The Splitting of the Sea of Reeds : Beshelach

[muman613]

This week we read the Parasha of Beshalach which relates the incredible story of the splitting of the Sea of Reeds.

The Jewish people were cornered against the sea by the massive chariot army of Paroah. The people were divided and did not know what to do. The righteous Nachshon waded into the sea up to his nostrils and then the sea split. There are so many deep midrashim on this incredible Parasha. The incredible 'yad hashem' which the entire nation witnessed as the waters were heaped up leaving dry seabed for them to walk on. The Jewish understanding of how the sea split is vastly different than what the 'Ten Commandment' movies portray. It is said that there were actually twelve channels cut into the sea, and they entered on one side and exited on the same side.

Here is a good shuir by Rabbi Richman of the Temple Institute discussing many of these ideas:



The song of the sea which we sing every day in our davening in order to recall the Yetzirat Mitzrayim/Leaving Egypt is awesome. It relates the awesome experience that the Children of Israel witnessed that day..

Here is the translation according to Chabad of the Song:

Chapter 15

1. Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to the Lord, and they spoke, saying, I will sing to the Lord, for very exalted is He; a horse and its rider He cast into the sea.

2. The Eternal's strength and His vengeance were my salvation; this is my G-d, and I will make Him a habitation, the G-d of my father, and I will ascribe to Him exaltation.

3. The Lord is a Master of war; the Lord is His Name.

4. Pharaoh's chariots and his army He cast into the sea, and the elite of his officers sank in the Red Sea.

5. The depths covered them; they descended into the depths like a stone.

6. Your right hand, O Lord, is most powerful; Your right hand, O Lord, crushes the foe.

7. And with Your great pride You tear down those who rise up against You; You send forth Your burning wrath; it devours them like straw.

8. And with the breath of Your nostrils the waters were heaped up; the running water stood erect like a wall; the depths congealed in the heart of the sea.

9. [Because] the enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will share the booty; my desire will be filled from them; I will draw my sword, my hand will impoverish them.

10. You blew with Your wind, the sea covered them; they sank like lead in the powerful waters.

11. Who is like You among the powerful, O Lord? Who is like You, powerful in the holy place? Too awesome for praises, performing wonders!

12. You inclined Your right hand; the earth swallowed them up.

13. With Your loving kindness You led the people You redeemed; You led [them] with Your might to Your holy abode.

14. People heard, they trembled; a shudder seized the inhabitants of Philistia.

15. Then the chieftains of Edom were startled; [as for] the powerful men of Moab, trembling seized them; all the inhabitants of Canaan melted.

16. May dread and fright fall upon them; with the arm of Your greatness may they become as still as a stone, until Your people cross over, O Lord, until this nation that You have acquired crosses over.

17. You shall bring them and plant them on the mount of Your heritage, directed toward Your habitation, which You made, O Lord; the sanctuary, O Lord, [which] Your hands founded.

18. The Lord will reign to all eternity

19. When Pharaoh's horses came with his chariots and his horsemen into the sea, and the Lord brought the waters of the sea back upon them, and the children of Israel walked on dry land in the midst of the sea,

20. Miriam, the prophetess, Aaron's sister, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women came out after her with timbrels and with dances.

21. And Miriam called out to them, Sing to the Lord, for very exalted is He; a horse and its rider He cast into the sea


See what I wrote about this last year:

http://jtf.org/forum/index.php/topic,52355.0.html

[muman613]

[muman613]

The refrain in the song 'Mi Chamocha Balim Hashem' is sung during the davening {at least in my minyan}. I have not been able to find the niggun which we use though...

Here is Shlomo Carlebach singing it..



Who is like You among the powerful, O Lord? Who is like You, powerful in the holy place? Too awesome for praises, performing wonders!

Actually Chabad has the niggun we use:

http://www.chabad.org/multimedia/media_cdo/aid/692812/jewish/37-Mi-Chamocha-Song.htm

[muman613]

[muman613]

Regarding the story of Nachshon :

http://www.aish.com/tp/b/sw/Jump_Into_the_Sea.html

One Giant Leap

Three million Jews are standing at the shores of the Red Sea. Their options are either to go forward into the un-split sea, or back to Egypt. The sea is cold, strange and foreboding. Egypt is warm, familiar and comfortable.

