Chumash Themes
Class #11
Jews go through on dry land,
while the Egyptians drown.
Exodus 14:1 – 15:21
by Rabbi Zave Rudman
© 2007 JewishPathways.com
1
Introduction
The miracle of the splitting of the Red Sea is the culmination of the
Exodus. One week after the calamitous plague of the First Born, once
again Pharaoh is chasing after the Jews to enslave them. As he
advances, the Jews are trapped between the sea and the advancing
Egyptian army.
Groups of Jews suggest a variety of responses to the impending
disaster. God tells Moses to cease praying and travel toward the sea.
In a heroic act of faith, Nachshon, prince of the tribe of Judah, throws
himself into the sea, and it splits.1
The Jews cross on dry land, pursued by the Egyptians. The sea – with
perfect timing – closes back, drowning the Egyptians. The Jews
witness the punishment of their oppressors; it is the moment of full
liberation.
In an expression of gratitude to God, Moses leads the men in song,
and Miriam the women.
In this essay we will explore following issues:
1) What caused the Egyptians to forget the harsh lessons of the
plagues,
and
once
again
attack
the
Jews
who
had
so
miraculously left Egypt?
2) What is the significance of the splitting of the sea as the
specific means of deliverance?
3) This is the first “song” recorded in the Bible. What is the
unique significance of song? And why is there a special song for
the women?
1
Talmud - Sotah 37a
2
The Exodus Redux
One of the most basic human instincts is the desire to be independent.
This is true in a physical sense, as well as a spiritual sense. One who
seeks spiritual independence strives for autonomous knowledge and
service of God. He is not satisfied with blindly swallowing what he is
taught, but needs to reach these conclusions through his own efforts.
He is not satisfied with serving God solely guided by others, but wants
to prove his allegiance to God independently. This is the process of
spiritual maturation.
When the Jewish people left Egypt, they were the spiritual equivalent
of children. Their active participation in the Ten Plagues and the
Exodus was negligible. The plagues were accomplished in a completely
miraculous way through the agency of Moses and Aaron. The Exodus
itself was predicated on the covenant that God promised Abraham to
redeem his descendants from slavery.2
Therefore, the Jewish people needed to mature and interact with God
on their own. This was the purpose of the second phase of the Exodus,
the splitting of the sea.
In order to bring the Jews to this degree of independence, God directs
them on a specific journey: After traveling into the desert, they make
a u-turn toward the mountain of Baal Tzafon in the direction of Egypt.
Baal Tzafon is significant as the only remaining Egyptian idol; all the
other idols were destroyed in the plague of the First Born.3 This aboutface, God says, is to confuse Pharaoh into thinking that the luck of the
Jews has run out, that the idol is still in control, and that he can
subjugate the Jews once again.4 Pharaoh takes the bait, conveniently
forgets the plagues, and gives chase.
2
Genesis 15:13-14
Pesikta Zutrata (Exodus 12:29)
4
Yalkut Shimoni (Beshalach 230)
3
3
Let’s imagine this from the perspective of the Jews: They are finally
free, and now they are being told to return back toward the country
that enslaved them. Why should they listen?
Amazingly, there was not a murmur or a fight. As one people they turn
back toward Egypt, whatever logic may tell them otherwise. The Jews
are now active participants in their freedom, choosing to willingly
follow God's dictates as transmitted by Moses.
However, when the entire Egyptian cavalry comes onto the scene,
their tone changes. An examination the verses shows the varied voices
of the Jewish people:
Moses said to the people, “Do not fear. Stand still, and see the
salvation of G-d that He will show you today: for the Egyptians whom
you have seen today, you shall never see them again. G-d will fight
for you, and you shall be silent.”5
The Midrash explains6:
• One group felt they could not win this battle. So rather than
be captured alive, they wanted to commit suicide by casting
themselves into the sea. To this, the response was “stand still.”
• Another group of Jews desired to return to Egypt and
surrender. To them, the response was, “the Egyptians whom
you have seen today, you shall never see them again.”
• A third group desired to go to battle. But Moses told them,
“God will fight for you.”
• For those who wanted to pray, Moses said, “Be silent.”
5
6
Exodus 14:13-14
Talmud Yerushalmi - Ta’anit 2:5
4
As opposed to the Exodus where the Jews were passive, here their
ideas are part of the process. God wants them to reach the right
conclusion through their own efforts.
This explains an anomaly. As the Jews stand trapped on the shores of
the sea, God tells Moses, "Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Jews
to move!"7 Generally, the greatest connection to God is prayer. Why in
this case does God does not desire prayer?
Since the Jews had momentarily weakened in their faith in God, prayer
for them was not effective. God does not answer prayers of one who
does not believe. (At one point, even the angels said to God, "Why
are you planning to give the Torah to the Jews? They will be
transgressing!"8) Therefore, God tells Moses, prayer is now ineffective.
What the Jews need now is a dramatic demonstration of faith. So
Nachshon, the prince of the tribe of Judah, jumps into the sea.9 Once
he showed faith in God, and God responded, the faith of the entire
Jewish people is restored, strengthened and unified. They thus became
worthy of the Exodus on their own merit.
