Beshalach
Encyclopedia
Beshalach, Beshallach, or Beshalah (בְּשַׁלַּח — Hebrew
for “when [he] let go,” the second word and first distinctive word in the parshah) is the sixteenth weekly Torah portion (parshah) in the annual Jewish
cycle of Torah reading
and the fourth in the book of Exodus. It constitutes Jews in the Diaspora
read it the sixteenth Sabbath
after Simchat Torah
, generally in January or February.
As the parshah describes God’s
deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt
, Jews also read part of the parshah, as the initial Torah reading for the seventh day of Passover
. And Jews also read the part of the parshah about Amalek
, on Purim
, which commemorates the story of Esther
and the Jewish people’s victory over Haman’s
plan to kill the Jews, told in the book of Esther
. identifies Haman as an Agagite
, and thus a descendant of Amalek. identifies the Agagites with the Amalekites. A midrash
tells that between King Agag
’s capture by Saul
and his killing by Samuel, Agag fathered a child, from whom Haman in turn descended. (Seder Eliyahu Rabbah
ch. 20; Targum Sheni to Esther 4:13.)
The parshah is notable for the “Song of the Sea
,” which is traditionally chanted using a different melody and is written by the scribe using a distinctive brick-like pattern in the Torah scroll
. The Sabbath when it is read is known as Shabbos Shirah, and some communities have various customs for this day, including feeding birds and reciting the "Song of the Sea" out loud in the regular prayer service.
let the Israelites go, God led the people roundabout by way of the Sea of Reeds. Moses
took the bones of Joseph
with them. God went before them in a pillar of cloud
by day and in a pillar of fire
by night.
s, overtaking them by the sea. Greatly frightened, the Israelites cried out to God and complained to Moses. God told Moses to lift up his rod, hold out his arm, and split the sea. Moses did so, and God drove back the sea with a strong east wind, and the Israelites marched through on dry ground, the waters forming walls on their right and left. The Egyptians
pursued, but God slowed them by locking their chariot wheels. On God’s instruction, Moses held out his arm, and the waters covered the chariots, the horsemen, and all the Egyptians. Moses and the Israelites – and then Miriam – sang a song to God, celebrating how God hurled horse and driver into the sea.
and found no water. When they came to Marah
, they could not drink the bitter water, so they grumbled against Moses. God showed Moses a piece of wood to throw into the water, and the water became sweet.
and grumbled in hunger against Moses and Aaron
. God heard their grumbling, and in the evening quail
covered the camp, and in the morning fine flaky manna
covered the ground like frost
. The Israelites gathered as much of it as they required; those who gathered much had no excess, and those who gathered little had no deficiency. Moses instructed none to leave any of it over until morning, but some did, and it became infested with maggots
and stank. On the sixth day they gathered double the food, Moses instructed them to put aside the excess until morning, and it did not turn foul the next day, the Sabbath. Moses told them that on the Sabbath, they would not find any manna on the plain, yet some went out to gather and found nothing. Moses ordered that a jar of the manna be kept throughout the ages. The Israelites ate manna 40 years.
, there was no water and the people quarreled with Moses, asking why Moses brought them there just to die of thirst. God told Moses to strike the rock at Horeb
to produce water, and they called the place Massah (trial) and Meribah
(quarrel).
supported his hands, and Joshua
overwhelmed Amalek in battle. God instructed Moses to inscribe a document as a reminder that God would utterly blot out the memory of Amalek.
interpreted the words “God led them not by the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near” in to indicate that God recognized that the way would have been nearer for the Israelites to return to Egypt. (Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael Beshallah 19:1:5.)
The Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael interpreted the word translated as “armed” (חֲמֻשִׁים, chamushim) in to mean that only one out of five (חֲמִשָּׁה, chamishah) of the Israelites in Egypt left Egypt; and some say that only one out of 50 did; and others say that only one out of 500 did. (Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael Beshallah 19:1:19.)
The Mishnah
cited for the proposition that Providence treats a person measure for measure as that person treats others. And so because, as Genesis relates, Joseph
had the merit to bury his father Jacob
and none of his brothers were greater than he was, so Joseph merited the greatest of Jews, Moses, to attend to his bones, as reported in And Moses, in turn, was so great that none but God attended him, as Deuteronomy reports that God buried Moses. (Mishnah Sotah 1:7–9.)
taught that when the Israelites stood by the sea, the tribes competed with each other over who would go into the sea first. The tribe of Benjamin
went first, as Psalm
says: “There is Benjamin, the youngest, ruling them (rodem),” and Rabbi Meir read rodem, “ruling them,” as rad yam, “descended into the sea.” Then the princes of Judah
threw stones at them, as says: “the princes of Judah their council (rigmatam),” and Rabbi Meir read rigmatam as “stoned them.” For that reason, Benjamin merited hosting the site of God’s Temple
, as says: “He dwells between his shoulders.” Rabbi Judah
answered Rabbi Meir that in reality, no tribe was willing to be the first to go into the sea. Then Nahshon ben Aminadab
stepped forward and went into the sea first, praying in the words of “Save me O God, for the waters come into my soul. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing . . . . Let not the water overwhelm me, neither let the deep swallow me up.” Moses was then praying, so God prompted Moses, in words parallel those of “My beloved ones are drowning in the sea, and you prolong prayer before Me!” Moses asked God, “Lord of the Universe, what is there in my power to do?” God replied in the words of “Speak to the children of Israel, that they go forward. And lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea, and divide it; and the children of Israel shall go into the midst of the sea on dry ground.” Because of Nahshon’s actions, Judah merited becoming the ruling power in Israel, as says, “Judah became His sanctuary, Israel His dominion,” and that happened because, as says, “The sea saw [him], and fled.” (Babylonian Talmud
Sotah 36b–37a.)
Rabbi Johanan
taught that God does not rejoice in the downfall of the wicked. Rabbi Johanan interpreted the words zeh el zeh in the phrase “And one did not come near the other all the night” in to teach that when the Egyptians were drowning in the sea, the ministering angel
s wanted to sing a song of rejoicing, as Isaiah
associates the words zeh el zeh with angelic singing. But God rebuked them: “The work of my hands is being drowned in the sea, and you want to sing songs?” Rabbi Eleazar replied that a close reading of shows that God does not rejoice personally, but does make others rejoice. (Babylonian Talmud Megillah 10b.)
The midrash taught that the six days of darkness occurred in Egypt, while the seventh day of darkness was a day of darkness of the sea, as says: “And there was the cloud and the darkness here, yet it gave light by night there.” So God sent clouds and darkness and covered the Egyptians with darkness, but gave light to the Israelites, as God had done for them in Egypt. Hence says: “The Lord is my light and my salvation.” And the midrash taught that in the Messianic Age
, as well, God will bring darkness to sinners, but light to Israel, as says: “For, behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the peoples; but upon you the Lord will shine.” (Exodus Rabbah 14:3.)
Rabbi Hama ben Hanina deduced from that Pharaoh meant: “Come, let us outwit the Savior of Israel.” Pharaoh concluded that the Egyptians should afflict the Israelites with water, because as indicated by God had sworn not to bring another flood to punish the world. The Egyptians failed to note that while God had sworn not to bring another flood on the whole world, God could still bring a flood on only one people. Alternatively, the Egyptians failed to note that they could fall into the waters, as indicated by the words of “the Egyptians fled towards it.” This all bore out what Rabbi Eleazar said: In the pot in which they cooked, they were themselves cooked — that is, with the punishment that the Egyptians intended for the Israelites, the Egyptians were themselves punished. (Babylonian Talmud Sotah 11a; see also Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael Beshallah 7:2.)
Reading the words, “there remained not so much as one of them,” in Rabbi Judah taught that not even Pharaoh himself survived, as says, “Pharaoh's chariots and his host has He cast into the sea.” Rabbi Nehemiah
, however, said that Pharaoh alone survived, teaching that speaks of Pharaoh when it says, “But in very deed for this cause have I made you to stand.” And some taught that later on Pharaoh went down and was drowned, as says, “For the horses of Pharaoh went in with his chariots and with his horsemen into the sea.” (Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael Beshalah 7:8.)
The Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael cited four reasons for why “Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea-shore,” as reported in (1) so that the Israelites should not imagine that the Egyptians escaped the sea on the other side, (2) so that the Egyptians should not imagine that the Israelites were lost in the sea as the Egyptians had been, (3) so that the Israelites might take the Egyptians’ spoils of silver, gold, precious stones, and pearls, and (4) so that the Israelites might recognize the Egyptians and reprove them. (Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael Beshalah 7:18.)
Rabbi Jose the Galilean
reasoned that as the phrase “the finger of God” in referred to 10 plagues, “the great hand” (translated “the great work”) in (in connection with the miracle of the Reed Sea) must refer to 50 plagues upon the Egyptians, and thus to a variety of cruel and strange deaths. (Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael Beshallah 7:21; Mekhilta of Rabbi Simeon
26:6; see also Exodus Rabbah
5:14, 23:9.)
: (1) the one that the Israelites recited at the first Passover in Egypt, as says, “You shall have a song as in the night when a feast is hallowed”; (2) the Song of the Sea in (3) the one that the Israelites sang at the well in the wilderness, as Numbers
reports, “Then sang Israel this song: ‘Spring up, O well’”; (4) the one that Moses spoke in his last days, as reports, “Moses spoke in the ears of all the assembly of Israel the words of this song”; (5) the one that Joshua recited, as Joshua
reports, “Then spoke Joshua to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorite
s”; (6) the one that Deborah
and Barak
sang, as Judges
reports, “Then sang Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam
”; (7) the one that David
spoke, as 2 Samuel
reports, “David spoke to the Lord the words of this song in the day that the Lord delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul”; (8) the one that Solomon
recited, as reports, “a song at the Dedication of the House of David
”; (9) the one that Jehoshaphat
recited, as 2 Chronicles
reports: “when he had taken counsel with the people, he appointed them that should sing to the Lord, and praise in the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and say, ‘Give thanks to the Lord, for His mercy endures for ever’”; and (10) the song that will be sung in the time to come, as says, “Sing to the Lord a new song, and His praise from the end of the earth,” and says, “Sing to the Lord a new song, and His praise in the assembly of the saints.” (Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael Shirata 1:5.)
The Tosefta
deduced from that the Egyptians took pride before God only on account of the water of the Nile, and thus God exacted punishment from them only by water when in God cast Pharaoh’s chariots and army into the Reed Sea. (Tosefta Sotah 3:13.)
