This Shabbat is known as Shabbat Shirah, as the Torah portion, B’Shalach, features Shirat HaYam, the Song of the Sea.
The Song, comprising eighteen verses, features a unique layout within the Torah scroll. The lines alternate between one type that begins and ends with one word with a phrase centered in between, while the other type features phrases at the beginning and end of each line. Each blank space marks the end of a single breath of music.
According to the Talmud, the format resembles bricks, although others have likened it to waves. This format is reserved only for select, ancient pieces of poetry. It reappears within the Song of Deborah, found in the Book of Judges, as well as David’s Song in the Second Book of Samuel.
By now, it’s almost impossible to think about the song without its iconic layout, which predates the Talmud. Nevertheless, the first surviving manuscript to feature this special formatting is the Ashkar-Gilboa manuscript, dated to the 7th Century CE. The Dead Sea Scrolls, dated between the 3rd Century BCE and the 1st Century CE, include a parchment featuring the Song of the Sea, but it is formatted like any other text.
This suggests that innovation in the reproduction of the Hebrew scriptural documents continued into the first millennium. Though already devoted to the sanctity of the text of the Torah—which is first recorded in Mishnaic thought (1st-2nd Century CE)—Jews continually sought creative methods, like formatting, to elevate our experience of our tradition’s most esteemed teachings. Their dedication to innovation challenges us to consider how we may continue to advance and amplify the ways in which we make our tradition accessible to new generations of Jews.
—Rabbi Josh Knobel