The Parsha in a Nutshell The Israelites leave Egypt. God deliberately leads them on a circuitous route. They come up against the Reed Sea. Pharaoh, having changed his mind about letting them go, pursues them with horses and chariots. The people come close to despair. Then, in one of the supreme miracles of history, the sea divides. The Israelites pass…
The splitting of the Reed Sea is engraved in Jewish memory. We recite it daily during the morning service, at the transition from the Verses of Praise to the beginning of communal prayer. We speak of it again after the Shema, just before the Amidah. It was the supreme miracle of the exodus. But in what sense? If we listen…
After 9/11, when the horror and trauma had subsided, Americans found themselves asking what had happened and why. Was it a disaster? A tragedy? A crime? An act of war? It did not seem to fit the pre-existing paradigms. And why had it happened? The question most often asked about Al Qaeda was, “Why do they hate us?” In the…
At the end of his new book, Tribe of Mentors, Timothy Ferris cites the following poem by Portia Nelson. It’s called ‘Autobiography in Five Short Chapters’: Chapter 1: I walk down the street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I fall in. I am lost… I am helpless. It isn’t my fault. It takes forever to find a…
…that seem to be doubled. So, let me give you a few examples. Number one, the most famous example is the luchot. God gives the luchot to Moshe, and to Israel, twice: “luchot harishonim asher shibarta” (Shemot 34:1), that Moshe Rabbeinu broke, and the luchot shniyot. Number two, Parashat Beshalach, which is a kind of turning point in Jewish history,…
For the first time since their departure from Egypt the Israelites do something together. They sing. “Then sang Moses and the children of Israel.” Sotah 30b Rashi, explaining the view of R. Nehemiah in the Talmud that they spontaneously sang the song together, says that the Holy Spirit rested on them and miraculously the same words came into their minds…
“That day, God saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians . . . The Israelites saw the great power God had displayed against the Egyptians, and the people were in awe of God. They believed in God and in His servant Moses. Moses and the Israelites then sang this song, saying . . .” The Song at the Sea…
In September 2010, BBC, Reuters, and other news agencies reported on a sensational scientific discovery. Researchers at the US National Center for Atmospheric Research and the University of Colorado were able to show – through computer simulation – how the division of the Red Sea may have taken place. Using sophisticated modelling, they demonstrated how a strong east wind, blowing…
The Parsha in a Nutshell The Israelites walked out of Egypt and into the desert, finally a free people. God led them by a pillar of cloud during the day and a pillar of fire at night. They were headed to Mount Sinai but they went the long way round, to avoid possible battles on their way. Then Pharaoh…
The Israelites had crossed the Red Sea. The impossible had happened. The mightiest army in the ancient world – the Egyptians with their cutting-edge, horse-drawn chariots – had been defeated and drowned. The children of Israel were now free. But their relief was short-lived. Almost immediately they faced attack by the Amalekites, and they had to fight a battle, this…