A midrash taught that as God created the four cardinal directions, so also did God set about God’s throne four angels — Michael
, Gabriel
, Uriel
, and Raphael
— with Michael at God’s right. The midrash taught that Michael got his name (Mi ka'el, מִי-כָּאֵל) as a reward for the manner in which he praised God in two expressions that Moses employed. When the Israelites crossed the Red Sea, Moses began to chant, in the words of “Who (mi, מִי) is like You, o Lord.” And when Moses completed the Torah, he said, in the words of “There is none like God (ka'el, כָּאֵל), O Jeshurun
.” The midrash taught that mi (מִי) combined with ka'el (כָּאֵל) to form the name Mi ka'el (מִי-כָּאֵל). (Numbers Rabbah
2:10.)
Rabbi Judah ben Simon expounded on God’s words in “I will hide My face from them.” Rabbi Judah ben Simon compared Israel to a king's son who went into the marketplace and struck people but was not struck in return (because of his being the king’s son). He insulted but was not insulted. He went up to his father arrogantly. But the father asked the son whether he thought that he was respected on his own account, when the son was respected only on account of the respect that was due to the father. So the father renounced the son, and as a result, no one took any notice of him. So when Israel went out of Egypt, the fear of them fell upon all the nations, as reported, “The peoples have heard, they tremble; pangs have taken hold on the inhabitants of Philistia. Then were the chiefs of Edom frightened; the mighty men of Moab, trembling takes hold upon them; all the inhabitants of Canaan are melted away. Terror and dread falls upon them.” But when Israel transgressed and sinned, God asked Israel whether it thought that it was respected on its own account, when it was respected only on account of the respect that was due to God. So God turned away from them a little, and the Amalekites came and attacked Israel, as reports, “Then Amalek came, and fought with Israel in Rephidim,” and then the Canaanites came and fought with Israel, as reports, “And the Canaanite, the king of Arad, who dwelt in the South, heard tell that Israel came by the way of Atharim; and he fought against Israel.” God told the Israelites that they had no genuine faith, as says, “they are a very disobedient generation, children in whom is no faith.” God concluded that the Israelites were rebellious, but to destroy them was impossible, to take them back to Egypt was impossible, and God could not change them for another people. So God concluded to chastise and try them with suffering. (Ruth Rabbah
Prologue 4.)
A Baraita taught that the words, “I will send My terror before you, and will discomfort all the people to whom you shall come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you,” in and the words, “Terror and dread fall upon them,” in show that no creature was able to withstand the Israelites as they entered into the Promised Land
in the days of Joshua, and those who stood against them were immediately panic-stricken and lost control of their bowels. And the words, “till Your people pass over, O Lord,” in allude to the first advance of the Israelites into the Promised Land in the days of Joshua. And the words, “till the people pass over whom You have gotten,” in allude to the second advance of the Israelites into the Promised Land in the days of Ezra
. The Baraita thus concluded that the Israelites were worthy that God should perform a miracle on their behalf during the second advance as in the first advance, but that did not happen because the Israelites’ sin caused God to withhold the miracle. (Babylonian Talmud Sotah 36a.)
Rabbi Akiva
said that he who whispered as an incantation over a wound to heal it would have no place in the world to come. (Mishnah Sanhedrin 10:1.)
The Mishnah taught that the manna that reports came down to the Israelites was among 10 miraculous things that God created on Sabbath eve at twilight on the first Friday at the completion of the Creation of the world. (Mishnah Avot 5:6.)
Tractate Eruvin
in the Mishnah, Tosefta, Jerusalem Talmud
, and Babylonian Talmud interpreted the laws of not walking beyond permitted limits in (Mishnah Eruvin 1:1–10:15; Tosefta Eruvin 1:1–8:24; Jerusalem Talmud Eruvin 1a–; Babylonian Talmud Eruvin 2a–105a.)
A Baraita
taught that Josiah
hid the Ark, the bottle containing the manna (see ), Aaron’s staff with its almonds and blossoms (see ), and the chest that the Philistines
sent as a gift (see ), because Josiah read in “The Lord will bring you, and your king whom you shall set over you, to a nation that you have not known.” Therefore he hid these things, as reports: “And he said to the Levites, that taught all Israel, that were holy to the Lord: ‘Put the holy ark into the house that Solomon, the son of David, King of Israel built. There shall no more be a burden upon your shoulders now.’” (Babylonian Talmud Yoma 52b.)
The Mishnah quoted which described how when Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and asked whether Moses’ hands really made war or stopped it. Rather, the Mishnah read the verse to teach that as long as the Israelites looked upward and submitted their hearts to God, they would grow stronger, but when they did not, they would fall. The Mishnah taught that the fiery serpent placed on a pole in worked much the same way, by directing the Israelites to look upward to God. (Mishnah Rosh Hashanah 3:8.)
and Sefer ha-Chinuch
, there is one negative commandment
in the parshah:
(Maimonides. Mishneh Torah
, Negative Commandment 321. Cairo
, Egypt, 1170–1180. Reprinted in Maimonides. The Commandments: Sefer Ha-Mitzvoth of Maimonides. Translated by Charles B. Chavel, 2:296. London: Soncino Press, 1967. ISBN 0-900689-71-4. Sefer HaHinnuch: The Book of [Mitzvah] Education. Translated by Charles Wengrov, 1:137–41. Jerusalem: Feldheim Pub., 1991. ISBN 0-87306-179-9.)
for the parshah is:
For Ashkenazi Jews, the haftarah is the longest of the year.
” about God’s deliverance of the Israelites from Pharaoh , and the haftarah in the “Song of Deborah” about the Israelites’ victory over the Canaan
ite general Sisera
. Both the parshah and the haftarah report how the leaders of Israel’s enemies assembled hundreds of chariots. Both the parshah and the haftarah report how God “threw . . . into panic” (va-yaham) Israel’s enemies. Both the parshah and the haftarah report waters sweeping away Israel’s enemies Both the parshah and the haftarah report singing by women to celebrate, the parshah by Miriam , and the haftarah by Deborah . Finally, both the parshah and the haftarah mention Amalek.
The Gemara tied together God’s actions in the parshah and the haftarah. To reassure Israelites concerned that their enemies still lived, God had the Reed Sea spit out the dead Egyptians. (See ) To repay the seas, God committed the Kishon River
to deliver one-and-a-half times as many bodies. To pay the debt, when Sisera came to attack the Israelites, God had the Kishon wash the Canaanites away. (See ) The Gemara calculated one-and-a-half times as many bodies from the numbers of chariots reported in and (Babylonian Talmud Pesachim 118b.)
, immediately prior to the Amidah
prayer in each of the three prayer services
recounts events from (Reuven Hammer
, Or Hadash: A Commentary on Siddur Sim Shalom
for Shabbat and Festivals, 114. New York: The Rabbinical Assembly, 2003. ISBN 0916219208.)
The Passover Haggadah
, in the magid section of the Seder
, recounts the reasoning of Rabbi Jose the Galilean that as the phrase “the finger of God” in referred to 10 plagues, “the great hand” (translated “the great work”) in must refer to 50 plagues upon the Egyptians. (Menachem Davis. The Interlinear Haggadah: The Passover Haggadah, with an Interlinear Translation, Instructions and Comments, 51–52. Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, 2005. ISBN 1-57819-064-9. Joseph Tabory. JPS Commentary on the Haggadah: Historical Introduction, Translation, and Commentary, 95. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 2008. ISBN 978-0-8276-0858-0.)
The Song of the Sea, appears in its entirety in the P’sukei D’zimra section of the morning service
for Shabbat (Hammer, at 102–03.)
The references to God’s mighty hand and arm in 12, and 16 are reflected in which is also one of the six Psalms recited at the beginning of the Kabbalat Shabbat prayer service. (Hammer, at 18.)
The statement of God’s eternal sovereignty in “God will reign for ever and ever!” may have found paraphrase in “Adonai shall reign throughout all generations,” which in turn appears in the Kedusha
h section of the Amidah prayer in each of the three Jewish services|prayer services. And the statement of God’s eternal sovereignty in also appears verbatim in the Kedushah D’Sidra section of the Minchah
service for Shabbat. (Hammer, at 4, 227.)
The people’s murmuring at Massah and Meribah, and perhaps the rock that yielded water, of are reflected in which is in turn the first of the six Psalms recited at the beginning of the Kabbalat Shabbat prayer service. (Hammer, at 15.)
, Sephardi Jews each week base the songs of the services on the content of that week's parshah. For Parshah Beshalach, Sephardi Jews apply Maqam Ajam, the maqam that expresses happiness, to commemorating the joy and song of the Israelites as they crossed the sea.
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
for “when [he] let go,” the second word and first distinctive word in the parshah) is the sixteenth weekly Torah portion (parshah) in the annual Jewish
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
cycle of Torah reading
Torah reading
Torah reading is a Jewish religious ritual that involves the public reading of a set of passages from a Torah scroll. The term often refers to the entire ceremony of removing the Torah scroll from the ark, chanting the appropriate excerpt with special cantillation, and returning the scroll to...
and the fourth in the book of Exodus. It constitutes Jews in the Diaspora
Jewish diaspora
The Jewish diaspora is the English term used to describe the Galut גלות , or 'exile', of the Jews from the region of the Kingdom of Judah and Roman Iudaea and later emigration from wider Eretz Israel....
read it the sixteenth Sabbath
Shabbat
Shabbat is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until a few minutes after when one would expect to be able to see three stars in the sky on Saturday night. The exact times, therefore, differ from...
after Simchat Torah
Simchat Torah
Simchat Torah or Simḥath Torah is a celebration marking the conclusion of the annual cycle of public Torah readings, and the beginning of a new cycle...
, generally in January or February.
As the parshah describes God’s
Names of God in Judaism
In Judaism, the name of God is more than a distinguishing title; it represents the Jewish conception of the divine nature, and of the relationship of God to the Jewish people and to the world. To demonstrate the sacredness of the names of God, and as a means of showing respect and reverence for...
deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...
, Jews also read part of the parshah, as the initial Torah reading for the seventh day of Passover
Passover
Passover is a Jewish holiday and festival. It commemorates the story of the Exodus, in which the ancient Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt...
. And Jews also read the part of the parshah about Amalek
Amalek
The Amalekites are a people mentioned a number of times in the Hebrew Bible. They are considered to be descended from an ancestor Amalek....
, on Purim
Purim
Purim is a Jewish holiday that commemorates the deliverance of the Jewish people in the ancient Persian Empire from destruction in the wake of a plot by Haman, a story recorded in the Biblical Book of Esther .Purim is celebrated annually according to the Hebrew calendar on the 14th...
, which commemorates the story of Esther
Esther
Esther , born Hadassah, is the eponymous heroine of the Biblical Book of Esther.According to the Bible, she was a Jewish queen of the Persian king Ahasuerus...
and the Jewish people’s victory over Haman’s
Haman (Bible)
Haman is the main antagonist in the Book of Esther, who, according to Old Testament tradition, was a 5th Century BC noble and vizier of the Persian empire under King Ahasuerus, traditionally identified as Artaxerxes II...
plan to kill the Jews, told in the book of Esther
Book of Esther
The Book of Esther is a book in the Ketuvim , the third section of the Jewish Tanakh and is part of the Christian Old Testament. The Book of Esther or the Megillah is the basis for the Jewish celebration of Purim...
