Shabbath Shirà

On Shabbat Shirah (the "Sabbath of Song"), we read the Torah account of the crossing of the Red Sea by the Israelites. The climax of the reading is the "song at the sea," with its lofty, rolling musical melody. The Rabbis believed that the shirah was sung responsively, first by Moses and the men, then by Miriam and the women. Today, in keeping with this tradition, the congregation sings a number of the verses before the Torah reader chants them, as an expression of the spontaneous enthusiasm of the people.
On Shabbat Shirah we feed the birds. Some have suggested that we do so to acknowledge the birds’ singing in praise of G.d and his great miracle at the sea. Others have linked feeding birds with their role in the biblical story of the double portion of manna that miraculously appeared on Friday so that the Israelites would not have to gather manna on Shabbat. A midrash tells us that two trouble-makers, Dathan and Aviram, put out manna Friday evening so that the people would discover it on the morning of Shabbat and Moshè and G.d would be discredited. But the birds gobbled up all the manna before the people awoke, preserving the miracle of the double portion of manna on Friday and its absence on Shabbat and, thus, confirming the leadership of Moshè.

 Birds Feeders

Birds feeders from empty recycled milk containers