot work, but rather that it is simply a matter of manners and priorities in life. Men can also manage the household, but they will never be equal to women. In fact, our sages recount that the "heavy labor" the Egyptians imposed on our ancestors was that men should do women's work and women should do men's work...
A woman wrote to the Rebbe saying she wanted to become a typist to help with the household income, to which the Rebbe replied: “Don’t be a typist. You are a mother. Type if you feel you need to in order to support your family, but don’t become a typist.”.