. identifies Haman as an Agagite
Agagite
The term Agagite is used in the Book of Esther as a description of Haman. The term is understood to be an ethnonym although nothing is known with certainty about the people designated by the name...
, and thus a descendant of Amalek. identifies the Agagites with the Amalekites. A midrash
Midrash
The Hebrew term Midrash is a homiletic method of biblical exegesis. The term also refers to the whole compilation of homiletic teachings on the Bible....
tells that between King Agag
Agag
Agag was the name of two kings of the Amalekites mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. It has been conjectured that the name was a standing title of the kings of the Amalekites...
’s capture by Saul
Saul
-People:Saul is a given/first name in English, the Anglicized form of the Hebrew name Shaul from the Hebrew Bible:* Saul , including people with this given namein the Bible:* Saul , a king of Edom...
and his killing by Samuel, Agag fathered a child, from whom Haman in turn descended. (Seder Eliyahu Rabbah
Tanna Devei Eliyahu
Tanna Devei Eliyahu is the composite name of a midrash, consisting of two parts, whose final redaction took place at the end of the 10th century CE. The first part is called "Seder Eliyahu Rabbah" ; the second, "Seder Eliyahu Zuṭa"...
ch. 20; Targum Sheni to Esther 4:13.)
The parshah is notable for the “Song of the Sea
Song of the sea
The Song of the Sea is a poem that appears in the Book of Exodus of the Hebrew Bible, at . It is followed in verses 20 and 21 by a much shorter song sung by Miriam and the other women...
,” which is traditionally chanted using a different melody and is written by the scribe using a distinctive brick-like pattern in the Torah scroll
Sefer Torah
A Sefer Torah of Torah” or “Torah scroll”) is a handwritten copy of the Torah or Pentateuch, the holiest book within Judaism. It must meet extremely strict standards of production. The Torah scroll is mainly used in the ritual of Torah reading during Jewish services...
. The Sabbath when it is read is known as Shabbos Shirah, and some communities have various customs for this day, including feeding birds and reciting the "Song of the Sea" out loud in the regular prayer service.
Summary
When PharaohPharaoh
Pharaoh is a title used in many modern discussions of the ancient Egyptian rulers of all periods. The title originates in the term "pr-aa" which means "great house" and describes the royal palace...
let the Israelites go, God led the people roundabout by way of the Sea of Reeds. Moses
Moses
Moses was, according to the Hebrew Bible and Qur'an, a religious leader, lawgiver and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed...
took the bones of Joseph
Joseph (Hebrew Bible)
Joseph is an important character in the Hebrew bible, where he connects the story of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in Canaan to the subsequent story of the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt....
with them. God went before them in a pillar of cloud
Cloud
A cloud is a visible mass of liquid droplets or frozen crystals made of water and/or various chemicals suspended in the atmosphere above the surface of a planetary body. They are also known as aerosols. Clouds in Earth's atmosphere are studied in the cloud physics branch of meteorology...
by day and in a pillar of fire
Fire
Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material in the chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products. Slower oxidative processes like rusting or digestion are not included by this definition....
by night.
Parting the Sea of Reeds
When Pharaoh learned that the people had fled, he had a change of heart, and he chased the Israelites with chariotChariot
The chariot is a type of horse carriage used in both peace and war as the chief vehicle of many ancient peoples. Ox carts, proto-chariots, were built by the Proto-Indo-Europeans and also built in Mesopotamia as early as 3000 BC. The original horse chariot was a fast, light, open, two wheeled...
s, overtaking them by the sea. Greatly frightened, the Israelites cried out to God and complained to Moses. God told Moses to lift up his rod, hold out his arm, and split the sea. Moses did so, and God drove back the sea with a strong east wind, and the Israelites marched through on dry ground, the waters forming walls on their right and left. The Egyptians
Egyptians
Egyptians are nation an ethnic group made up of Mediterranean North Africans, the indigenous people of Egypt.Egyptian identity is closely tied to geography. The population of Egypt is concentrated in the lower Nile Valley, the small strip of cultivable land stretching from the First Cataract to...
pursued, but God slowed them by locking their chariot wheels. On God’s instruction, Moses held out his arm, and the waters covered the chariots, the horsemen, and all the Egyptians. Moses and the Israelites – and then Miriam – sang a song to God, celebrating how God hurled horse and driver into the sea.
Bitter water turned sweet
The Israelites went three days into the wildernessWilderness
Wilderness or wildland is a natural environment on Earth that has not been significantly modified by human activity. It may also be defined as: "The most intact, undisturbed wild natural areas left on our planet—those last truly wild places that humans do not control and have not developed with...
and found no water. When they came to Marah
Marah (Bible)
Marah is one of the locations which the Torah identifies as having been travelled through by the Israelites, during the Exodus.The liberated Israelites set out on their journey in the desert, somewhere in the Sinai Peninsula...
, they could not drink the bitter water, so they grumbled against Moses. God showed Moses a piece of wood to throw into the water, and the water became sweet.
Manna in the wilderness
The Israelites came to the wilderness of SinWilderness of Sin
The Wilderness of Sin/Desert of Sin is a geographic area mentioned by the Bible as lying between Elim and Mount Sinai. Sin does not refer to sinfulness, but is an untranslated word that would translate as the moon; biblical scholars suspect that the name Sin here refers to the semitic moon-deity...
and grumbled in hunger against Moses and Aaron
Aaron
In the Hebrew Bible and the Qur'an, Aaron : Ααρών ), who is often called "'Aaron the Priest"' and once Aaron the Levite , was the older brother of Moses, and a prophet of God. He represented the priestly functions of his tribe, becoming the first High Priest of the Israelites...
. God heard their grumbling, and in the evening quail
Quail
Quail is a collective name for several genera of mid-sized birds generally considered in the order Galliformes. Old World quail are found in the family Phasianidae, while New World quail are found in the family Odontophoridae...
covered the camp, and in the morning fine flaky manna
Manna
Manna or Manna wa Salwa , sometimes or archaically spelled mana, is the name of an edible substance that God provided for the Israelites during their travels in the desert according to the Bible.It was said to be sweet to the taste, like honey....
covered the ground like frost
Frost
Frost is the solid deposition of water vapor from saturated air. It is formed when solid surfaces are cooled to below the dew point of the adjacent air as well as below the freezing point of water. Frost crystals' size differ depending on time and water vapour available. Frost is also usually...
. The Israelites gathered as much of it as they required; those who gathered much had no excess, and those who gathered little had no deficiency. Moses instructed none to leave any of it over until morning, but some did, and it became infested with maggots
Fly
True flies are insects of the order Diptera . They possess a pair of wings on the mesothorax and a pair of halteres, derived from the hind wings, on the metathorax...
and stank. On the sixth day they gathered double the food, Moses instructed them to put aside the excess until morning, and it did not turn foul the next day, the Sabbath. Moses told them that on the Sabbath, they would not find any manna on the plain, yet some went out to gather and found nothing. Moses ordered that a jar of the manna be kept throughout the ages. The Israelites ate manna 40 years.
Water from a stone
When the Israelites encamped at RephidimRephidim
Rephidim was one of the places visited by the Israelites during their exodus from Egypt.The Israelites had come from the wilderness of Sin. At Rephidim, the Israelites found no water to drink, and in their distress they blamed Moses for their troubles, to the point where Moses feared that they...
, there was no water and the people quarreled with Moses, asking why Moses brought them there just to die of thirst. God told Moses to strike the rock at Horeb
Mount Sinai
Mount Sinai , also known as Mount Horeb, Mount Musa, Gabal Musa , Jabal Musa meaning "Moses' Mountain", is a mountain near Saint Catherine in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. A mountain called Mount Sinai is mentioned many times in the Book of Exodus in the Torah and the Bible as well as the Quran...
to produce water, and they called the place Massah (trial) and Meribah
Meribah
Meribah is one of the locations which the Torah identifies as having been travelled through by the Israelites, during the Exodus, although the continuous list of visited stations in the Book of Numbers doesn't mention it...
(quarrel).
Amalek’s attack
Amalek attacked Israel at Rephidim. Moses stationed himself on the top of the hill, with the rod of God in his hand, and whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed; but whenever he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. When Moses grew weary, he sat on a stone, while Aaron and HurHur (Bible)
Hur was a companion of Moses and Aaron in the Hebrew Bible. He was a member of the Tribe of Judah. His identity remains sketchy in the Torah itself, but it is elaborated in rabbinical commentary.Other individuals named Hur are also mentioned in the Bible....
supported his hands, and Joshua
Joshua
Joshua , is a minor figure in the Torah, being one of the spies for Israel and in few passages as Moses's assistant. He turns to be the central character in the Hebrew Bible's Book of Joshua...
overwhelmed Amalek in battle. God instructed Moses to inscribe a document as a reminder that God would utterly blot out the memory of Amalek.
Exodus chapter 13
The Mekhilta of Rabbi IshmaelMekhilta
This article refers to the Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael. There is a separate article on the Mekhilta de-Rabbi ShimonMekhilta or Mekilta is a halakic midrash to the Book of Exodus...
interpreted the words “God led them not by the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near” in to indicate that God recognized that the way would have been nearer for the Israelites to return to Egypt. (Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael Beshallah 19:1:5.)
The Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael interpreted the word translated as “armed” (חֲמֻשִׁים, chamushim) in to mean that only one out of five (חֲמִשָּׁה, chamishah) of the Israelites in Egypt left Egypt; and some say that only one out of 50 did; and others say that only one out of 500 did. (Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael Beshallah 19:1:19.)
The Mishnah
Mishnah
The Mishnah or Mishna is the first major written redaction of the Jewish oral traditions called the "Oral Torah". It is also the first major work of Rabbinic Judaism. It was redacted c...
cited for the proposition that Providence treats a person measure for measure as that person treats others. And so because, as Genesis relates, Joseph
Joseph (Hebrew Bible)
Joseph is an important character in the Hebrew bible, where he connects the story of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in Canaan to the subsequent story of the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt....
had the merit to bury his father Jacob
Jacob
Jacob "heel" or "leg-puller"), also later known as Israel , as described in the Hebrew Bible, the Talmud, the New Testament and the Qur'an was the third patriarch of the Hebrew people with whom God made a covenant, and ancestor of the tribes of Israel, which were named after his descendants.In the...
and none of his brothers were greater than he was, so Joseph merited the greatest of Jews, Moses, to attend to his bones, as reported in And Moses, in turn, was so great that none but God attended him, as Deuteronomy reports that God buried Moses. (Mishnah Sotah 1:7–9.)
