Summary
The Israelites start leaving Egypt, and then Pharaoh changes his mind. The Israelites are now trapped between the Sea of Reeds and Pharaoh’s army. G-d tells Moses to raise his staff and a wind blows all night, leaving a path open through the water. The Israelites make it through safely, but when the Egyptians chase them the water comes back and they drown. The Israelites sing a song of gratitude to G-d, and then complain because there is no food. G-d then sends down mana for them to gather a single portion every day except for a double portion on Friday to last for Shabbat. There’s no water, so G-d tells Moses to hit a rock and this brings forth water. Then Amalek attacks from the back, attacking the weak and tired who are least able to defend themselves. The Israelites finally win. [David Schwartz]
Kol Dodi Dofek, The Covenants of Sinai and Egypt 8
Rabbi Joseph Dov HaLevi Soloveitchik, 1956
(8) First, the awareness of shared fate appears as that of shared experience. We are all in the realm of a shared fate that binds together the different strata of the nation and does not discriminate between classes and individuals. Fate does not distinguish between nobility and commonfolk, between rich and poor, between a prince dressed in royal purple velvet and a poor man who goes begging from door to door, between a pious Jew and an assimilationist. Even though we may speak a mix of different languages, even if we are citizens of different lands, even if we look different (one being short and black, the other tall and blond), even if we live in different economic systems and under different living conditions (the one living in a royal palace, the other in a humble cave), we have but one fate. When the Jew in the cave is attacked, the security of the Jew standing in the courtyard of the king is jeopardized. “Do not think in your soul that you, from all the Jews [will escape and], shall flee to the palace of the king” (Esther 4:13). Queen Esther robed in majesty and Mordechai wearing sackcloth were situated in the same historical nexus. “All Israel are bound together (haverim)” (TB Sotah 37a). We are all persecuted, or we are all saved together.
On Getting Unstuck
“To be fully alive, fully human, and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest.”
― Pema Chodron
What happened at the edge of the Red Sea? Rabbi Alan Lew, z”l translates Exodus 14:13-15, “But Moses said to the people, ‘Don’t be afraid (al tira-u), collect yourselves, (hityatzvu) and see (uru) the salvation that Adonai will make for you today… Adonai will fight for you and you will be still (tacharishun).” Then Adonai said to Moses, “Why do you cry out to me? Tell the Israelites to just get going (v’yisa-u).'”
In his book, Be Still and Get Going: A Jewish Meditation Practice for Real Life, Rabbi Lew developed a mindfulness approach to this verse with a five-step program: don’t panic, pull yourself together, see clearly, be still, and get going.
When dealing with adversity there are four different approaches:
1. Escapists
2. Conformists
3. Fighters
4. Believers
Would you believe that all four options are limited?
The first time in history when a people were “stuck between a rock and a hard place” was when the Jewish people stood before the Reed Sea with the Egyptians pursuing them close behind. What to do? The people were divided into four groups:
1) Some said: “Let’s jump into the sea; it’s simply not worth the effort.”
2) Others argued with resignation: “We should return to Egypt where we lived for so many years. A known evil is better than an unknown one. True, we were enslaved, but anything is better than this place where we will either be killed by the Egyptians or drown in the sea. The challenges of life are just too overwhelming. Conformity, surrender, assimilation is the only realistic option.”
3) Yet another group felt: “Let us go to war with the Egyptians.”
4) And finally the religionists: stated: “Let us pray to G-d”
All were wrong. Not only escapism and conformity, but also battle and prayer are not complete options. Was life given to us so that we spend most of our time doing battle, involved in conflict and strife? And is prayer enough when faced with challenge? We are blessed with resources to deal with every challenge. So coupled with prayer we must do our utmost to rise to the occasion.
What was the correct approach?
“Move forward.”
And when they did, the sea parted before them.
G-d told them: I who have given you life, and promised you that you can and will achieve your objectives and reach Sinai and the Promised Land, have also given you all the faculties and resources necessary to fulfill your life’s mission.
When faced with challenge, with adversity, with the difficulties each of us encounter in life, instead of spending time ruminating about any or all of these four options, instead of being paralyzed by doubt – FORGE AHEAD. Movement is the key to success. Moving forward will bring a breakthrough. How, we may not always know. But move – and things will open up.
https://www.meaningfullife.com/rock-hard-place/
From Suffering to Singing (and maybe a little more suffering along the way)
Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter (April 1847 – 11 January 1905), also known by the title of his main work, the Sfas Emes (Ashkenazic Pronunciation) or Sefat Emet שפת אמת (Modern Hebrew), was a Hasidic rabbi who succeeded his grandfather, Rabbi Yitzchak Meir Alter, as the Av beis din (head of the rabbinical court) and Rav of Góra Kalwaria, Poland (known in Yiddish as the town of Ger), and succeeded Rabbi Chanokh Heynekh HaKohen Levin of Aleksander as Rebbe of the Gerrer Hasidim.