Walking through on Dry Land
Of the many ways that God could lead the Jews to the next level of
spiritual freedom, and to eradicate the Egyptians, God chose to split
the sea. This is more significant than mere logistics. (Many
commentaries even point out that the Jews did not actually cross the
sea, but entered and exited on the same shore!)10
In order to understand this event, we need to go back to Creation. The
story of Genesis begins with God creating a world covered in water
and darkness. To set the stage for man to dwell on Earth, God gathers
the waters into seas, and dry land appears.11
7
Exodus 14:15
Otzar HaMidrashim 452
9
Talmud - Sotah 37a
10
Radak (Judges 11:16)
11
Genesis 1:9
8
5
The creation of the Jewish people parallels the creation of man. There
is a need to set the stage for the 'land' of the Jewish people. It is not
sufficient to just go free from Egypt; they must be raised to a different
level of existence. Therefore God reenacts the creation, but with the
Jews as the central characters. From this point, the Jews are called
'Ivrim', those who crossed the sea.12 That is why walking on dry land is
more crucial than actually escaping across the sea.
The drowning of the Egyptians is to illustrate another of God's
attributes: the consequence of ‘measure for measure’ (mida keneged
mida). This is not a vindictive punishment, but rather a logical means
by which we understand God's interaction with man. In the absence of
prophecy, the reward or punishment itself serves as God's messenger.
What is the ‘measure for measure’ in this case? Since the Egyptians
began oppressing the Israelites by throwing their male children into
the Nile, the finale is that the Egyptians should drown. And to
emphasize the exactitude of the punishment, each Egyptian sank at a
rate precisely equivalent to his own participation in the persecution of
the Jews (i.e. a harsher oppressor sank more slowly).13
Song and Redemption
The idea of a song at this point seems difficult to understand. On one
hand, there was a miraculous delivery of the Jews from certain
enslavement and possible death. On the other hand, was it appropriate
to celebrate the destruction of the Egyptian nation?
If one looks at a Torah scroll, the section of the “Song of the Sea” is
written differently than the rest of the Torah. Normally, a section of
text is broken by short white spaces to separate different ideas. But
here, the text is written in the form of a brick wall: two short blocks of
text at opposite ends of the line, followed on the next line by a longer
12
13
Midrash Rabba (Exodus 3:8)
Rashi (Exodus 15:5) quoting Mechilta
6
block of text supporting them. The effect is a large amount of white
space interspersed in the text. Why does the song require all this
white space?
The purpose of the white space, indicating an intermission, is to allow
the student time to digest the material.14 For the Jews, the Egyptian
exile was not a punishment but a learning experience. However,
during the exile itself the lessons were unclear. Why are we suffering,
and what is the purpose, if any? Thus the redemption is not only
physical but also conceptual; we now understand what we were
supposed to learn.
A song is different than speech in its intonation. Speech is much more
monotonous; song goes up and down in speed and tone. This song is
the proper finale to the exile. What is being celebrated is not the
downfall of the enemies, but the realization that the ups and downs of
the exile are themselves part of one whole. The symphony of Jewish
history is not always easy to understand, so there needs to be more
white space, to allow us to digest the lessons of the exile and integrate
them into one unified whole, showing God's loving and guiding hand.
The song is not in an exultant revengeful sense. In fact, when the
angels desired to sing to God after the drowning of the Egyptians, God
angrily quiets them: “My handiwork is drowning in the sea – and you
desire to sing!?”15
14
15
Rashi (Leviticus 1:1); Sifra (Leviticus 1)
Talmud - Megilla 10b
7
If so, why are the Jews allowed, and even praised, for singing?
The issue is: Who is singing? The song of the angels is an abstract
praise of God. That is inappropriate when it comes in conjunction with
an act of punishment. But the song of the Jews is personal; they
recognize God’s interaction with them and see His hidden hand
through their history. Therefore, at the completion of the Exodus, song
is appropriate.
Miriam's Song
Upon exiting the sea, Miriam led the women in song and dance with
musical instruments.16 Why did these Jewish slaves, who were
escaping post haste from their masters, trouble themselves to bring
musical instruments?
During the harsh slavery in Egypt, there was one segment of the
Jewish nation that did not give up: the women. They constantly raised
the morale of the men, by assisting their husbands after a full day of
slave labor.17 Yocheved, the mother of Moses, and Miriam his sister,
even stood up to the mighty Pharaoh himself: As the midwives (Shifra
and Puah), they rejected Pharaoh's demand to murder the Jewish boys
as they were born.18
The faith of the Jewish women remained strong. Therefore, when they
left Egypt, they were sure that more miraculous events would take
place. In anticipation, they brought along musical instruments.
The strength of Jewish women has sustained our people for millennia.
And just as the redemption from Egypt was in the merit of Jewish
women, so too will the future, final redemption.19
16
Exodus 15:20-1
Talmud - Sotah 11b; Midrash Rabba (Exodus 1:12)
18
Exodus 1:17
19
Midrash Zuta (Ruth 4:11)
17
8