Exodus chapter 14
Rabbi MeirRabbi Meir
Rabbi Meir or Rabbi Meir Baal Hanes was a Jewish sage who lived in the time of the Mishna. He was considered one of the greatest of the Tannaim of the fourth generation . According to legend , his father was a descendant of the Roman Emperor Nero who had converted to Judaism. His wife Bruriah is...
taught that when the Israelites stood by the sea, the tribes competed with each other over who would go into the sea first. The tribe of Benjamin
Tribe of Benjamin
According to the Hebrew Bible, the Tribe of Benjamin בִּנְיָמִין was one of the Tribes of Israel.From after the conquest of the land by Joshua until the formation of the first Kingdom of Israel in c. 1050 BCE, the Tribe of Benjamin was a part of a loose confederation of Israelite tribes...
went first, as Psalm
Psalms
The Book of Psalms , commonly referred to simply as Psalms, is a book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible...
says: “There is Benjamin, the youngest, ruling them (rodem),” and Rabbi Meir read rodem, “ruling them,” as rad yam, “descended into the sea.” Then the princes of Judah
Tribe of Judah
According to the Hebrew Bible, the Tribe of Judah was one of the Tribes of Israel.Following the completion of the conquest of Canaan by the Israelite tribes after about 1200 BCE, Joshua allocated the land among the twelve tribes....
threw stones at them, as says: “the princes of Judah their council (rigmatam),” and Rabbi Meir read rigmatam as “stoned them.” For that reason, Benjamin merited hosting the site of God’s Temple
Temple in Jerusalem
The Temple in Jerusalem or Holy Temple , refers to one of a series of structures which were historically located on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem, the current site of the Dome of the Rock. Historically, these successive temples stood at this location and functioned as the centre of...
, as says: “He dwells between his shoulders.” Rabbi Judah
Judah ben Ilai
Judah bar Ilai, also known as Judah ben Ilai, Rabbi Judah or Judah the Palestinian , was a tanna of the 2nd Century and son of Rabbi Ilai I. Of the many Judahs in the Talmud, he is the one referred to simply as "Rabbi Judah" and is the most frequently mentioned sage in the Mishnah.Judah bar Ilai...
answered Rabbi Meir that in reality, no tribe was willing to be the first to go into the sea. Then Nahshon ben Aminadab
Nahshon
Nahshon or Naḥshon ben ʿAmminadabh was, according to the Book of Exodus, the son of Amminadab; descendant in the fifth generation of Judah, brother-in-law of Aaron and an important figure in the Hebrew's Passage of the Red Sea which according to the Jewish Midrash he initiated by walking in head...
stepped forward and went into the sea first, praying in the words of “Save me O God, for the waters come into my soul. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing . . . . Let not the water overwhelm me, neither let the deep swallow me up.” Moses was then praying, so God prompted Moses, in words parallel those of “My beloved ones are drowning in the sea, and you prolong prayer before Me!” Moses asked God, “Lord of the Universe, what is there in my power to do?” God replied in the words of “Speak to the children of Israel, that they go forward. And lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea, and divide it; and the children of Israel shall go into the midst of the sea on dry ground.” Because of Nahshon’s actions, Judah merited becoming the ruling power in Israel, as says, “Judah became His sanctuary, Israel His dominion,” and that happened because, as says, “The sea saw [him], and fled.” (Babylonian Talmud
Talmud
The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....
Sotah 36b–37a.)
Rabbi Johanan
Yochanan bar Nafcha
Rabbi Yochanan ;...
taught that God does not rejoice in the downfall of the wicked. Rabbi Johanan interpreted the words zeh el zeh in the phrase “And one did not come near the other all the night” in to teach that when the Egyptians were drowning in the sea, the ministering angel
Angel
Angels are mythical beings often depicted as messengers of God in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles along with the Quran. The English word angel is derived from the Greek ἄγγελος, a translation of in the Hebrew Bible ; a similar term, ملائكة , is used in the Qur'an...
s wanted to sing a song of rejoicing, as Isaiah
Book of Isaiah
The Book of Isaiah is the first of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible, preceding the books of Ezekiel, Jeremiah and the Book of the Twelve...
associates the words zeh el zeh with angelic singing. But God rebuked them: “The work of my hands is being drowned in the sea, and you want to sing songs?” Rabbi Eleazar replied that a close reading of shows that God does not rejoice personally, but does make others rejoice. (Babylonian Talmud Megillah 10b.)
The midrash taught that the six days of darkness occurred in Egypt, while the seventh day of darkness was a day of darkness of the sea, as says: “And there was the cloud and the darkness here, yet it gave light by night there.” So God sent clouds and darkness and covered the Egyptians with darkness, but gave light to the Israelites, as God had done for them in Egypt. Hence says: “The Lord is my light and my salvation.” And the midrash taught that in the Messianic Age
Messianic Age
Messianic Age is a theological term referring to a future time of universal peace and brotherhood on the earth, without crime, war and poverty. Many religions believe that there will be such an age; some refer to it as the "Kingdom of God" or the "World to Come".- Terminology: "messianic" and...
, as well, God will bring darkness to sinners, but light to Israel, as says: “For, behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the peoples; but upon you the Lord will shine.” (Exodus Rabbah 14:3.)
Rabbi Hama ben Hanina deduced from that Pharaoh meant: “Come, let us outwit the Savior of Israel.” Pharaoh concluded that the Egyptians should afflict the Israelites with water, because as indicated by God had sworn not to bring another flood to punish the world. The Egyptians failed to note that while God had sworn not to bring another flood on the whole world, God could still bring a flood on only one people. Alternatively, the Egyptians failed to note that they could fall into the waters, as indicated by the words of “the Egyptians fled towards it.” This all bore out what Rabbi Eleazar said: In the pot in which they cooked, they were themselves cooked — that is, with the punishment that the Egyptians intended for the Israelites, the Egyptians were themselves punished. (Babylonian Talmud Sotah 11a; see also Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael Beshallah 7:2.)
Reading the words, “there remained not so much as one of them,” in Rabbi Judah taught that not even Pharaoh himself survived, as says, “Pharaoh's chariots and his host has He cast into the sea.” Rabbi Nehemiah
Rabbi Nehemiah
Rabbi Nehemiah was an Israelite, circa AD 150 .He is attributed as the author of the Mishnat ha-Middot , making it the earliest known Hebrew text on geometry, although other historians assign to a later period by an unknown author...
, however, said that Pharaoh alone survived, teaching that speaks of Pharaoh when it says, “But in very deed for this cause have I made you to stand.” And some taught that later on Pharaoh went down and was drowned, as says, “For the horses of Pharaoh went in with his chariots and with his horsemen into the sea.” (Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael Beshalah 7:8.)
The Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael cited four reasons for why “Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea-shore,” as reported in (1) so that the Israelites should not imagine that the Egyptians escaped the sea on the other side, (2) so that the Egyptians should not imagine that the Israelites were lost in the sea as the Egyptians had been, (3) so that the Israelites might take the Egyptians’ spoils of silver, gold, precious stones, and pearls, and (4) so that the Israelites might recognize the Egyptians and reprove them. (Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael Beshalah 7:18.)
Rabbi Jose the Galilean
Jose the Galilean
Jose the Galilean was a Jewish sage who lived in the 1st and 2nd centuries of the common era. He was one of the Tannaim, the rabbis whose work was compiled in the Mishna. Jose was a contemporary and colleague of Rabbis Akiba, Tarfon, and Eleazar ben Azariah...
reasoned that as the phrase “the finger of God” in referred to 10 plagues, “the great hand” (translated “the great work”) in (in connection with the miracle of the Reed Sea) must refer to 50 plagues upon the Egyptians, and thus to a variety of cruel and strange deaths. (Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael Beshallah 7:21; Mekhilta of Rabbi Simeon
Mekhilta de-Rabbi Shimon
The Mekhilta de-Rabbi Shimon is a Halakic midrash on Exodus from the school of R. Akiba, the "Rabbi Shimon" in question being Shimon bar Yochai. No midrash of this name is mentioned in Talmudic literature, but medieval authors refer to one which they call either "Mekilta de-R. Simeon b. Yoḥai," or...
26:6; see also Exodus Rabbah
Exodus Rabbah
Exodus Rabbah is the midrash to Exodus, containing in the printed editions 52 parashiyyot. It is not uniform in its composition.- Structure :In parashiyyot i.-xiv...
5:14, 23:9.)
Exodus chapter 15
The Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael counted 10 songs in the TanakhTanakh
The Tanakh is a name used in Judaism for the canon of the Hebrew Bible. The Tanakh is also known as the Masoretic Text or the Miqra. The name is an acronym formed from the initial Hebrew letters of the Masoretic Text's three traditional subdivisions: The Torah , Nevi'im and Ketuvim —hence...
: (1) the one that the Israelites recited at the first Passover in Egypt, as says, “You shall have a song as in the night when a feast is hallowed”; (2) the Song of the Sea in (3) the one that the Israelites sang at the well in the wilderness, as Numbers
Book of Numbers
The Book of Numbers is the fourth book of the Hebrew Bible, and the fourth of five books of the Jewish Torah/Pentateuch....
reports, “Then sang Israel this song: ‘Spring up, O well’”; (4) the one that Moses spoke in his last days, as reports, “Moses spoke in the ears of all the assembly of Israel the words of this song”; (5) the one that Joshua recited, as Joshua
Book of Joshua
The Book of Joshua is the sixth book in the Hebrew Bible and of the Old Testament. Its 24 chapters tell of the entry of the Israelites into Canaan, their conquest and division of the land under the leadership of Joshua, and of serving God in the land....
reports, “Then spoke Joshua to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorite
Amorite
Amorite refers to an ancient Semitic people who occupied large parts of Mesopotamia from the 21st Century BC...
s”; (6) the one that Deborah
Deborah
Deborah was a prophetess of Yahweh the God of the Israelites, the fourth Judge of pre-monarchic Israel, counselor, warrior, and the wife of Lapidoth according to the Book of Judges chapters 4 and 5....
and Barak
Barak
Barak , Al-Burāq the son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, was a military general in the Book of Judges in the Bible. He was the commander of the army of Deborah, the prophetess and heroine of the Hebrew Bible...
sang, as Judges
Book of Judges
The Book of Judges is the seventh book of the Hebrew bible and the Christian Old Testament. Its title describes its contents: it contains the history of Biblical judges, divinely inspired prophets whose direct knowledge of Yahweh allows them to act as decision-makers for the Israelites, as...
reports, “Then sang Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam
Abinoam
Abinoam , from Kedesh-naphtali, was the father of Barak who defeated Jabin's army, led by Sisera .*Meaning: father of beauty, father of kindness, father of pleasantness...
