Shemot 13:17-17:16
The multitudes that are Israel are leaving Mitzrayim (Egypt) at last. Hashem does not have them take the shortest route, for there were a series of fortifications and confronting prolonged armed resistance might discourage the people. Rashi suggests it was so close, the conflict with the Philistines might lead the people to return to Egypt. Also though, the longer journey would allow the people who had only known slavery their whole lives time to grow into becoming an independent self-sufficient people.
Their route took them to the Reed Sea. Many call it the Red Sea, but it was called the Reed Sea, known for the reeds growing in it. The Red Sea is too salty for those reeds, so it was likely one of the lagoons near the Mediterranean in Northern Egypt. Moshe brought the bones of Yosef as promised earlier. They were led by a pillar of fire at night, and a cloud by day.
Pharoah decides to pursue them with his army. The people see them coming and cry out to Moshe. Moshe assures the people, then Hashem causes a great darkness which keeps them apart. Then Moshe raises his staff, and a great East wind causes the sea to separate. The people cross the Reed Sea. The Egyptians pursue, but their chariots get stuck in the muck. Moshe raises his hand, the wind stopped, and the waters returned. The Egyptians try to escape but Hashem throws them back and they drowned.
A few thoughts come to mind. Was the parting of the sea purely a miracle or was it a miracle born of natural causes. In a piece written by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, he quotes Cambridge University physicist in his The Miracles of Exodus:
Wind tides are well known to oceanographers. For example, a strong wind blowing along Lake Erie, one of the Great Lakes, has produced water elevation differences of as much as sixteen feet between Toledo, Ohio, on the west, and Buffalo, New York, on the east...There are reports that Napoleon was almost killed by a “sudden high tide” while he was crossing shallow water near the head of the Gulf of Suez.
Also, one tradition has it in BT Meg. 10B that the angels wanted to sing during the destruction of the Egyptians, but Hashem asked how they could sing during the destruction of his people.
Seeing this miracle, the people believe and acknowledge Moshe as their leader. They begin to sing the Song of the Sea, still sung during Shabbat services to this day. Miriam the prophetess and sister of Aharon (Aaron) instructs the women to produce their timbrels and they sang and danced.
Why is she called a prophetess? Rabbi David Stav offers these reasons. It was she who approached her father Amram to reunite with his wife which would lead to the birth of Moshe. It was she who said this child would lead the entire Jewish people. It was she who convinced the women to bring gear on the journey to express great joy in the face of miracles, hence the timbrels.
Something else happened at the closing of the Reed Sea. Now there was no return possible. They became a unified people, the Ivri. Yes, the people would complain, but there was no talk of going back. As they journey, there is the miracle of making bitter water drinkable at Marah, the gathering of manna and quail, then water again at Horeb.
It is what happens next that I want to expand upon. Amalek musters their people to attack the people Israel. Their purpose was not to gain land nor were they a threat. Rather they solely wanted to take advantage of their weakened state. Joshua was sent to muster men to fight while Moshe, Aharon, and Hur watch from atop a hill. During the battle, when Moshe holds his hand up with the rod of Hashem in his hand, the Israelites do well. So, Aharon and Hur get him a stone upon which to sit and they help hold his hand aloft and as a result, Joshua prevails against all odds. Hashem has Moshe create a document that says Hashem will erase the name of Amalek through all generations. I might mention this was the first mention in Torah of writing. They built an alter named Adonai-Nissi which Moshe said meant “Hand upon the throne of the Lord. The Lord will be at war with Amalek through the ages.”
So, what leaps out at me as I read this was the singling out of Hashem’s wrath. Even as the Egyptians were drowning in the Reed Sea, he prohibits the angels from singing. These were Hashem’s creations after all. Later in Deuteronomy Hashem tells the Israelites not to abhor the Egyptian for we were once strangers in their land. Hashem though later in Deuteronomy 25:17-19 says regarding the Amelekites:
“Remember what the Amalekites did to you along the way when you came out of Egypt. When you were weary and worn out, they met you on your journey and attacked all who were lagging behind; they had no fear of God... You shall blot out the name of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget!”
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks in his essay The Face of Evil drives home several ideas as to why this difference. He suggests liberal democracies are oriented towards the notion of the rational actor, one who looks at actions according to what would be the best solution. That for every conflict a resolution. In such a world there are no enemies, for every conflict there is a resolution. Per Ed Harris in his book Civilization and Its Enemies, he says we have forgotten the concept of enemies. An enemy is willing to die to kill you. We forget this reality at our own peril.
Rabbi Sacks offers an interesting example. Montezuma, ruler of the Aztecs, when he met Cortez in 1520, assumed he was dealing with a rational actor, a civilized man from a civilized nation. That assumption cost him his life, and a year later there was no Aztec nation.
Other examples come to mind as well. Historically one can look to the crusades, where Jewish communities were attacked and killed. The Christian armies saw them as not Christian and therefore the enemy. Later in history, Hitler knowing they were losing the war, pulled resources from the front lines to hasten the Final Solution. Americans need only look to the terror attack of 9-11. Why did they do it? Because we were the enemy.
Back to Rabbi Sacks, where he quotes from the Rabbis in Ethics of our Fathers: “If love depends on a specific cause, when the cause ends, so does the love. If love does not depend on a specific cause, then it never ends.” The same applies to hate. Egyptian hate had a cause, for the Israelites were becoming too numerous. The hate of the Amelekites had no cause, so it was endless. Amalek has become the metaphor for the causeless hate in this world, and it is that hate every generation going forward has had to combat.
As each of us live our daily lives, do we harbor any hate without cause? In a world filled with antisemitism, Islamophobia, racism, homophobia, misogyny, it certainly exists. Can we discern conflicts with cause and those who are in conflict not out of reason, but rather hate. In this time of rising mindless hate, where synagogues and mosques are attacked and individuals attacked on our streets, as we go to practice gemilut chesed and do our mitzvot, we must also recognize evil for what it is, and be prepared to fight it. It is our calling ever since the defeat that day of the Amalekites so very long ago. Baruch Hashem!
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