“Then Moshe Will Sing”: The Song of the Sea and the Belief in Resurrection

The Talmud teaches: Rabbi Meir said, From where do we learn resurrection of the dead from the Torah? As it is written, “Then Moses will sing and the children of Israel this song to the Lord” (Shemot 15:1). It does not say “sang,” but “will sing.” From here we learn resurrection of the dead from the Torah (Sanhedrin 91b).

One of the foundational principles of Jewish faith is belief in the resurrection of the dead. Death is not the end of a person’s story. The soul, which is the true self, continues to exist, and there will come a day when it will return to the body.

Here, in the Song of the Sea, the Torah deliberately uses the future tense. This choice hints at the song that will be sung at the time of resurrection. The song of Moshe and the children of Israel is not only a story of the past. It is a song that will be sung again in the future.

Why does the Torah choose this moment, and no other, to hint at resurrection? The fact that resurrection is alluded to specifically in the Song of the Sea suggests a deep inner connection between the two. What is that connection?

A Song Sung in the Shadow of Loss

I saw a beautiful explanation in the book Bikdushato Shel Aharon in the chapter dealing with the ascent to the Land of Israel.

Rabbi Aharon Rokeach, who lived from 1880 to 1957, was one of the greatest rabbis in Europe before the Holocaust and the fourth Rebbe of the Belz Hasidic dynasty. The Nazis murdered his wife, his children, and his grandchildren.

One Shabbat after his arrival in the Land of Israel, it was Shabbat Beshalach, known as Shabbat Shirah. During the Shabbat, he noticed that many of those present were Holocaust survivors who had endured unimaginable suffering and lost nearly everything. They were not in the mood for song.

The Rebbe sought to strengthen them and raised the very question we asked. Why does the Torah hint at resurrection specifically in the Song of the Sea?

How Can We Sing After So Much Has Been Lost?

The Rebbe gave a profound answer.

When the Jewish people sang the Song of the Sea, a large portion of the nation was missing. Many Jews did not survive the bondage in Egypt, Jewish children were drowned in the Nile and many Jews refused to leave Egypt. According to tradition, only one fifth of the nation left Egypt, while eighty percent died during the plague of darkness, as hinted by the verse “And the children of Israel went up armed from the land of Egypt” and explained by Rashi.

Nearly everyone who did leave Egypt had lost family members. How could they feel complete joy over the miracle of salvation?

Now the sea split, and the exodus was complete. Moshe said to the people: it is time to sing. But many among Israel must have felt a deep resistance. Sing? How can we sing after losing the majority of our people?

It is for this reason that the Torah says “then Moshe will sing,” using the future tense. It is a hint to resurrection. Moshe was teaching the people that the story was far from over. Those who died in Egypt were not gone forever. Their souls were alive, and they would return at the time of resurrection.

We can sing now, Moshe was saying, not because there is no pain, but because despite the pain, we believe that we have not yet seen the end of the story.

A People Defined by the Future

For the Jewish people, history is not defined only by the past, but also by the future. Because we know that redemption will come, we view the present exile and even the present redemption as stages within the ultimate and complete redemption. This perspective has the power to heal, at least in part, the pain of the present.

This is the story of our people. Our sun has set, but our sun will rise again.

“Then Moshe will sing, and the children of Israel.”

Why the Angels Were Not Allowed to Sing

The Talmud teaches that the ministering angels also wished to sing at the Sea, but the Holy One, blessed be He, stopped them, saying: “My handiwork is drowning in the sea, and you are saying song?” (Megillah 10b). It is not fitting to sing while God’s creations are drowning, referring simply to the Egyptians drowning in the sea.

Moshe and the children of Israel did sing, and God did not stop them. Why were only the angels prevented from singing?

Many answers have been offered. I saw a beautiful idea in the writings of Rabbi Aharon Kotler in Mishnat Rabbi Aharon on Parashat Beshalach.

The Purpose of Song

The purpose of song is closeness to God and recognition of His providence and unlimited power. The role of human beings is to draw closer to God, to strengthen faith and trust, and to push away false beliefs and distorted worldviews. The Song of the Sea achieved exactly that. It was sung with overwhelming emotion and awe, and it deeply strengthened Israel’s faith in God.

Angels, however, do not struggle with false beliefs, nor can they grow closer to God than they already are. They are angels, not human beings, and an angel is described as one who stands in place. They had no need for this song as part of their service of God. Since the song had no added value for them in terms of faith or spiritual growth, it was not appropriate for them to sing while God’s handiwork was drowning in the sea.

To sharpen this idea, I once heard a slightly different formulation in the name of Rabbi Aharon Kotler.

There is a fundamental difference between angels and human beings. An angel is entirely devoted to a single mission. There is no room within it for complexity or inner contradiction. As the Midrash says, one angel does not perform two missions.

Therefore, when an angel sings, it cannot simultaneously feel sorrow. Song and grief are, by nature, opposites. A human being, however, is different. The human heart can hold multiple emotions at the same time, even contradictory ones. A person can experience great joy while still leaving room for pain and compassion.

For this reason, the children of Israel could sing and, at the very same moment, feel sorrow for the Egyptians. The angels could not. Their joy would have been pure joy, with no place for sorrow, and such joy has no place when God’s creations are drowning.

Singing About Salvation, Not Destruction

A similar idea appears in the Malbim’s commentary on the verse “I will sing to the Lord while I live; I will praise my God while I yet exist” (Tehillim 104).

The Malbim explains that the song should be about one’s own life and continued existence, not about the destruction of the wicked. A song that focuses on downfall and loss does not bring pleasure to God, as we learn from the statement “My handiwork is drowning in the sea, and you are saying song.” Therefore, the song is about salvation, and such a song is pleasing to God.

This highlights the essential difference between Israel and the angels. The people of Israel were saved from Egypt, and the downfall of Egypt was an inseparable part of that salvation. They sang about the miracle, detailing its stages and the manner of deliverance.

When the angels wished to sing, God stopped them, because no miracle had been performed for them. Their song would have focused primarily on the drowning of the Egyptians, and they could not ignore the fact that God’s creations were perishing in the sea.