”; (7) the one that David
David
David was the second king of the united Kingdom of Israel according to the Hebrew Bible and, according to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, an ancestor of Jesus Christ through both Saint Joseph and Mary...
spoke, as 2 Samuel
Books of Samuel
The Books of Samuel in the Jewish bible are part of the Former Prophets, , a theological history of the Israelites affirming and explaining the Torah under the guidance of the prophets.Samuel begins by telling how the prophet Samuel is chosen by...
reports, “David spoke to the Lord the words of this song in the day that the Lord delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul”; (8) the one that Solomon
Solomon
Solomon , according to the Book of Kings and the Book of Chronicles, a King of Israel and according to the Talmud one of the 48 prophets, is identified as the son of David, also called Jedidiah in 2 Samuel 12:25, and is described as the third king of the United Monarchy, and the final king before...
recited, as reports, “a song at the Dedication of the House of David
Temple in Jerusalem
The Temple in Jerusalem or Holy Temple , refers to one of a series of structures which were historically located on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem, the current site of the Dome of the Rock. Historically, these successive temples stood at this location and functioned as the centre of...
”; (9) the one that Jehoshaphat
Jehoshaphat
Jehoshaphat was the fourth king of the The Kingdom of Judah, and successor of his father Asa. His children included Jehoram, who succeeded him as king...
recited, as 2 Chronicles
Books of Chronicles
The Books of Chronicles are part of the Hebrew Bible. In the Masoretic Text, it appears as the first or last book of the Ketuvim . Chronicles largely parallels the Davidic narratives in the Books of Samuel and the Books of Kings...
reports: “when he had taken counsel with the people, he appointed them that should sing to the Lord, and praise in the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and say, ‘Give thanks to the Lord, for His mercy endures for ever’”; and (10) the song that will be sung in the time to come, as says, “Sing to the Lord a new song, and His praise from the end of the earth,” and says, “Sing to the Lord a new song, and His praise in the assembly of the saints.” (Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael Shirata 1:5.)
The Tosefta
Tosefta
The Tosefta is a compilation of the Jewish oral law from the period of the Mishnah.-Overview:...
deduced from that the Egyptians took pride before God only on account of the water of the Nile, and thus God exacted punishment from them only by water when in God cast Pharaoh’s chariots and army into the Reed Sea. (Tosefta Sotah 3:13.)
A midrash taught that as God created the four cardinal directions, so also did God set about God’s throne four angels — Michael
Michael (archangel)
Michael , Micha'el or Mîkhā'ēl; , Mikhaḗl; or Míchaël; , Mīkhā'īl) is an archangel in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic teachings. Roman Catholics, Anglicans, and Lutherans refer to him as Saint Michael the Archangel and also simply as Saint Michael...
, Gabriel
Gabriel
In Abrahamic religions, Gabriel is an Archangel who typically serves as a messenger to humans from God.He first appears in the Book of Daniel, delivering explanations of Daniel's visions. In the Gospel of Luke Gabriel foretells the births of both John the Baptist and of Jesus...
, Uriel
Uriel
Uriel is one of the archangels of post-Exilic Rabbinic tradition, and also of certain Christian traditions...
, and Raphael
Raphael (archangel)
Raphael is an archangel of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, who in the Judeo-Christian tradition performs all manners of healing....
— with Michael at God’s right. The midrash taught that Michael got his name (Mi ka'el, מִי-כָּאֵל) as a reward for the manner in which he praised God in two expressions that Moses employed. When the Israelites crossed the Red Sea, Moses began to chant, in the words of “Who (mi, מִי) is like You, o Lord.” And when Moses completed the Torah, he said, in the words of “There is none like God (ka'el, כָּאֵל), O Jeshurun
Jeshurun
Jeshurun, in the Hebrew Bible, is a poetic name for Israel. Derived from root word meaning upright, just, straight. Describes Israel when it does not stray away from the standards set by and upheld by God. Jeshurun appears four times in the Hebrew Bible — three times in Deuteronomy and...
.” The midrash taught that mi (מִי) combined with ka'el (כָּאֵל) to form the name Mi ka'el (מִי-כָּאֵל). (Numbers Rabbah
Numbers Rabbah
Numbers Rabbah is a religious text holy to classical Judaism. It is a midrash comprising a collection of ancient rabbinical homiletic interpretations of the book of Numbers ....
2:10.)
Rabbi Judah ben Simon expounded on God’s words in “I will hide My face from them.” Rabbi Judah ben Simon compared Israel to a king's son who went into the marketplace and struck people but was not struck in return (because of his being the king’s son). He insulted but was not insulted. He went up to his father arrogantly. But the father asked the son whether he thought that he was respected on his own account, when the son was respected only on account of the respect that was due to the father. So the father renounced the son, and as a result, no one took any notice of him. So when Israel went out of Egypt, the fear of them fell upon all the nations, as reported, “The peoples have heard, they tremble; pangs have taken hold on the inhabitants of Philistia. Then were the chiefs of Edom frightened; the mighty men of Moab, trembling takes hold upon them; all the inhabitants of Canaan are melted away. Terror and dread falls upon them.” But when Israel transgressed and sinned, God asked Israel whether it thought that it was respected on its own account, when it was respected only on account of the respect that was due to God. So God turned away from them a little, and the Amalekites came and attacked Israel, as reports, “Then Amalek came, and fought with Israel in Rephidim,” and then the Canaanites came and fought with Israel, as reports, “And the Canaanite, the king of Arad, who dwelt in the South, heard tell that Israel came by the way of Atharim; and he fought against Israel.” God told the Israelites that they had no genuine faith, as says, “they are a very disobedient generation, children in whom is no faith.” God concluded that the Israelites were rebellious, but to destroy them was impossible, to take them back to Egypt was impossible, and God could not change them for another people. So God concluded to chastise and try them with suffering. (Ruth Rabbah
Ruth Rabbah
Ruth Rabbah is an haggadic and homiletic interpretation of the Book of Ruth, which, like that of the four other scrolls , is included in the Midrash Rabbot. This midrash, divided into eight chapters or sections , covers the whole text of the Biblical book, interpreting it verse by verse, now in...
Prologue 4.)
A Baraita taught that the words, “I will send My terror before you, and will discomfort all the people to whom you shall come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you,” in and the words, “Terror and dread fall upon them,” in show that no creature was able to withstand the Israelites as they entered into the Promised Land
Land of Israel
The Land of Israel is the Biblical name for the territory roughly corresponding to the area encompassed by the Southern Levant, also known as Canaan and Palestine, Promised Land and Holy Land. The belief that the area is a God-given homeland of the Jewish people is based on the narrative of the...
in the days of Joshua, and those who stood against them were immediately panic-stricken and lost control of their bowels. And the words, “till Your people pass over, O Lord,” in allude to the first advance of the Israelites into the Promised Land in the days of Joshua. And the words, “till the people pass over whom You have gotten,” in allude to the second advance of the Israelites into the Promised Land in the days of Ezra
Ezra
Ezra , also called Ezra the Scribe and Ezra the Priest in the Book of Ezra. According to the Hebrew Bible he returned from the Babylonian exile and reintroduced the Torah in Jerusalem...
. The Baraita thus concluded that the Israelites were worthy that God should perform a miracle on their behalf during the second advance as in the first advance, but that did not happen because the Israelites’ sin caused God to withhold the miracle. (Babylonian Talmud Sotah 36a.)
Rabbi Akiva
Rabbi Akiva
Akiva ben Joseph simply known as Rabbi Akiva , was a tanna of the latter part of the 1st century and the beginning of the 2nd century . He was a great authority in the matter of Jewish tradition, and one of the most central and essential contributors to the Mishnah and Midrash Halakha...
said that he who whispered as an incantation over a wound to heal it would have no place in the world to come. (Mishnah Sanhedrin 10:1.)
Exodus chapter 16
The Gemara asked how one could reconcile which reported that manna fell as “bread from heaven”; with which reported that people “made cakes of it,” implying that it required baking; and with which reported that people “ground it in mills,” implying that it required grinding. The Gemara concluded that the manna fell in different forms for different classes of people: For the righteous, it fell as bread; for average folk, it fell as cakes that required baking; and for the wicked, it fell as kernels that required grinding. (Babylonian Talmud Yoma 75a.) The Gemara asked how one could reconcile which reported that “the taste of it was like wafers made with honey,” with which reported that “the taste of it was as the taste of a cake baked with oil.” Rabbi Jose ben Hanina said that the manna tasted differently for different classes of people: It tasted like honey for infants, bread for youths, and oil for the aged. (Babylonian Talmud Yoma 75b.)The Mishnah taught that the manna that reports came down to the Israelites was among 10 miraculous things that God created on Sabbath eve at twilight on the first Friday at the completion of the Creation of the world. (Mishnah Avot 5:6.)
Tractate Eruvin
Moed
Moed is the second Order of the Mishnah, the first written recording of the Oral Torah of the Jewish people . Of the six orders of the Mishna, Moed is the third shortest. The order of Moed consists of 12 tractates:# Shabbat: or Shabbath deals with the 39 prohibitions of "work" on the Shabbat...
in the Mishnah, Tosefta, Jerusalem Talmud
Jerusalem Talmud
The Jerusalem Talmud, talmud meaning "instruction", "learning", , is a collection of Rabbinic notes on the 2nd-century Mishnah which was compiled in the Land of Israel during the 4th-5th century. The voluminous text is also known as the Palestinian Talmud or Talmud de-Eretz Yisrael...
, and Babylonian Talmud interpreted the laws of not walking beyond permitted limits in (Mishnah Eruvin 1:1–10:15; Tosefta Eruvin 1:1–8:24; Jerusalem Talmud Eruvin 1a–; Babylonian Talmud Eruvin 2a–105a.)
A Baraita
Baraita
Baraita designates a tradition in the Jewish oral law not incorporated in the Mishnah. "Baraita" thus refers to teachings "outside" of the six orders of the Mishnah...
taught that Josiah
Josiah
Josiah or Yoshiyahu or Joshua was a king of Judah who instituted major reforms. Josiah is credited by most historians with having established or compiled important Jewish scriptures during the Deuteronomic reform that occurred during his rule.Josiah became king of Judah at the age of eight, after...
hid the Ark, the bottle containing the manna (see ), Aaron’s staff with its almonds and blossoms (see ), and the chest that the Philistines
Philistines
Philistines , Pleshet or Peleset, were a people who occupied the southern coast of Canaan at the beginning of the Iron Age . According to the Bible, they ruled the five city-states of Gaza, Askelon, Ashdod, Ekron and Gath, from the Wadi Gaza in the south to the Yarqon River in the north, but with...
sent as a gift (see ), because Josiah read in “The Lord will bring you, and your king whom you shall set over you, to a nation that you have not known.” Therefore he hid these things, as reports: “And he said to the Levites, that taught all Israel, that were holy to the Lord: ‘Put the holy ark into the house that Solomon, the son of David, King of Israel built. There shall no more be a burden upon your shoulders now.’” (Babylonian Talmud Yoma 52b.)
