his week is Shabbos Shira, it is also Tu B'Shvat as well as thirty days before Purim. What is a shira? It comes from the word shura - it is a straight line, says the Sefas Emes, stemming from its root. Rashi writes regarding Moshe and the Jewish people singing at Yam Suf "it was in his heart to sing and so he did". What is the meaning behind this? Rashi is searching for an answer to something very deep, how does a human being have the capability to sing songs from the Torah which is endless - each letter in the Torah contains deep meanings. The pasuk states regarding the Torah that it is close to us and in our mouth and hearts to do.

The voice, the hevel of the heart when channeled properly can awaken the letters of the Torah until they emerge. This is what happens in shira. The Jewish nation, after suffering so much in Egypt, after all their trials and tribulations, came together and sang a single song. The words az yashir are written in future tense, the song was not only for then but for the future as well. This will be the song of the redemption le-atid lavo and this was the song throughout our years of galus.

The Jewish nation were oppressed in Egypt, they ran out towards the sea - water in front of them Egyptians to the left - help! Hashem said, just proceed. Nachshon ben Aminadav jusmps into the raging waters, it was a tsunami and suddenly the sea splits. Klal Yisrael emerged and saw them being pursued when suddenly the water closed on the Egyptians. They broke out in song - a song which encompassed all the generations from Adam HaRishon.

The Gemara teaches us that Chizkiyahu HaMelech was worthy of being moshiach but was not chosen because he did not sing to Hashem. There is a letter mem in the pasuk describing the melech hamoshiach which is "closed" - a mem sofit in the middle of the word. Chizkiyahu should have been Moshiach and Sanherib should have been considered the war of Gog uMagog marking the end of days but it was not destined to be. The earth opened up and said "I will sing shira, just let Chizkiyahu become Moshiach". It was not meant to be.

We are speaking of Chizkiyahu, such a tzaddik in whose time there was not even a child who did not have expertise in tumah and tahara. The Batei Midrash were full twenty-four hours a day. Why did he not sing? He claimed that the Torah he was learning was shira, we sing to Hashem to spread the word of miracles - everyone knew the miracle Hashem did for the Jewish people in defeat of Sanherib.

What happens when a person sings? He is transported into another world. Close your eyes and pretend you are seated across from the Kisei HaKavod - you will suddenly feel your soul departing and your soul will begin to sing on its own. It is an incredible feeling. An outsider watches people sing and finds it strange - ups and downs, lows and highs, what does it do for them? I understand what learning Gemara does for you, but singing? Where does it lead us? The sounds raise you high and low, there is an adrenalin pushing you up and down. Suddenly you begin to speak with Hashem Yisborach, you have shed the physical body. Even if there are no specific tefillos, you are calling out to your Father, as a child who calls his father just to make sure he is there. There are places you can reach via niggun that can't be reached otherwise.

Not only did Chizkiyahu not sing shira, but neither did Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov after being saved. The midrash teaches us that Hashem said that He was waiting for the nation as a whole to sing, to sing with their entire fabric - as we say in Nishmas, all my bones will say "who is like You." It is interesting to note that this week is called Shabbos Shira, are there not other songs in the Torah - why is Parshat Haazinu not Shabbos Shira? It is in this week's parsha that Klal Yisrael became solidified as a nation, it is therefore significant here that they are singing as a nation to Hashem Yisborach and from then it never ceased. Jewish people sang in Auschwitz on the way to the gas chambers. The story is told of a Modzitzer Chassid who in the middle of the train to the death camp began singing, suddenly the entire car was singing eventually the entire train. In this week's parsha we are finding who we are as a nation, we are nation singing to Hashem. The Modzitzer chassid on the train understood what Hashem does for us every moment of the day. One who lives only for the future is worried, he can't sing to Hashem. One who realizes the beauty of the present will sing to Hashem. Singing requires effort, beyond the weekly Shabbos zmiros that are sung by rote - as beautiful as that may be. Shira, as we said, is a shura - a line straight to Hashem.

Just walk into a Beis Midrash you will hear people singing while they are learning, humming niggunim, this is a tikkun for Chizkiyahu HaMelech. He set up learning to the highest level, but there was no singing to Hashem Yisborach. We have to sing from the depths of our heart - I recognize that Hashem does everything for me - ve-al nisecha shebechol yom imanu. May we be zoche to feel closeness to Hashem always, and truly sing from our hearts.