The Egyptians are thundering closer. The Jews are panicked. And then Nachshon, from the tribe of Yehuda, steps foot into the sea. (The original "one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.") But the sea still does not split. Nachshon continues as the water reaches his ankles, then up to his knees. Still no split. Nachshon forges deeper: Up to his waist, his chest. Still no split.

Nachshon's mind races: Maybe we should return to Egypt. Then he reminds himself: Life is about growing ... leaving the place of confinement behind... moving forward into the unknown ... But the alternative ― to stay in our small space of warmth and comfort, is to choose stagnation and, ultimately, death. Egypt, Nachshon knew, was no option at all.

By now the water has reached his neck. Nachshon is being challenged to his limit. Yet he continues into the sea. As the water reaches his nostrils, at this last possible moment... the Red Sea splits. The Jewish People all rush in after him. Finally, freedom.

Self Esteem

Although every Jew passed through on dry land, the experience of Nachshon was qualitatively different. When Nachshon walked through the sea, he was alive and invigorated. The future had issued its challenge, and Nachshon confronted it head-on. Slavery was baggage he'd left behind. He was liberated, both body and soul.

Contrast this to the experience of the rest of the Jewish People. The others, having entered only after the sea split, were in one sense disappointed in themselves for not having the bravery of Nachshon. Nachshon "entered the water first" (Exodus 14:22); the others "entered first on dry land" (14:29).

The Gaon of Vilna (18th century Europe) offers a beautiful insight: In describing the experience of Nachshon, the Torah says "and the water formed a wall" (Exodus 14:22). But for the rest of the people, the Hebrew word for wall, "choma," is spelled peculiarly ― without a Vav. This can be read "Chaima," meaning anger. The Torah is reflecting each Jews' disappointment (and God's "anger") for not having had the courage to fulfill their own potential. The growth opportunity had been lost forever.

[muman613]

One more concerning the story that the sea actually split into twelve channels:



http://www.divreinavon.com/pdf/pi_hahirot.pdf

MIDRASHIC ARGUMENTS ON SPLITTING THE SEA
   Then the Lord said to Moses: Why do you cry out to Me? Tell the Israelites to travel on (Ex. 14:15). Given that the Egyptians were behind them and the sea in
front of them, the text begs the obvious question:  exactly where were they to travel? 15

 Rashi, based on the Mechilta, explains God's response to Moses as  bidding them to march into the sea to effect its splitting.

   The Midrash provides a number of versions as to how exactly the sea was split. 

   R. Meir stated: At the time that Israel was standing at the edge of the sea, the tribes strove with one another. One said, "I will enter the sea first." And the other said, "I will enter the sea first." The tribe of Benjamin then jumped and descended into the sea first [and the waters divided] . . . .

  R. Judah said to him: Not so did the event occur, but rather: one said, "I will not enter the sea first" and the other said, "I will not enter the sea first."  Then Nachshon ben-Aminadav jumped and descended into the sea [and the  waters divided]  (Sotah 36b).

Though there is a disagreement in the Midrash as to who went in to the sea first, there is a clear consensus that the sea split in the merit of man's initiative. 16
 
   Another Midrash posits that the sea split into 12 channels, one for each tribe, thus allowing everyone to participate in the free act of faith. Since the splitting
of the sea was initiated by man's demonstrating his ultimate faith in God, thereby actuating his ultimate true freedom, then every individual would not only want,  but actually  need to have this transformation performed by himself.  Having a split per tribe allows each one to demonstrate that it uniquely fulfilled the act of
loyalty to God to effect freedom.


See also : http://torah.org/learning/hamaayan/5762/vayeishev.html

[muman613]

And heres the last one for this evening...

There were four types of Jews at the seashore before the sea split... Here is Chabads explanation.


http://www.chabad.org/parshah/article_cdo/aid/826007/jewish/Chassidic-Insights.htm

13] But Moses said to the people: The Jews were in a dilemma. They were standing without rafts in front of the Sea of Reeds and the Egyptians were fast approaching. Four factions developed among them, each with another plan of action:

* "Let us drown ourselves in the sea!"

* "Let us surrender and return to Egypt!"

* "Let us wage war against them!"

* "Let us pray!"