Exodus chapter 17
The Mishnah reported that in synagogues at Purim, Jews read (Mishnah Megillah 3:6.)The Mishnah quoted which described how when Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and asked whether Moses’ hands really made war or stopped it. Rather, the Mishnah read the verse to teach that as long as the Israelites looked upward and submitted their hearts to God, they would grow stronger, but when they did not, they would fall. The Mishnah taught that the fiery serpent placed on a pole in worked much the same way, by directing the Israelites to look upward to God. (Mishnah Rosh Hashanah 3:8.)
Commandments
According to MaimonidesMaimonides
Moses ben-Maimon, called Maimonides and also known as Mūsā ibn Maymūn in Arabic, or Rambam , was a preeminent medieval Jewish philosopher and one of the greatest Torah scholars and physicians of the Middle Ages...
and Sefer ha-Chinuch
Sefer ha-Chinuch
The Sefer ha-Chinuch , often simply "the Chinuch" is a work which systematically discusses the 613 commandments of the Torah. It was published anonymously in 13th century Spain...
, there is one negative commandment
Mitzvah
The primary meaning of the Hebrew word refers to precepts and commandments as commanded by God...
in the parshah:
- Not to walk outside permitted limits on the Sabbath
(Maimonides. Mishneh Torah
Mishneh Torah
The Mishneh Torah subtitled Sefer Yad ha-Hazaka is a code of Jewish religious law authored by Maimonides , one of history's foremost rabbis...
, Negative Commandment 321. Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
, Egypt, 1170–1180. Reprinted in Maimonides. The Commandments: Sefer Ha-Mitzvoth of Maimonides. Translated by Charles B. Chavel, 2:296. London: Soncino Press, 1967. ISBN 0-900689-71-4. Sefer HaHinnuch: The Book of [Mitzvah] Education. Translated by Charles Wengrov, 1:137–41. Jerusalem: Feldheim Pub., 1991. ISBN 0-87306-179-9.)
Haftarah
The haftarahHaftarah
The haftarah or haftoroh is a series of selections from the books of Nevi'im of the Hebrew Bible that is publicly read in synagogue as part of Jewish religious practice...
for the parshah is:
- for Ashkenazi JewsAshkenazi JewsAshkenazi Jews, also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim , are the Jews descended from the medieval Jewish communities along the Rhine in Germany from Alsace in the south to the Rhineland in the north. Ashkenaz is the medieval Hebrew name for this region and thus for Germany...
: and - for Sephardi JewsSephardi JewsSephardi Jews is a general term referring to the descendants of the Jews who lived in the Iberian Peninsula before their expulsion in the Spanish Inquisition. It can also refer to those who use a Sephardic style of liturgy or would otherwise define themselves in terms of the Jewish customs and...
:
For Ashkenazi Jews, the haftarah is the longest of the year.
Connection to the Parshah
Both the parshah and the haftarah contain songs that celebrate the victory of God’s people, the parshah in the “Song of the SeaSong of the sea
The Song of the Sea is a poem that appears in the Book of Exodus of the Hebrew Bible, at . It is followed in verses 20 and 21 by a much shorter song sung by Miriam and the other women...
” about God’s deliverance of the Israelites from Pharaoh , and the haftarah in the “Song of Deborah” about the Israelites’ victory over the Canaan
Canaan
Canaan is a historical region roughly corresponding to modern-day Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, and the western parts of Jordan...
ite general Sisera
Sisera
Sisera was commander of the Canaanite army of King Jabin of Hazor mentioned in the of the Hebrew Bible. After being defeated by Barak, Sisera was killed by Jael, who hammered a tent peg into his temple....
. Both the parshah and the haftarah report how the leaders of Israel’s enemies assembled hundreds of chariots. Both the parshah and the haftarah report how God “threw . . . into panic” (va-yaham) Israel’s enemies. Both the parshah and the haftarah report waters sweeping away Israel’s enemies Both the parshah and the haftarah report singing by women to celebrate, the parshah by Miriam , and the haftarah by Deborah . Finally, both the parshah and the haftarah mention Amalek.
The Gemara tied together God’s actions in the parshah and the haftarah. To reassure Israelites concerned that their enemies still lived, God had the Reed Sea spit out the dead Egyptians. (See ) To repay the seas, God committed the Kishon River
Kishon River
The Kishon River is a river in Israel that flows into the Mediterranean Sea at the city of Haifa.- Course :The Kishon River is a 70-km-long perennial stream in Israel...
to deliver one-and-a-half times as many bodies. To pay the debt, when Sisera came to attack the Israelites, God had the Kishon wash the Canaanites away. (See ) The Gemara calculated one-and-a-half times as many bodies from the numbers of chariots reported in and (Babylonian Talmud Pesachim 118b.)
In the liturgy
The concluding blessing of the ShemaShema Yisrael
Shema Yisrael are the first two words of a section of the Torah that is a centerpiece of the morning and evening Jewish prayer services...
, immediately prior to the Amidah
Amidah
The Amidah , also called the Shmoneh Esreh , is the central prayer of the Jewish liturgy. This prayer, among others, is found in the siddur, the traditional Jewish prayer book...
prayer in each of the three prayer services
Jewish services
Jewish prayer are the prayer recitations that form part of the observance of Judaism. These prayers, often with instructions and commentary, are found in the siddur, the traditional Jewish prayer book....
recounts events from (Reuven Hammer
Reuven Hammer
Reuven Hammer is a Conservative Jewish rabbi, scholar of Jewish liturgy, author and lecturer. He is a founder of the Masorti movement in Israel and a past president of the International Rabbinical Assembly. He served many years as head of the Masorti Beth Din in Israel...
, Or Hadash: A Commentary on Siddur Sim Shalom
Siddur Sim Shalom
Siddur Sim Shalom may refer to any siddur in a family of siddurim, Jewish prayerbooks, and related commentaries on these siddurim, published by the Rabbinical Assembly and the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism....
for Shabbat and Festivals, 114. New York: The Rabbinical Assembly, 2003. ISBN 0916219208.)
The Passover Haggadah
Haggadah of Pesach
The Haggadah is a Jewish text that sets forth the order of the Passover Seder. Reading the Haggadah at the Seder table is a fulfillment of the Scriptural commandment to each Jew to "tell your son" of the Jewish liberation from slavery in Egypt as described in the Book of Exodus in the Torah...
, in the magid section of the Seder
Passover Seder
The Passover Seder is a Jewish ritual feast that marks the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Passover. It is conducted on the evenings of the 14th day of Nisan in the Hebrew calendar, and on the 15th by traditionally observant Jews living outside Israel. This corresponds to late March or April in...
, recounts the reasoning of Rabbi Jose the Galilean that as the phrase “the finger of God” in referred to 10 plagues, “the great hand” (translated “the great work”) in must refer to 50 plagues upon the Egyptians. (Menachem Davis. The Interlinear Haggadah: The Passover Haggadah, with an Interlinear Translation, Instructions and Comments, 51–52. Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, 2005. ISBN 1-57819-064-9. Joseph Tabory. JPS Commentary on the Haggadah: Historical Introduction, Translation, and Commentary, 95. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 2008. ISBN 978-0-8276-0858-0.)
The Song of the Sea, appears in its entirety in the P’sukei D’zimra section of the morning service
Jewish services
Jewish prayer are the prayer recitations that form part of the observance of Judaism. These prayers, often with instructions and commentary, are found in the siddur, the traditional Jewish prayer book....
for Shabbat (Hammer, at 102–03.)
The references to God’s mighty hand and arm in 12, and 16 are reflected in which is also one of the six Psalms recited at the beginning of the Kabbalat Shabbat prayer service. (Hammer, at 18.)
The statement of God’s eternal sovereignty in “God will reign for ever and ever!” may have found paraphrase in “Adonai shall reign throughout all generations,” which in turn appears in the Kedusha
Kedusha
The Kedushah is traditionally the third section of all Amidah recitations. In the silent Amidah it is a short prayer, but in the repetition, which requires a minyan, it is considerably lengthier...
h section of the Amidah prayer in each of the three Jewish services|prayer services. And the statement of God’s eternal sovereignty in also appears verbatim in the Kedushah D’Sidra section of the Minchah
Jewish services
Jewish prayer are the prayer recitations that form part of the observance of Judaism. These prayers, often with instructions and commentary, are found in the siddur, the traditional Jewish prayer book....
service for Shabbat. (Hammer, at 4, 227.)
The people’s murmuring at Massah and Meribah, and perhaps the rock that yielded water, of are reflected in which is in turn the first of the six Psalms recited at the beginning of the Kabbalat Shabbat prayer service. (Hammer, at 15.)
The Weekly Maqam
In the Weekly MaqamThe Weekly Maqam
In Mizrahi and Sephardic Middle Eastern Jewish prayer services, each Shabbat the congregation conducts services using a different maqam. A maqam , which in Arabic literally means 'place', is a standard melody type and set of related tunes. The melodies used in a given maqam aims effectively to...
, Sephardi Jews each week base the songs of the services on the content of that week's parshah. For Parshah Beshalach, Sephardi Jews apply Maqam Ajam, the maqam that expresses happiness, to commemorating the joy and song of the Israelites as they crossed the sea.
Biblical
(God separated water to reveal dry land); (Amalekites); (Amalek); (Amalek); (Joseph’s bones). 20, 27; (hardening Pharaoh’s heart). (pillar of fire). (hardening of heart); (hardening of heart); (Amalekites). (crossing waters); (crossing waters); (hardening of heart); (Joseph’s bones). (God blots out the names of enemies); (God as “the Rock,” generation of the Wilderness); (God’s power over the sea); (God’s eternal sovereignty). (Agagite, read as Amalekite via ).- NehemiahBook of NehemiahThe Book of Nehemiah is a book of the Hebrew Bible. Told largely in the form of a first-person memoir, it concerns the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem by Nehemiah, a Jew who is a high official at the Persian court, and the dedication of the city and its people to God's laws...
19 (pillar of fire).
Early nonrabbinic
- Ezekiel the TragedianEzekiel the TragedianEzekiel the Tragedian, also known as Ezekiel the Poet, was a Jewish dramatist who wrote in Alexandria during the 2nd century BCE. His work survives only in fragments found in the writings of Eusebius, Clement of Alexandria, and Pseudo-Eustathius. His only known work, Exagōgē, is a five-act drama...
. Exagōgē. 2nd century BCE. Translated by R.G. Robertson. In The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha: Volume 2: Expansions of the “Old Testament” and Legends, Wisdom and Philosophical Literature, Prayers, Psalms, and Odes, Fragments of Lost Judeo-Hellenistic works. Edited by James H. CharlesworthJames H. CharlesworthJames H. Charlesworth is the George L. Collord Professor of New Testament Language and Literature and director of the Dead Sea Scrolls Project at Princeton Theological Seminary. He is noted for his research in Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Hebrew and Christian Bibles, the Dead Sea Scrolls,...
