Ziv: Parashat Beshalah 2

This week we read the narrative of one of the most important events in the history of the people of Israel, the coming out from the slavery of Egypt and the beginning of life in the wilderness. The people will be in a process of initiation, and will learn the difficult task of being free. Some commentators wonder why the text begins with difficulty instead of joy: Pharaoh has to expel the people out of his country, out of servitude… and in fact, as soon as they were freed, the Hebrews wanted to return to their former bondage. When they reach the Red Sea, they are discouraged, and begin to murmur: “Was it for want of graves in Egypt that you brought us to die in the wilderness?” and the answer is clear: “The Lord will do battle for you”. This is the teaching that is so difficult for them to understand. A commentary has understood the difficulty, and says that it is far simpler to get the people out of Egypt, than to get Egypt out of the heart of the people. The Hebrew name of this country, “Mitsraim”, expresses a feeling of anguish calling for deliverance. This exodus stands for the passage from one inner state to another. In Egypt, the Nile was worshipped as a god, because it was providing water used for crops. One has just “to water the land like a vegetable garden”, and water was always available, whereas Canaan is “a land of hills and valleys, that soaks up its water from the rain of heaven” (cf. Deuteronomy 11:10). In the promised land, the people depend on heaven for its water, they may have to deal with drought, and this is what they have to learn in the wilderness. The murmurs show the rejection of this dependence, and more than one generation will be necessary for the people to enter Canaan. Then, the manna will stop falling, and they will feed on the produce of the land, “unleavened bread and roasted grain” (Joshua 5:11). Life in the wilderness was an initiation to this newfound freedom and independence.

The text says that when the people left Egypt, Moses was carrying the bones of Joseph to bury them in Canaan, (Exodus 13:19) and he was walking at the head of the people. A commentary explains that after they have received the law in Sinai, and made the tent, the Levites who were carrying this mini-sanctuary were walking with Moses who was carrying the bones of Joseph. One day, they met other people in the desert, who asked them what they were carrying. And Moses answered: I am carrying the man that has put into practice what they are carrying… Joseph had observed all the commandments: he did not kill, did not commit adultery, and did not steal… and he is walking at the head of the people, because all his life gives testimony to the Law received by Moses. The Torah was given only in order to be put into practice.

A third teaching is given in the midrash: when the sea was opened, twelve tracks where opened, one for each tribe, and each of them was framed by a transparent wall of water. The Hebrews could see each other, but were not able to hear their neighbors. So, they could not hear their songs of victory, and everyone thought that he was the only one to sing… So often, we see the persons, but we do not hear the song of their souls, and we think we are the only one to sing. Shabbat shalom.