Thoughts on a Rainy So Cal Night

Thoughts on a Rainy So Cal Night

I’m so glad to be at home on a rainy evening! Now that I swam down Ventura Boulevard to get to Tarzana, it gave me a chance to think about prayer.  The prayer that I’ve been dwelling over recently is the Mi Chamocha prayer.

First, I love the accessibility of this prayer; it’s one that we read or sing in many different portions of our services, and on many different occasions.  If you listen, you will hear the Mi Chamocha at the weekday services, on Friday Night services, Shabbat Morning services, Festivals, Rosh Chodesh and also during High Holy Day Services.  In the Siddur, we find the Mi Chamocha just before the Amidah or Avot and G’evurot.  It is at the end of the section of Psalms of praise, and leads directly into the Amidah.  Some congregations have the minhag of trailing off the end of the final bracha before the Amidah, in order to lead into an individual’s silent meditation.

Another place you will find some of the text of Mi Chamocha is in the Torah itself, in Parashat B’shallach.  Here, you will find part of this text during the reading of Shirat Ha Yam, the Song of the Sea.  The text here includes the lines “Mi Chamocha Ba-eliym Adonai, Mi kamocha, Ne’eh

dar bah kodesh.  Nora T’hilot Oh-say Feleh”.  The translation in the Siddur goes something like “who is like you oh G-d, among all holiness, revered in praises, doing wonders”.  These lines sum up the meaning of the prayer to me; there are simply none like G-d, period.  We read Shirat Ha Yam daily in the morning minyan, but when we chant it during Shabbat Be’shallach parts of it will be read in a special melody to distinguish its importance in the Torah.  This is the same melody that we use for reading the ends of verses of Parashat B’ereshit on Simchat Torah, and for reading the ends of each of the books of Torah.

Finally, I love the many melodies that have been created for Mi Chamocha.  Some are davening from our tradition, some are camp melodies from modern Jewish composers like Craig Taubman and Debbie Friedman z”l, that we have learned in USY or at camp.   Mi Chamocha has even made into popular American culture, as part of the soundtrack of the DreamWorks movie “The Prince of Egypt”.  Below are some of the musical interpretations that I could think of to include.  Please listen and see which one you like best!

CLICK HERE to listen to the Audio.

Cantor Toby Schwartz