, 816–19. New York: Anchor BibleAnchor Bible SeriesThe Anchor Bible project, consisting of a Commentary Series, Bible Dictionary, and Reference Library, is a scholarly and commercial co-venture begun in 1956, when individual volumes in the commentary series began production...
, 1985. ISBN 0-385-18813-7. - RomansEpistle to the RomansThe Epistle of Paul to the Romans, often shortened to Romans, is the sixth book in the New Testament. Biblical scholars agree that it was composed by the Apostle Paul to explain that Salvation is offered through the Gospel of Jesus Christ...
1st century. (hardening Pharaoh’s heart). - HebrewsEpistle to the HebrewsThe Epistle to the Hebrews is one of the books in the New Testament. Its author is not known.The primary purpose of the Letter to the Hebrews is to exhort Christians to persevere in the face of persecution. The central thought of the entire Epistle is the doctrine of the Person of Christ and his...
(Joseph’s bones); (first Passover). Late 1st century. - RevelationBook of RevelationThe Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament. The title came into usage from the first word of the book in Koine Greek: apokalupsis, meaning "unveiling" or "revelation"...
Late 1st century. (changing hearts to God’s purpose).
- JosephusJosephusTitus Flavius Josephus , also called Joseph ben Matityahu , was a 1st-century Romano-Jewish historian and hagiographer of priestly and royal ancestry who recorded Jewish history, with special emphasis on the 1st century AD and the First Jewish–Roman War, which resulted in the Destruction of...
. Antiquities of the JewsAntiquities of the JewsAntiquities of the Jews is a twenty volume historiographical work composed by the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus in the thirteenth year of the reign of Roman emperor Flavius Domitian which was around 93 or 94 AD. Antiquities of the Jews contains an account of history of the Jewish people,...
2:14:5–3:2:5. Circa 93–94. Reprinted in, e.g., The Works of Josephus: Complete and Unabridged, New Updated Edition. Translated by William WhistonWilliam WhistonWilliam Whiston was an English theologian, historian, and mathematician. He is probably best known for his translation of the Antiquities of the Jews and other works by Josephus, his A New Theory of the Earth, and his Arianism...
, 74–83. Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Pub., 1987. ISBN 0-913573-86-8. - ActsActs of the ApostlesThe Acts of the Apostles , usually referred to simply as Acts, is the fifth book of the New Testament; Acts outlines the history of the Apostolic Age...
2nd century. (Joseph’s bones).
Classical rabbinic
- MishnahMishnahThe Mishnah or Mishna is the first major written redaction of the Jewish oral traditions called the "Oral Torah". It is also the first major work of Rabbinic Judaism. It was redacted c...
: Eruvin 1:1–10:15; Rosh Hashanah 3:8; Megillah 3:6; Sotah 1:7–9; Sanhedrin 10:1; Avot 5:6. 3rd century. Reprinted in, e.g., The Mishnah: A New Translation. Translated by Jacob NeusnerJacob NeusnerJacob Neusner is an American academic scholar of Judaism who lives in Rhinebeck, New York.-Biography:Born in Hartford, Connecticut, Neusner was educated at Harvard University, the Jewish Theological Seminary of America , the University of Oxford, and Columbia University.Neusner is often celebrated...
, 208–29; 304, 321, 449, 604, 686. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1988. ISBN 0-300-05022-4. - Mekhilta of Rabbi IshmaelMekhiltaThis article refers to the Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael. There is a separate article on the Mekhilta de-Rabbi ShimonMekhilta or Mekilta is a halakic midrash to the Book of Exodus...
: 19:1–46:2. Land of Israel, late 4th century. Reprinted in, e.g., Mekhilta According to Rabbi Ishmael. Translated by Jacob Neusner, 1:125–72; 2:1–36. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1988. ISBN 1-55540-237-2. - Jerusalem TalmudJerusalem TalmudThe Jerusalem Talmud, talmud meaning "instruction", "learning", , is a collection of Rabbinic notes on the 2nd-century Mishnah which was compiled in the Land of Israel during the 4th-5th century. The voluminous text is also known as the Palestinian Talmud or Talmud de-Eretz Yisrael...
: Berakhot 4b, 24a, 43b, 51a, 94b; Peah 5a, 9b; Kilayim 72b; Eruvin 1a–; Sukkah 28b. Land of Israel, circa 400 CE. Reprinted in, e.g., Talmud Yerushalmi. Edited by Chaim Malinowitz, Yisroel Simcha Schorr, and Mordechai Marcus, vols. 1–3, 5, 22. Brooklyn: Mesorah Pubs., 2005–2009. - Mekhilta of Rabbi SimeonMekhilta de-Rabbi ShimonThe Mekhilta de-Rabbi Shimon is a Halakic midrash on Exodus from the school of R. Akiba, the "Rabbi Shimon" in question being Shimon bar Yochai. No midrash of this name is mentioned in Talmudic literature, but medieval authors refer to one which they call either "Mekilta de-R. Simeon b. Yoḥai," or...
2:2; 11:1; 15:4; 19:4–45:1; 48:2; 49:2; 50:2; 54:2; 61:2; 81:1. Land of Israel, 5th century. Reprinted in, e.g., Mekhilta de-Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai. Translated by W. David Nelson, 7, 33, 50, 79–195, 214, 217, 228, 249, 279, 370. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 2006. ISBN 0-8276-0799-7.
- Babylonian TalmudTalmudThe Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....
: Berakhot 4a, 5a, 20b, 27a, 33a, 39b–40a, 54a–b, 58a; Shabbat 2a, 23b, 28a, 87b, 103b, 114b, 118b, 133b; Eruvin 2a–105a; Pesachim 47b, 67a, 85b, 87b, 117a, 118b; Yoma 4b, 52b, 70a, 75a–b; Sukkah 11b, 25a, 33a; Beitzah 2b, 15b; Rosh Hashanah 29a, 31a, 32b; Taanit 9a, 11a; Megillah 7a, 10b, 14a, 18a, 30b–31a; Moed Katan 25b; Chagigah 5b, 13b–14a; Yevamot 13b, 72a; Ketubot 5a, 7b, 62b; Nedarim 2b; Nazir 2b, 45a; Sotah 9b, 11a–b, 13b, 20b, 27b, 30b, 37a, 42b, 48a; Gittin 20a, 56b; Kiddushin 32a, 38a; Bava Kamma 82a, 92a–b; Bava Metzia 86b; Bava Batra 16b, 98a; Sanhedrin 11a–b, 17a, 20b, 39b, 42a, 56b, 90a, 91b–92a, 93a, 95b, 96b, 98b, 99b, 101a, 106a, 110a; Makkot 8b; Shevuot 15a; Avodah Zarah 2b, 4a, 11a, 24b; Horayot 8b, 12a; Menachot 27a, 31b, 32b, 53a–b, 95a; Chullin 14a, 89a, 135b; Arakhin 15a–b; Keritot 5b. Babylonia, 6th century. Reprinted in, e.g., Talmud Bavli. Edited by Yisroel Simcha Schorr, Chaim Malinowitz, and Mordechai Marcus, 72 vols. Brooklyn: Mesorah Pubs., 2006.
Medieval
- Exodus RabbahExodus RabbahExodus Rabbah is the midrash to Exodus, containing in the printed editions 52 parashiyyot. It is not uniform in its composition.- Structure :In parashiyyot i.-xiv...
20:1–26:3. 10th century. Reprinted in, e.g., Midrash Rabbah: Exodus. Translated by S. M. Lehrman, vol. 3. London: Soncino Press, 1939. ISBN 0-900689-38-2. - RashiRashiShlomo Yitzhaki , or in Latin Salomon Isaacides, and today generally known by the acronym Rashi , was a medieval French rabbi famed as the author of a comprehensive commentary on the Talmud, as well as a comprehensive commentary on the Tanakh...
. Commentary. Exodus 13–17. TroyesTroyesTroyes is a commune and the capital of the Aube department in north-central France. It is located on the Seine river about southeast of Paris. Many half-timbered houses survive in the old town...
, France, late 11th century. Reprinted in, e.g., Rashi. The Torah: With Rashi’s Commentary Translated, Annotated, and Elucidated. Translated and annotated by Yisrael Isser Zvi Herczeg, 2:143–204. Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, 1994. ISBN 0-89906-027-7. - Judah HaleviYehuda HaleviJudah Halevi was a Spanish Jewish physician, poet and philosopher. He was born in Spain, either in Toledo or Tudela, in 1075 or 1086, and died shortly after arriving in Palestine in 1141...
. KuzariKuzariThe Kitab al Khazari, commonly called the Kuzari, is one of most famous works of the medieval Spanish Jewish philosopher and poet Rabbi Yehuda Halevi, completed around 1140. Its title is an Arabic phrase meaning Book of the Khazars...
. 1:85–86; 3:35; 4:3. ToledoToledo, SpainToledo's Alcázar became renowned in the 19th and 20th centuries as a military academy. At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 its garrison was famously besieged by Republican forces.-Economy:...
, Spain, 1130–1140. Reprinted in, e.g., Jehuda Halevi. Kuzari: An Argument for the Faith of Israel. Intro. by Henry Slonimsky, 60, 167, 202–03. New York: Schocken, 1964. ISBN 0-8052-0075-4. - ZoharZoharThe Zohar is the foundational work in the literature of Jewish mystical thought known as Kabbalah. It is a group of books including commentary on the mystical aspects of the Torah and scriptural interpretations as well as material on Mysticism, mythical cosmogony, and mystical psychology...
2:44a–67a. Spain, late 13th century. Reprinted in, e.g., The Zohar. Translated by Harry Sperling and Maurice Simon. 5 vols. London: Soncino Press, 1934.
Modern
- Thomas HobbesThomas HobbesThomas Hobbes of Malmesbury , in some older texts Thomas Hobbs of Malmsbury, was an English philosopher, best known today for his work on political philosophy...
. LeviathanLeviathan (book)Leviathan or The Matter, Forme and Power of a Common Wealth Ecclesiasticall and Civil — commonly called simply Leviathan — is a book written by Thomas Hobbes and published in 1651. Its name derives from the biblical Leviathan...
, 3:34, 36. England, 1651. Reprint edited by C. B. MacphersonC. B. MacphersonCrawford Brough Macpherson O.C. M.Sc. D. Sc. was an influential Canadian political scientist who taught political theory at the University of Toronto.-Life:...
, 437, 457. Harmondsworth, England: Penguin Classics, 1982. ISBN 0140431950.
- Moses MendelssohnMoses MendelssohnMoses Mendelssohn was a German Jewish philosopher to whose ideas the renaissance of European Jews, Haskalah is indebted...
