King David was a master of poetry, effortlessly weaving together strands of genius to leave lasting impressions on countless generations of Jews. “Vayaleini meboir shaon- He raised me up from the pit of raging waters.” The Radak explains this to mean that he is thanking Hashem for saving him from critical illness which threatened to engulf him, whereas Rashi infers it to a general thanksgiving for being saved from Egyptian bondage and the waters of the Red Sea.

When righteous people want to publicly show their gratitude to Hashem, they often sing songs proclaiming the great wonders of the world. Moshe Rabenu sang Shira in the Torah, we have the song of Haazinu, and the song of Debrorah amongst other occasions.
Our Psalmist makes reference to the power of music by saying “Vayetein befi shir chadash.. yiru rabim veyerau – He put into my mouth a new song.. the multitudes shall see and they will awed.” People speak many different languages, yet the language of music is truly universal; a song can speak to us on many levels. By praising G-d through song, vast multitudes of people can hear about the great events, such as the splitting of the sea, and then they will henceforth learn to fear G-d.

“Ashrei hagever asher shom Hashem mivtachoi …chasav – Praiseworthy is the man who has made Hashem his trust, and not turned to the arrogant and those who stray after falsehood” A common theme in benching is that we do not need to rely on “basar v’dam – flesh and blood,” rather we rely purely on Hashem. We see this in the Bracha of Racheim and the last one amongst all the other references.

This does not mean we should sit around all day and wait for a pot of gold to fall out of heaven; we must do our hishtadlut, our bit. However, how much trust we put in Hashem that He really is the one pulling all the strings, and not us is down to us, and is an indicator of just how close we are to Him.

As we approach the time of Purim, a time where miracles were shown beyond any doubt, may we all merit to see the daily miracles of Hashem, especially in how we earn our living.

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