Moses replied to each faction in turn:

* Stand firm and witness the deliverance that G-d will perform for you today. —do not jump into the sea.

* For the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see again. —do not return to Egypt.

* G-d will do battle for you. —do not wage war against them.

* Your shall remain silent. —do not pray.

What, then, were they to do? Let them journey forth! —continue along on the path to Mount Sinai and all will be well.23

These four factions reflect four erroneous attitudes that we, too, are liable to adopt in our confrontation with spiritual darkness:

* At times we wish to "jump into the sea," to immerse ourselves in the pure waters of Torah and prayer and shut our eyes in oblivion to the darkness around us.

* At times we do better saying, "let us return to Egypt"—we will deal with the darkness, but as slaves. We resign ourselves to our fate of living in a dark world; we do our job but without hope.

* Even better is when we say, "let us wage war"—we feel the power of light and aspire to conquer the Pharaohs of dark our world. But when G-d instructs us to go on to Mount Sinai, it is not time to do battle. Furthermore, our motives for battle are questionable: do they stem from a commitment to goodness or from a desire to fight?

* The fourth path is the highest—"let us pray." During prayer we become one with G-d, losing our sense of self, and desiring only to fulfill His wishes. We would not think of secluding ourselves from the world or losing hope that light will ultimately prevail. We would not think of waging self-strategized wars not commanded by G-d. But alas, prayer is passive, and this, too, is not the path.

Rather, G-d commands us to journey forth, to continue on our path to Sinai, to bring ourselves and the world around us closer to the Torah, one good deed at a time.

The common denominator among the four factions was that their plans of action originated in their own psyche. They lacked the absolute surrender to Divine consciousness that would have allowed them to hear the voice of G-d. When we reach the level of total surrender and "travels forth," the sea is split: the hidden becomes revealed. The deepest dimension of the soul—the aspect that is absolutely one with G-d—is manifest.24

There is indeed a time for prayer. On a personal level, it is the highest form of connection to G-d. However, when action is called for, prayer is the wrong response. When the sea is waiting to be split, when G-d demands forward movement, it is not time to stop and worry about personal levels of connectedness.

This lesson is eternal, continuing to resound nowadays.

The sea is home to as much or more life as is dry land. The major difference is that its life forms are concealed by the water. There comes a point in our lives when we must "split the sea"—we must be able to see beyond the physical trappings and recognize the all-pervading Godly vitality that is the source of all life. Every person is capable of this; all that is needed is the will. Assisting someone else in this process often enables us to accomplish it for ourselves as well.

This is G-d's message: now is a time for action. Sequestering oneself in a synagogue or study hall, as personally fulfilling as it may be, is not the proper approach. There are people who need our help; they are waiting for their personal Splitting of the Sea. It is necessary to go out, to "journey forth" and help ensure that the entire world joins in the victorious march through the challenges of the Sea of Reeds toward the final and complete redemption.25


See also : http://www.shemayisrael.co.il/parsha/aram/archives/pesach62.htm

Pharaoh saw them retreating and concluded that "they are lost in the land; the wilderness has closed in on them." He enlisted his soldiers and chased after Benei Yisrael to bring them back. "Benei Yisrael lifted their eyes, and behold, Egypt was traveling after them. They were very frightened, and Benei Yisrael cried out to Hashem. They said to Moshe: 'Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you took us to die in the wilderness? What is this that you did to us, by taking us from Egypt? Is this not what we told you in Egypt: let us be, and we will serve Egypt - for it is better to serve Egypt than die in the wilderness!" What defeatism - though we cannot blame them: a person is not held accountable for his response to distress. Hazal drew an analogy to a dove who fled from the vulture and tried hiding in the crevice of a rock, when suddenly a snake jumped out of the crevice. The dove fluttered between the two - just as Benei Yisrael faced Egypt from behind and the sea blocking the way in front, with the desert on either side (Shir Hashirim Rabbah 2:30). We can only imagine the terror. The Mechilta relates that four factions formed among Benei Yisrael as they stood at the sea. One suggested jumping into the sea and committing suicide. The second thought they should surrender to Egypt and return to slavery. The third group decided that they should take up arms and fight the Egyptians. A final faction suggested shouting out against the Egyptians in an attempt to drive them away. This so closely resembles a period with which we are all so familiar...