. JerusalemJerusalem (Mendelssohn)Jerusalem or On Religious Power and Judaism is the title of a book written by Moses Mendelssohn, which was first published in 1783 – the same year, when the Prussian officer Christian Wilhelm von Dohm published the second part of his Mémoire Concerning the amelioration of the civil status of the...
, § 2. Berlin, 1783. Reprinted in Jerusalem: Or on Religious Power and Judaism. Translated by Allan Arkush; introduction and commentary by Alexander AltmannAlexander AltmannAlexander Altmann was an Orthodox Jewish scholar and rabbi born in Kassa, Austria-Hungary, today Košice, Slovakia. He emigrated to England in 1938 and later settled in the United States, working productively for a decade and a half as a professor within the Philosophy Department at Brandeis...
, 100. Hanover, N.H.: Brandeis Univ. Press, 1983. ISBN 0-87451-264-6. - Henry Wadsworth LongfellowHenry Wadsworth LongfellowHenry Wadsworth Longfellow was an American poet and educator whose works include "Paul Revere's Ride", The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline...
The Jewish Cemetery at Newport . Boston, 1854. Reprinted in Harold BloomHarold BloomHarold Bloom is an American writer and literary critic, and is Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University. He is known for his defense of 19th-century Romantic poets, his unique and controversial theories of poetic influence, and his prodigious literary output, particularly for a literary...
. ‘‘American Religious Poems’’, 80–81. New York: Library of America, 2006. ISBN 978-1-931082-74-7. - “Mary Don't You WeepMary Don't You Weep"Mary Don't You Weep" is a Negro spiritual that originates from before the American Civil War – thus it is what scholars call a "slave song," "a label that describes their origins among the enslaved," and it contains "coded messages of hope and resistance." It is...
.” United States, 19th Century. - David Einhorn. “War with Amalek.” Philadelphia, 1864. In American Sermons: The Pilgrims to Martin Luther King Jr. Edited by Michael Warner, 665–73. New York: Library of America, 1999. ISBN 1-883011-65-5.
- Shlomo GanzfriedShlomo GanzfriedShlomo Ganzfried was an Orthodox rabbi and posek best known as author of the work of Halakha , the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch , by which title he is also known.- Biography :Ganzfried was born in the year 1804 in Uzhhorod in the Carpathian region of the...
. Kitzur Shulchon Oruch, 90:3. Hungary, 1864. Translated by Eliyahu Touger, 1:387–88. New York: Moznaim Publishing Corp., 1991. ISBN 0-940118-63-7. - Emily DickinsonEmily DickinsonEmily Elizabeth Dickinson was an American poet. Born in Amherst, Massachusetts, to a successful family with strong community ties, she lived a mostly introverted and reclusive life...
. Poem 1642 ("Red Sea," indeed! Talk not to me). Circa 1885. In The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson. Edited by Thomas H. Johnson, 673. New York: Little, Brown & Co., 1960. ISBN 0-316-18414-4. - Franklin E. Hoskins. “The Route Over Which Moses Led the Children of Israel Out of Egypt.” National GeographicNational Geographic MagazineNational Geographic, formerly the National Geographic Magazine, is the official journal of the National Geographic Society. It published its first issue in 1888, just nine months after the Society itself was founded...
. (Dec. 1909): 1011–38. - Maynard Owen WilliamsMaynard Owen WilliamsMaynard Owen Williams was a National Geographic correspondent from 1919. He was an inveterate traveller who began travelling in his teens, explored Asia and witnessed the Russian Revolution, among other adventures....
. “East of Suez to the Mount of the Decalogue: Following the Trail Over Which Moses Led the Israelites from the Slave-Pens of Egypt to Sinai.” National Geographic. (Dec. 1927): 708–43. - Abraham Isaac KookAbraham Isaac KookAbraham Isaac Kook was the first Ashkenazi chief rabbi of the British Mandate for Palestine, the founder of the Religious Zionist Yeshiva Merkaz HaRav, Jewish thinker, Halachist, Kabbalist and a renowned Torah scholar...
. The Moral Principles. Early 20th century. Reprinted in Abraham Isaac Kook: the Lights of Penitence, the Moral Principles, Lights of Holiness, Essays, Letters, and Poems. Translated by Ben Zion BokserBen Zion Bokser-Biography:Bokser was born in Lubomi, Poland, and emigrated to the United States at the age of 13 in 1920. He attended City College of New York and Rabbi Isaac Elhanan Theological Seminary, followed by the Jewish Theological Seminary of America and Columbia University...
, 137, 146. Mahwah, N.J.: Paulist Press 1978. ISBN 0-8091-2159-X.
- Thomas MannThomas MannThomas Mann was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and 1929 Nobel Prize laureate, known for his series of highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novellas, noted for their insight into the psychology of the artist and the intellectual...
. Joseph and His BrothersJoseph and His BrothersJoseph and His Brothers is a four-part novel by Thomas Mann, written over the course of 16 years. Mann retells the familiar stories of Genesis, from Jacob to Joseph , setting it in the historical context of the Amarna Period...
. Translated by John E. WoodsJohn E. WoodsJohn E. Woods is a translator who specializes in translating German literature, since about 1978. His work includes much of the fictional prose of Arno Schmidt and the works of contemporary authors such as Ingo Schulze and Christoph Ransmayr...
, 577, 788. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005. ISBN 1-4000-4001-9. Originally published as Joseph und seine Brüder. Stockholm: Bermann-Fischer Verlag, 1943. - Morris Adler. The World of the Talmud, 28–29. B’nai B’rith Hillel Foundations, 1958. Reprinted Kessinger Publishing, 2007. ISBN 0548080003.
- Harvey Arden. “In Search of Moses.” National Geographic. (Jan. 1976): 2–37.
- Hershel ShanksHershel ShanksHershel Shanks is the founder of the Biblical Archaeology Society and the editor of the Biblical Archaeology Review and has written and edited numerous works on Biblical archaeology including the Dead Sea Scrolls....
. “The Exodus and the Crossing of the Red Sea, According to Hans Goedicke.” Biblical Archaeology ReviewBiblical Archaeology ReviewBiblical Archaeology Review is a publication that seeks to connect the academic study of archaeology to a broad general audience seeking to understand the world of the Bible and the Near and Middle East . Covering both the Old and New Testaments, BAR presents the latest discoveries and...
7 (5) (Sept./Oct. 1981). - Charles R. Krahmalkov. “A Critique of Professor Goedicke’s Exodus Theories.” Biblical Archaeology Review 7 (5) (Sept./Oct. 1981).
- Harvey Arden. “Eternal Sinai.” National Geographic. 161 (4) (Apr. 1982): 420–61.
- Trude Dothan. “Gaza Sands Yield Lost Outpost of the Egyptian Empire.” National Geographic. 162 (6) (Dec. 1982): 739–69.
- Marc A. Gellman. “A Tent of Dolphin Skins.” In Gates to the New City: A Treasury of Modern Jewish Tales. Edited by Howard Schwartz. New York: Avon, 1983. ISBN 0-380-81091-3. Reissue ed. Jason Aronson, 1991. ISBN 0876688490.
- Bernard F. Batto. “Red Sea or Reed Sea? How the Mistake Was Made and What Yam Sûp Really Means.” Biblical Archaeology Review 10 (4) (July/Aug. 1984).
- Marc Gellman. “The Dolphins of the Red Sea.” In Does God Have a Big Toe? Stories About Stories in the Bible, 73–75. New York: HarperCollins, 1989. ISBN 0-06-022432-0.
- Aaron WildavskyAaron WildavskyAaron Wildavsky was an American political scientist known for his pioneering work in public policy, government budgeting, and risk management....
. Assimilation versus Separation: Joseph the Administrator and the Politics of Religion in Biblical Israel, 8. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers, 1993. ISBN 1-56000-081-3. - William H.C. Propp. Exodus 1–18, 2:461–622. New York: Anchor BibleAnchor Bible SeriesThe Anchor Bible project, consisting of a Commentary Series, Bible Dictionary, and Reference Library, is a scholarly and commercial co-venture begun in 1956, when individual volumes in the commentary series began production...
, 1998. ISBN 0-385-14804-6. - Mary Doria RussellMary Doria RussellMary Doria Russell is an American novelist. -Biography:Russell was born in the suburbs of Chicago. Her parents were both in the military: her father was a Marine Corps drill instructor, and her mother was a Navy nurse. She graduated from Glenbard East High School and later she earned a Ph.D in...
. A Thread of Grace, 58–59. New York: Random House, 2005. ISBN 0-375-50184-3. (an exodus). - Lawrence KushnerLawrence KushnerLawrence Kushner is a Reform rabbi and currently the scholar-in-residence at Congregation Emanu-El in San Francisco, California.-Biography:Born in Detroit, Kushner graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Cincinnati, after which he went on to receive his rabbinical ordination from Hebrew...
. Kabbalah: A Love Story, 112. New York: Morgan Road Books, 2006. ISBN 0-7679-2412-6. - Nathaniel PhilbrickNathaniel PhilbrickNathaniel Philbrick is an American author and a winner of the National Book Award for his 2000 work of maritime history In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex. He is member of the Philbrick literary family.-Life:...
. Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War, 293. New York: Viking Penguin, 2006. ISBN 0-670-03760-5. - Suzanne A. Brody. “I’m still groping” and “Desert Heat.” In Dancing in the White Spaces: The Yearly Torah Cycle and More Poems, 16, 78. Shelbyville, Kentucky: Wasteland Press, 2007. ISBN 1-60047-112-9.
- Esther JungreisEsther JungreisEsther Jungreis is the founder of the international Hineni movement in America. A Holocaust survivor, she has made it her life's mission to bring back Jews to Orthodox Judaism.-Biography:...
. Life Is a Test, 67–68, 203–04, 264–66. Brooklyn: Shaar Press, 2007. ISBN 1-4226-0609-0. - Alicia Jo Rabins. “Snow/Scorpions and Spiders.” In Girls in Trouble. New York: JDub Music, 2009. (bitterness of the drowning at the sea).
Texts
Commentaries
- Academy for Jewish Religion, California
- Academy for Jewish Religion, New York
- Aish.com
- American Jewish University
- Anshe Emes Synagogue, Los Angeles
- Bar-Ilan University
- Chabad.org
- eparsha.com
- Jewish Agency for Israel
- Jewish Theological Seminary
- Miriam Aflalo
- MyJewishLearning.com
- Ohr Sameach
- Orthodox Union
- OzTorah, Torah from Australia
- Pardes from Jerusalem
- Parshah Parts
- Rabbi Sharon Brous
- Rabbi Shlomo Riskin
- Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld
- Reconstructionist Judaism
- Sephardic Institute
- Shiur.com
- 613.org Jewish Torah Audio
- Tanach Study Center
- Teach613.org, Torah Education at Cherry Hill
- Torah from Dixie
- Torah.org
- Union for Reform Judaism
- United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth
- United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism
- What’s Bothering Rashi?