Parshat Beshalach   17 Tevet 5761, 10 February 2001

By Shlomo Riskin

Efrat, Israel - What is the salient feature of idolatry which makes it such an anathema to the Biblical psyche? What form does idolatry assume today? Let us carefully study a passage in this week's Torah portion and I believe we will arrive at an understanding.

The Biblical text pictures the frightening experience facing the Israelites: the Egyptians are pursuing them from behind, to bring them back to Egypt, and the Red Sea is in front of them, threatening to drown them if they use the beckoning waters as their only escape route. Moses attempts to allay their fears:

"…Stand and see the salvation of the Lord… The Lord will do battle for you and you may be silent". (Exodus 14:13, 14)

: "Why do you (Moses) cry out to Me? Speak to the children of Israel, and let them journey forth!" (Exodus 14:15)

Secondly, the Bible seems to go out of its way to provide the precise location which served as the meeting place for the chariots of Pharaoh and the Red Sea, a location commanded to them by G-d:

"Let them encamp before Pi-Ha'hirot (literally the mouth of hirot), between Migdal and the Sea, before Baal Zefon…" (Exodus 14:2).

I believe both issues may be clarified when we ponder yet a third curiosity. Pharaoh sets out for the chase with six hundred elite chariots, each manned with three charioters, as well as other chariots (Exodus 14: 6,7); the Egyptian military line-up seems rather vague and nondescript, especially when we remember that the Egyptian's animals had been destroyed in the plague and the Egyptian manpower had been considerably weakened. Josephus records, based on a midrash, that there were 50,000 chariots driven by horses and 200,000 Egyptian foot soldiers (Antiquities 2,15:3). But there were 600,000 able-bodied male Israelites - flush in the victory of their miraculous Egyptian exodus! Why did it not dawn on the Israelites to wage battle against their Egyptian assailants? It would seem they stood a good chance for victory!

What this brings to mind is a most mordant vignette of Mendele Mokher S'farim, in which he describes a scene of a Russian Cossack taunting a number of Jews to dance in front of him without clothes. In the course of his merriment - the Cossack was drinking Vodka and roaring with laughter - the Russian noted that his shoe laces were untied. He hands his gun to one of the naked Jewish dancers while he ties his shoes; never does it dawn on the Jew for an instant to utilize the weapon against the taunting anti-Semite!

I would argue that the confrontation at Pi HaHirot was much more than Israelite versus Egyptian; it was the ideological clash between monotheism and idolatry, Judaism and paganism, slavery and freedom (hirot is herut; the Israelites were at the cross road to freedom) Idolatry is predicated upon the fundamental impatience of the people. Pagans live in constant fear in a world governed by powerful capricious forces beyond their control; they can only hope to propitiate these gods with gifts and bribes.

Judaism entered the world with an entirely different message. Human beings are created in the image of the G-d of ethical monotheism, the Lord who is a G-d of compassion and graciousness, tolerance, loving-kindness and truth. We can and must emulate His ways and traits; indeed, G-d has taken us as His partners to help Him destroy evil and redeem the world on a path towards peace and perfection. Pagans are pawns, enslaved by incomprehensible powers: the Israelites must recognize their position as partners to a just and loving G-d, free to act together with the Divine for the good of all humanity.

Hence, the Book of Exodus opens not only by demonstrating Moses' ability to free himself from the seduction of Egyptian high society but also by G-d attempting to convince Moses to believe in himself and in his ability to inspire and influence his nation and the world. To believe in Me is to believe in yourself, teaches the Almighty "I will be what I will be," teaches G-d in expressing His Name; I am the G-d of becoming whose ultimate act of redemption depends upon the development and actions of my partners on earth, my first-born child Israel.

And so G-d provides Moses with two signs, expressions of the new-found monotheism so antithetical to paganism. The first is the staff, which - when cast to the ground by Moses - turns into a serpent. The message is clear: you, Moses, must grasp the staff of power, the scepter of leadership; if you reject it, if you turn your back on your ability to lead, the staff will turn into the snake of Egyptian paganism and corruption. The second sign is his hand, symbolic of action, "Rest your hand in your bosom," and it will turn leprous - white as snow. Remove your hand and recognize your ability to act and accomplish - and the healthy flesh will be restored. (Exodus 4:1-7)

The pagan is powerless among potent perplexing forces which can at best be momentarily assuaged; the believing Israelite must fearlessly fight the battle of a just and compassionate G-d in the marketplace and the home-front, on the military fields and in the royal palaces. The idols render the pagans impotent; G-d empowers his people to become His partners. Idolatry is built on the capricious voodoo of astrology and wonder-worker; Judaism is built on proper and courageous conduct on behalf of perfecting the world in the Kingship of G-d. Is it any wonder then that the Israelites must be weaned away from "lengthy prayer" and trained to journey forth on the pathway to the Divine - ready to wage battle against evil by upholding morality and destroying corruption.

Shabbat Shalom.

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