Today's Parsha, Beshalach, is an amazingly rich narrative. It starts with the Jews leaving Egypt with the bones of Joseph, and taking the long way around to the promised land. Beshalach includes the escape across the Sea of Reeds (a.k.a. the Red Sea), Moses' and Miriam's songs, two more miracles involving water and the appearance of manna. It ends with the defeat of Amalek.
As has happened before, when I started looking at secondary sources, I was overwhelmed by the amount of material available and the depth of scholarship. It seems that with the possible exception of Bereshit, this Parsha has generated more commentary and Midrashim than any other. The Talmud and Zohar comment extensively on this Parsha, as do Rashi, Mamonidies, Bachya and the Marahal; not to mention the epic by Cecil B. Demille. (And no, as far as I could determine through extensive research on the Internet, Charlton Heston is not Jewish; or if he is, he is an apostate.)
The midrash for this Parsha is particularly wild. It contains accounts of
I won't go into detail, but these midrashim and many more can be found in Louis Ginzberg's Legends of the Jews - Volume III.
There are so many intriguing details and troubling elements in Beshalach, that I had some difficulty deciding which one to talk about.
The business with God strengthening (or hardening or changing) the Pharaoh's heart has always bothered me. Didn't all of the heart hardening limit the Pharaoh's free will and lead to unnecessary suffering for the Egyptians?
Why is Moses' song so long and Miriam's is so brief?
There is an interesting argument for a vegetarian diet indirectly made by several of the commentaries, where they state that manna was gladly given during the day because bread is needed for survival; but the quail appear only at night, and because meat is unnecessary, it was given grudgingly by God only because of the people's whining.
I think that it would be possible to spend the remainder of my life exploring the subtleties of Beshalach and the tangents that branch off from this part of the Torah, but rather than focusing on minutia, what struck me most powerfully was the view from 50,000 feet. Taking this Parsha as a whole, there seem to be 5 cycles of the Jewish people finding themselves in extreme distress, the situation being resolved by God, and in most cases the people coming closer to God as a result.
After leaving Egypt the Jewish people are directed by God through Moses' not to take the shortcut to the Land of Israel through the land of the Philistines, but instead they are sent off toward the Sea of Reeds, accompanied by a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire. They are then commanded to backtrack toward Egypt to Baal-Zephon. When Pharaoh's chariots back them up against the Sea of Reeds, they cry to Moses, in the best ironic style, "Were there no graves in Egypt, that you took us to die in the Wilderness?" The sea splits, the people pass through, the Egyptians drown, and the people are saved. Moses and the people sing God's praises, intoning "With your kindness this people You redeemed; You led them with your might to Your holy abode".
Then, three days into the Wilderness without finding water, they come to the waters of Marah, but the water is bitter and they can't drink. Moses thows a tree into the water and it became potable. He tells the people that if they follow God's law, they will not be visited by the plagues inflicted on Egypt.
They journey into the Wilderness of Sin and run out of food. They complain to Moses "If only we had died by the hand of God in the land of Egypt, as we sat by the pot of meat, when we ate bread to satiety; for you have taken us into this Wilderness to kill this entire congregation by famine". Then God provides manna and quail. Moses instructs them on keeping the Sabbath and the Shekinah appears before them.
The people get to Rephidim and again they are out of water. They complain to Moses " Why is this that you have brought us to up from Egypt to kill me and my children and my livestock through thirst?" Moses strikes a rock with his staff and water pours forth.
The people are attacked by Amalek, the descendents of Jacob's brother Essau. They are the greatest enemy of the Jewish people. A fierce battle ensues. When Moses raises his hands toward heaven, the Jews gain the advantage, when he lowers them Amalek is stronger. Finally the Jews win.
The Parsha ends with Moses building an altar, after the battle, and he says "Adonai is my miracle, for the hand is on the throne of God: Adonai maintains a war against Amalek, from generation to generation". Some commentaries equate Amalek with anti-Semitism and state that it will always be a threat to the Jewish people, until the coming of the messianic era. Amalek has been identified with Haman from the story of Purim, with the Roman empire and, during a class I attended at Aish HaTorah in Jerusalem, with Nazi Germany.
These five cycles in Beshalach, cycles of desperation and salvation seem to be part of a process. The people are in jeopardy and feel distanced from God, they survive the obstacle and in doing so are brought closer to God. I think that this may be a metaphor for our own lives.
We all suffer adversity, from the trivial, like the breaking of a shoelace or a car that won't start, to the profound, like the death of someone we love. I think that most of us go through these cycles in our lives, through periods of overwhelming joy and times of deepest darkest despair. Both, I believe, are integral to life as a human being, and to the development of a spiritual life.
I know that there are times when I feel that I am enveloped in the arms of God and I cannot imagine how I ever doubted God's universal presence. There are also times when I feel that that God, if God exists, is a million miles away, and I struggle to remember what it feels like to have faith in Her.
Rabbi Nachman of Breslov taught that this process of alternating closeness and separation is a way to come closer to God; and that sadness, depression and fear can be as important in coming to know and love God as is ecstasy and sublime happiness.
So maybe, the next time life deals you a blow or are afflicted by free floating anxieties, you can remember a lesson of Beshalach, and gain a small comfort in thinking that it may be part of the process of coming closer to God.
Todah Rabah
(Offered at MCJC Services, February 10th, 2001)
© Robert G. Evans 2001
updated 02/10/2001 - rge
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