Parshat Beshallach: Bringing About Our Redemption

     Covid-time related confusion took hold of me yesterday. 

     I posted my commentary on Parshat Bo, which I forgot to post last week, and did not post my commentary on this week's Torah portion. So here it is....a day late. Shabbat Shalom!

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This week's parashah is Beshallakh (Exodus/Shemot 13:17-17:16) week's parashah is Beshalach. Pharaoh has not just allowed the Israelites to leave, but he almost forced them out of the land after the tenth plague, the death of the first born. Now they are standing on at the shore of the sea of Reeds waiting to see what comes next. Once again, Pharaoh has had a change of heart. Suddenly they see that him and all of Egypt's chariots bearing down upon them at the shore of the Sea of Reeds. The people are crying out to Moses in fear. His basic response is to tell them to watch as God performs a miracle for them.

God then replies to Moses “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to go forward.” God seems more than a little perturbed with Moses. This seems at first a strange response. In his commentary The Heart of Torah Rabbi Shai Held writes basically that God is angry because Moses is telling the people to be passive and wait for a miracle to be performed for them. Instead, God wants them to be more active and participate in the creation of the miracle. To paraphrase R. Held, even when a miracle is about to occur, God wants the people to take action and not just to rely on God. Or Moses.

The rabbis imagined (at least) two different versions of what happens next. R. Meir believed that the tribes were arguing with each other about who was going to go into the sea first before it even split. The tribe of Judah decides to take action first and enters the sea first. It then splits.
R. Judah disagreed. He believed that, as Moses is talking to God, the tribes are arguing because no-one wants to enter the sea first. Finally, God says to Moses, “stop talking to me already! Turn around and see what my children are doing!” 

At that moment Moses turns around and sees Nachshon ben Aminadav, head of the tribe of Judah, enter the sea. Only then does it split.
In both of these narratives someone enters the sea before it even splits. However, in the first, everyone wants to go in first. It seems to be more about status than community. The entire tribe of Benjamin just decides to ignore everyone else and rush towards the sea.

In the second narrative, everyone is afraid. No one wants to enter. Only Nachshon has the guts to take the first step in order to hopefully save the entire community. He doesn't follow Moses's command to sit back and wait.

Does he enter the sea because he has complete faith that God will save him? I don't know. I think maybe not. I believe he knew that he was taking a risk. But just standing there was also a risk. 

However, he also realized that he had agency. He had the ability to make a decision on his own. He didn't have to wait for someone else to tell him what to do. This was something they probably didn't understand when enslaved. And so, risking all, he takes his first true step as a free man; in doing so, he is the catalyst for divine redemption.

Today we are all standing at the shore of the sea as a people, as a people, a country and a world. We have forces bearing down on us, whether because of Covid, anti-semitism, racial inequality, white supremacy, economic inequality, or any of the other myriad of forces surrounding us on all sides.
Standing here in this particular moment we all have a choice. 

We can passively wait for a miracle to happen. We can argue with one another about who is in charge, who will help whom, or whose needs get met first. Or we can each be Nachshon. We can realize that we each need to take action. We must each fight for justice and work for change. And and the action that each one of us takes to bring justice and redemption has the potential to bring us closer together as a people, as a country, and as a world. Only be each of us taking that step to make a change will that change ever come. That is our responsibility as individuals, as Jews, and as human beings. 

We must each move forward. We don't know what actually is in front of us. But if we each step forward both alone and together we can succeed in making the world a different and a better place for all. week's parashah is Beshalach. Pharaoh has not just allowed the Israelites to leave, but he almost forced them out of the land after the tenth plague, the death of the first born. Now they are standing on at the shore of the sea of Reeds waiting to see what comes next. Once again, Pharaoh has had a change of heart. Suddenly they see that him and all of Egypt's chariots bearing down upon them at the shore of the Sea of Reeds. The people are crying out to Moses in fear. His basic response is to tell them to watch as God performs a miracle for them.

God then replies to Moses “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to go forward.” God seems more than a little perturbed with Moses. This seems at first a strange response. In his commentary The Heart of Torah Rabbi Shai Held writes basically that God is angry because Moses is telling the people to be passive and wait for a miracle to be performed for them. Instead, God wants them to be more active and participate in the creation of the miracle. To paraphrase R. Held, even when a miracle is about to occur, God wants the people to take action and not just to rely on God. Or Moses.

The rabbis imagined (at least) two different versions of what happens next. R. Meir believed that the tribes were arguing with each other about who was going to go into the sea first before it even split. The tribe of Judah decides to take action first and enters the sea first. It then splits.
R. Judah disagreed. He believed that, as Moses is talking to God, the tribes are arguing because no-one wants to enter the sea first. 

Finally, God says to Moses, “stop talking to me already! Turn around and see what my children are doing!” At that moment Moses turns around and sees Nachshon ben Aminadav, head of the tribe of Judah, enter the sea. Only then does it split.

In both of these narratives someone enters the sea before it even splits. However, in the first, everyone wants to go in first. It seems to be more about status than community. The entire tribe of Benjamin just decides to ignore everyone else and rush towards the sea.

In the second narrative, everyone is afraid. No one wants to enter. Only Nachshon has the guts to take the first step in order to hopefully save the entire community. He doesn't follow Moses's command to sit back and wait.

Does he enter the sea because he has complete faith that God will save him? I don't know. I think maybe not. I believe he knew that he was taking a risk. But just standing there was also a risk. However, he also realized that he had agency. He had the ability to make a decision on his own. He didn't have to wait for someone else to tell him what to do. This was something they probably didn't understand when enslaved. And so, risking all, he takes his first true step as a free man; in doing so, he is the catalyst for divine redemption.

Today we are all standing at the shore of the sea as a people, as a people, a country and a world. We have forces bearing down on us, whether because of Covid, anti-semitism, racial inequality, white supremacy, economic inequality, or any of the other myriad of forces surrounding us on all sides.
Standing here in this particular moment we all have a choice. We passively wait for a miracle to happen. We can argue with one another about who is in charge, who will help whom, or whose needs get met first. Or we can each be Nachshon. 

We can realize that we each need to take action. We must each fight for justice and work for change. And and the action that each one of us takes to bring justice and redemption has the potential to bring us closer together as a people, as a country, and as a world. Only by each of us taking that step to make a change will that change ever come. That is our responsibility as individuals, as Jews, and as human beings. 

We must each move forward. We don't know what actually is in front of us. But if we each step forward both alone and together we can succeed in making the world a different and a better place for all.