Felt birds tribute for Shabbath Shirah

The Shabbat on which the Parsha of Beshalach is read is called Shabbat Shira, because it contains the song sung by Israel after the splitting of the Red Sea.
Tradition teaches that there are only ten true Songs (Shirot, the plural of Shirah) in the history of the world. These true Songs are not mere melodies; they are expressions of the harmony of creation and mark monumental transitions in history. Another of these Songs appears on the haftarah portion for the week (Judges 4:4-5:31): the Song of Deborah. The Song of Songs is, of course, one of the Ten Songs. Interestingly, the Tenth Song has not yet been sung: it is the Song of the coming of the Mashiach, which will be sung at the End of Days (see Isaiah 26:1).

To celebrate Shabbat Shirah, the Rabbis suggested, in addition to the customs connected with the synagogue Torah reading, a home-based ritual: 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. 

Tribute to the birds

 Homemade garland with handmade felt birds decoration for Shabbath Shirah.

Shabbath Shirà

Shabbat of Song
This week's Torah reading contains the "song at the sea" sung by the Children of Israel upon their deliverance from the Egyptians, when the Red Sea split to allow them to pass and then drowned their pursuers. Hence this Shabbat is designated as Shabbat Shirah, "Shabbat of song."
Our sages tell us that the birds in the sky joined our ancestors in their singing; for this reason it is customary to put out food for the birds for this Shabbat (to avoid the possibility of transgressing the laws of Shabbat, the food should be put out before Shabbat).

Beshalach - Bird feeder

Shabbath Shirà ideas

One of the customs associated with this Shabbath is to place crumbs outside for the birds to eat. We read in the Torah on this week about G-d giving the  manna to the nation of Israel, for their sustenance. Moshe told the nation of Israel that the manna would not fall on Shabbath, and therefore they should collect a double portion on Friday. There were rabble-rousers who wanted to embarrass Moshe and weaken his authority. They took manna they had collected on Friday, and after dark placed it out on the ground. Come morning, they hoped that people would think that the manna did indeed fall on Shabbath, and Moshe, who they contended made up the laws as he went along, was wrong. However, no manna was around on Shabbath morning. Why? Because the birds carried it away before the nation awoke, so that the nation would indeed trust in Moshe and respect the sanctity of the Shabbath about which Moshe spoke. 
To reward the birds for this noble deed, we feed them the week on which we read of the surrounding incident, the week of Beshalach.

birds crafting for Shabbath Shirà

wood garland with birds 

 

 

Find HERE and HERE  the winter birds from Becca Karen

 

little wood hand painted birds houses

 

bird feeders