i will sing now and i will sing then.
i will sing now,
in the darkness, in the suffering.
salvation still yet to come.
and i will sing then,
when there is reason to sing,
in the joy, in celebration,
salvation in my hand.
now, just make me smile,
make me laugh,
just a little, so i can find the strength,
to pick up my weary head and sing.
Parshat Beshallach, January 31, 1942
Rashi says of the phrase “I will sing” that when the miracle happened, it occurred to them to sing at some in the future. We learn in the holy book Kedushat Levi, concerning Rashi’s comment, that “I will sing” refers to a future time. He says, “When the Jewish people were still in Egypt, they had such faith that God would save them, they already thought of the song they would sing upon gaining their freedom” Hence, “I will sing,” in the future…
It is possible to accept suffering and endure it with love, and to have faith that everything is from God, but to actually sing while enduring it is difficult. In order for a person to sing, his essential self -- his soul and his heart -- must burst into song. One of the conditions of prophecy was the necessity for the prophet to be in a state of simcha -- blissful joy -- at all times, even while in pain, as we learn in the book Sha’ar Hakedusha, by R. Chaim Vital, of blessed memory. Yet, we learn that when the prophet Elisha wanted prophecy to rest upon him and his normal blissful state was not sufficient, he needed more joy, and so he said (II Kings 3:5), “Bring me a minstrel.” And it came to pass, when the minstrel played, that the hand of the Lord came upon him. We see clearly that something good has to occur, there must be salvation, for the heart to rejoice. Then, when a level of simcha has been reached, a person can sing to God about his pain as well. This is the meaning of the Talmud’s question, “A song of David?” The question is: How was King David able to sing? The Talmud answers that in the suffering he saw a miracle from heaven, because things could have been so much worse, God forbid. King David rejoice over the miracle until he could also sing about his pain.
אז ישיר משה ובנ"י וכו' ויאמרו לאמור דהנה איתא בספה"ק ק"ל על רש"י ישיר ע"ש מחשבה נאמר שעלה על לבם לומר שירה ופירש הוא זצ"ל שעוד בהיותם במצרים היו בטוחים בד' שיושיעם ועלה אז על לבם את השירה שיאמרו בגאולתם עכ"ל
אבל יכולין לקבל יסורים באהבה ולהאמין שהכל מד' אבל גם לזמר אז קשה כי לזמר צריכים שמתוך נפשו ולבו יזמר מעצמו ואפילו הנביא שאחד מתנאיו הי' שיהי' בשמחה גם בשעת יסורים כמ"ש בשעה"ק להרח"ו ז"ל מ"מ כשרצה לעורר עליו שמחה יתירה כדי שתשרה הנבואה עליו אמר קחו לי מנגן לכן צריכים איזה דבר טוב וישועה לשמח את לבו ואז ע"י שבא לשמחה מדבר הזה יכול לזמר גם על היסורים לד' וזה שמקשה מזמור קינה מבעיא ליה איך באמת הי' יכול גם לזמר ומתרצת הגמרא שראה גם בזה נס מן השמים שהי' יכול להיות עוד יותר רע ח"ו ושמח בזה עד שגם על הצרות היה מזמר.
