300. "O sing to Hashem a new song (Heb. shir)" (Tehilim 98:1). THAT SONG IS masculine. HE ASKS: What is the difference that here shir IS IN MASCULINE FORM, while Moses said, shirah, feminine, AS IT SAYS, "THEN SANG...THIS SONG (HEB. SHIRAH)" (SHEMOT 15:1)? HE REPLIES: It is because there, with Moses, the ark was by itself, since zot (Eng. 'this'), MALCHUT THAT IS CALLED 'ZOT' AND ALSO 'ARK,' left the exile, she and her multitudes, THE SHECHINAH AND YISRAEL, and nothing else. Therefore, it says: "This (Heb. zot) song (Heb. shirah)," which is feminine, BECAUSE IT REFERS TO THE SHECHINAH, WHICH IS FEMININE. However, here, the ark came out, THAT IS MALCHUT, with what is stored in it, THAT IS ZEIR ANPIN, THAT IS MASCULINE, so it says: "a new shir," which is masculine.

301. "For He has done marvelous things:" That is what He did with the Philistines and what He did to their deities. "His right hand...gained Him the victory" (Tehilim 98:1). Who? Meaning itself. Who is Itself? It is that psalm itself, WHICH IS THE SHECHINAH THAT IS REFERRED TO AS A PSALM because a supernal holy spirit, ZEIR ANPIN, was stored in it. "His right," WHAT IS IT? It is that quality that the old man inherited, ABRAHAM, THAT IS CHESED. That right holds on to that psalm and does not abandon it to the hands of another.

302. Here we should reveal one thing. As long as that right, CHESED, had WISHED to accomplish a miracle, it held unto that psalm. And it placed YISRAEL, IN WHOM THE SHECHINAH IS ATTIRED, before it to hold on to him, as a father whose right is held to the chest of his son in front of him and says, Who dares approach my son? As soon as he sins against his father, his father places his hands on his shoulders from the back and throws him to his enemies.

303. HE EXPLAINS HIMSELF. At first it says, so to speak, "Your right, Hashem, is glorious in power" (Ibid. 6). Who is "in power?" That is with that known POWER THAT IS YISRAEL. In Arabia, they call the chest of man "power." AND THE SCRIPTURE SAYS that right, WHICH IS CHESED, "is glorious" and holds to power, MEANING IN THE CHEST OF YISRAEL THAT IS CALLED 'POWER.' He says, Who is there that dare get close to my son? Afterward, it is written: "He has drawn back His right hand from before the enemy" (Eichah 2:3), because He placed His right on the shoulders OF YISRAEL and pushed them into the hands of those who hate them. At the beginning, His right hand was in front OF YISRAEL at his chest AREA, to hold on to him. Afterwards, His right was on his back over his shoulders, to push him. Here, IT SAYS, "His right hand, and His holy arm have gained Him the victory" (Tehilim 98:1). THAT MEANS with two arms, to keep him.