Aviva Zornberg, The Particulars of Rapture: Reflections on Exodus (225-226)
At the end of the Song, Miriam (the prophetess, as the Torah emphasizes) leads the women responsively in another Song. She is, indeed named for the first time, as she sings and dances; though she figured prominently in chapter 2 (bringing the infant Moses to his mother to nurse), she has remained anonymous, simply "Moses's sister," until now. Essentially, she plays the role of Moses among the men; she sings and the women answer...
The clearest contrast to the men is that the women play musical instruments -- "drums" -- and dance during their Song; also that the opening words of their Song -- "Sing to God..." are not identical with those of the men's Song -- "Let me sing to God..."
All the difference of what the women bring to their Song is crystallized in these drums, expressive of faith in what is not yet....They prepare for miracles: almost a contradiction in terms. They are set for wonder, carrying the instruments of song with them through the corridors of fear...
The fact that "Miriam, the prophetess," leads the women reminds us of her prophetic function in the dark days of Egypt. But, more poignantly, her very name is connected with the bitterness (Marah) of those days. The midrash [commentary] links her, unlike the other redeemers, Moses and Aaron, back to the beginnings of Egyptian persecution:
"I had no peace" (Job 3:26): from the first decree that Pharaoh laid upon me - "And they embittered (va-yimareru) their lives" (Exodus 1:13)...But then God raised up a redeemer for me -- that is, Miriam, named for bitterness. (Exodus Rabbah 1:12 and 12:3)
The very origin of the story of the Exodus is signified by "bitterness." Still nameless, and with this bitterness of her people's suffering in her veins, Miriam rises as a prophetess. She redeems it, but not in a magical sense. She does not make it disappear: rather, she re-deems it, she re-thinks it, she sings it into a different place. Forever, her name will speak of it. Her Song will arise from it, anticipating the future without denying present and past.
Judith Plaskow, Standing Again at Sinai: Judaism from a Feminist Perspective (38-39)
...important religious roles were sometimes available to individual women. On the other side, however, whatever they tell us of women's religious power, the stories of exceptional women also allow us to glimpse a process of textual editing through which the roles of women are downplayed and obscured. Miriam, for instance, is called a prophetess. As the one who leads the women in a victory dance on the far shores of the Red Sea, she is clearly an important religious figure in the preconquest Israelite community...
The same passages that hint at Miriam's importance, however, at the same time undercut it. The dance at the Sea links Miriam with a foundational event of Israelite history, but she appears in the narrative with no introduction and no account of her rise to religious leadership. This surprising silence suggests that there were other Miriam traditions that were excluded from the Torah....
The Torah leaves us, then, with tantalizing hints concerning Miriam's importance and influence and the nature of her religious role, but she is by no means accorded the narrative attention the few texts concerning her suggest she deserves.
On Miracles: SPINOZA
“Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.” (Exodus 14:21)
This week we read of God parting the sea and the Israelites passing through on dry land. It is the miracle par excellence. God changes the laws of nature, making the walls stand up to allow God’s people to pass through. Then God returns the sea to its natural state, drowning the Egyptians. This is the week to speak about miracles. Does God reach down from heaven to change the laws of nature? Are miracles proof of the existence of God?
My favorite teaching on this comes from the most famous Jewish heretic in history, Baruch (Benedict) Spinoza (1632 – 1677). Spinoza was excommunicated from the Jewish community of Amsterdam for his radical ideas when he was 23 years old. He was not permitted any contact with the community, including his own family. Nonetheless, Spinoza became one of the most influential philosophers in history. When someone asked Einstein if he believed in God, he answered that he believed in “Spinoza’s God.” Some called him an atheist, but the German writer Novalis called him the “God intoxicated man.”
What does Spinoza say about miracles? Let me quote my new book Three Creation Stories on Spinoza. Regarding miracles, Spinoza taught that people look for God in the violations of natural law. God’s existence is proved when seas part, the sun stands still, or a man is raised from the dead. When the world behaves according to its natural laws, there is no proof of God. To quote Spinoza, “They suppose, forsooth, that God is inactive as long as nature works in her accustomed order, and vice versa, that the power of nature and natural causes are idle as long as God is acting; thus, they imagine two powers distinct one from the other, the power of God and the power of nature” (A Theologico-Political Treatise).
Spinoza said that these ideas are mistaken. God is seen not when the laws of nature are violated, but when nature runs according to its laws. God is seen in the laws of nature. In fact, Spinoza goes even further. He famously said deus sive natura – God is nature. Spinoza was a pantheist who believed that God and nature are the same, that we find God by studying nature. Of course, part of the reason that Spinoza was rejected by the Jewish community is that his pantheism (God is nature) does not fit into classical Judaism’s theism (God is beyond and controls nature.)
-Rabbi Michael Gold...https://rabbigold.com/weekly-message/beshalach/