What is meaning of "va'Ta'an Lahem Miriam"?
Why does the Torah write "va'Ta'an Lahem Miriam," and not 'va'Tashar' or 'Tashir' (to parallel the word "Yashir" (15:1) used regarding Moshe and the men - See Targum Yonasan)?
Due to the Isur of 'Kol Ishah,' perhaps it means that Miriam made a point of chanting 1 rather than singing like the men. 2
Refer also to 15:20:4:2 . One can add that that is why the women left the camp to sing the Shirah in the desert. Refer to 15:21:152:6.
See also Oznayim la'Torah, who, based on the fact that the Pasuk speaks in the masculine ("[va'Ta'an] Lahem [Miriam])" explains that she was merely encouraging the men to sing, and not singing with the women.
What exactly did Miriam sing (or recite) with the women?
Rashi: Miriam sang with the women what Moshe sang with the men.
Ramban: She sang with them the first Pasuk only. 1
Targum Yonasan: She sang with them, 'Let us thank and praise before Hashem, to Whom strength and greatness belong; He is proud over the proud ones and reigns over those who are exalted; because Pharaoh ha'Rasha was wicked and pursued the Bnei Yisrael, He (Hashem) cast the horse together with its rider and drowned them in the Yam-Suf.'
Refer to 15:19:1:5* .
Why does the Torah write "[va'Ta'an] Lahem [Miriam]" (to them, masculine)?
Riva (citing a Midrash): The angels complained to Hashem - 'If the men [of Yisrael] sing before we do, will the women also sing before we do'? Miriam answered them - 'You sing first, and we will sing afterwards.'
Oznayim la'Torah: Refer to 15:21:2:1** .
Keli Yakar (to Pasuk 20): Because the women reached a level of prophecy of men.
Shelah (Torah Ohr 7): Because when some bachelors came to see the women rejoicing, Miriam told them to return to the men and sing with them.
Did the men hear the women sing? Is this not forbidden due to Kol Ishah?
Be'er Mayim Chayim 3 (b'Sof Teshuvos Be'er Sheva): A Hora'as Sha'ah permitted Devorah to sing with Barak (Shoftim 5:1). Perhaps the same applied here. (PF)
Vilna Gaon (OC 75:3): Some Rishonim, including Talmidei R. Yonah, Hagahos Maimoniyos and Mordechai, forbid Kol Ishah only at the time of Keri'as Shema.
Chomas Anach (Tehilim 87:7): Where the Shechinah dwells - at a time of Nevu'ah - there is no concern. The same applied to Devorah, who sang with Barak (Shoftim 5:1).
Seridei Esh (2:8): One may hear men and women singing together. Chasan Sofer (OC Taharas Yadayim 14) was unsure about this. Tzitz Eliezer (14:7) - This is a minority opinion, which most Poskim reject.
Avnei Yashfeh 2 (OC 5): The Isur of Kol Ishah is mid'Rabanan, and had not yet been enacted.
Teshuvos R. C. Kanievsky (73): They danced and sang in their own place, lest the men see and hear them.
QUESTIONS ON RASHI
Rashi writes: "'Va'Ta'an Lahem Miriam' - Moshe recited Shirah for the men -- he recited it and they responded after him; and Miriam recited Shirah for the women." Why does Rashi veer from the simple explanation, that Miriam was telling the women to sing (Shiru)?
Gur Aryeh: Had she been instructing them to sing, the Pasuk would say 'va'Tomer Lahem, 'Shiru!'' The word "va'Ta'an," however, implies responsive recitation. 1 Miriam recited each Pasuk, beginning with the word 'Shiru,' and the women responded in kind.
Compare to 15:21:1:1** .
