Parshat Beshalach  15 Shevat 5763, 18 January 2002

Shabbat Shalom: Parshat Beshalach    Exodus 13:17-17:16

By Shlomo Riskin

Efrat, Israel - This week's Biblical portion contains a very difficult - almost surrealistic - passage. If we interpret it in symbolic, allegorical terms - as does the midrash - not only will we have a much deeper understanding of the text, but we will also illuminate the profound significance of our public Torah readings on Monday, Thursday, and the Sabbath day, a primary and necessary aspect of our Communal Statutory Prayer Service.

Immediately following the miraculous splitting of the Reed Sea, and the exulting, exalting song of Moses and the sons of Israel, and of Miriam and the daughters of Israel, the Bible records that the Israelites "went for three days in the desert, and they did not find water. And they came to Marah (the name of an oasis encampment), but they were unable to drink the waters from Marah because they were bitter. And they complained (kvetched) to Moses. And (Moses) cried out to G-d, and G-d directed (yorah) him to a tree (eitz, a bark of a tree). He cast (the tree bark) upon the waters and the waters became sweet; there (G-d) placed for (Moses) statutes and laws and there He uplifted (or tested - nisahu) him" (Exodus 15:22-24).

The Rabbinic Sages of the Midrash first and foremost establish Marah as a six-week precursor to Mount Sinai, as a Divine Revelation anticipating - and perhaps providing the essence of - the fuller Revelation which is soon to come. Indeed, although marah literally means bitter, the word certainly contains an echo of Moriah, the mountain from which Torah teaching will emanate for Israel and the world, the Temple Mount.

And this connection is further emphasized by the unusual and multi-textured words in the text: "And G-d directed him " - vayorehu, the yrh being the Hebrew verb form from which the noun Torah, a (Divine) Direction, is built, and the "tree bark" or eitz resonating the eitz hayim which signifies three objects: the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden, the Torah which "is a tree of life for all who uphold it," and the very sacred pieces of word around which the Torah parchment is furled, which are referred to as the eitzei hayim. Hence, "the statutes and laws (mishpat) which were placed (Hebrew sam) " there at Marah, presaging "these are the laws (hamishpatim) which you shall place (Hebrew verb sim) before them" introducing the laws and statutes which were a continuation of the Decalogue and part and parcel of the Revelation at Sinai (Exodus 21:1).

Our Sages go one very significant step further. The Midrash teaches that the Israelites' thirsty complaints for water were very understandable, since they had journeyed three days distance from the Reed Sea - and it is most difficult if not impossible to live for three days without water. And just as an individual cannot live without water for three days, so the Jewish Community cannot live without Torah for three days. (Hekhilta, Beshalach 2, B.T. Baba Kamma 82a) Hence Moses legislated that at least one Torah portion be read publicly during the Communal Statutory Prayer Service every Monday, Thursday, and Sabbath day - thus eliminating the possibility of three consecutive days without a public Torah reading. Ezra the Scribe (approximately one-thousand years later) raised it to three Torah portions, and eventually the Men of the Great Assembly made it three Torah portions on Monday and Thursday, and seven Torah portions on Sabbath morning (with six Torah portions being publicly read on Yom Kippur, five Torah portions on regular Festivals, four on Rosh Hodesh and the Intermediate Festival Days, and three on Sabbath afternoons and regular Mondays an Thursdays).

It is fascinating - and unique to Judaism from among all other religions - that a Biblical textual reading be incorporated into our Communal Statutory Prayer. I believe the message is a profound one: both Prayer and Torah are communications between G-d and Israel, virtually two sides to the same coin, albeit with one major difference; in prayer we cry up to G-d, and in Torah, G-d calls down to us (Kriyah literally is a (Divine) call).

The context of this derivation from our Torah portion of Beshalach adds an even deeper dimension. Water is a symbol of both life - "And the spirit of the Lord hovered over the face of the waters "at the very dawn of creation (Genesis 1:2) - as well as of the destruction of life, as we see in the Biblical story of the Deluge at the time of Noah. Remember too that Jonah is almost destroyed by the raging waters of the sea - and he is rescued by the great fish who is the inhabitant of the sea. The energizing and powerful waters of life, the waves of emotion and strength which pulsate within and without human activities, can often be bitterly destructive in the hands of evil; it is only the sweetening and soothing dew-droplets of Torah which can deter the destruction and uplift us back to eternal Eden.

The midrash also informs us as to which of our manifold laws could best serve to sweeten the bitter waters: the Sabbath, the (seven) universal laws of morality (dinim) and honoring one's parents. The Sabbath establishes G-d as creator, human beings as creatures - and the Parenthood of G-d insures the siblinghood of humanity. One who internalizes the message of the Sabbath has reverence for all of life and can never condone any form of slavery or debasement. ("Observe the Sabbath Day to Keep it holy.., in order that your gentile servant shall rest like you" (Deuteronomy 5:14). Honoring one's parents insures continuity between the generations and the kind of extended family life - with its advantages as well as its obligations - which provides a network of support which is crucial when confronting buffeting waves of adversity. And the seven Noahide laws of morality are critical for the establishment of a just and livable society. This is the essence of Torah which our synagogue- the public voice of Yisrael Sabba in every community and in every period - must communicate if the raging waters of destruction are to be sweetened into the life-giving waters of eternity.

And so our most unique and multi-faceted passage concludes: "And He said, if you truly internalize the voice of the Lord your G-d, do what is righteous in His eyes, listen to his commandments and observe all His statutes, all of the illness (the alienation, enslavement and affliction which Egyptian society imposed upon its "strangers" and the concomitant punishments Egypt suffered as a result) I have placed upon Egypt I shall not place upon you, for I am the Lord, your healer. And they came to Elim; there were twelve wells of water and seventy date trees, and they encamped there by the waters" (Exodus 15:26, 27).

Elim means strength; those who live by the laws of the Sabbath, the seven Noahide laws of morality and the principle of parental fealty can never be overwhelmed by bitter waves of obliteration. These laws are a necessary introduction for the twelve tribes of Israel, comparable to twelve wells of life-giving water, and are a necessary condition for the seventy nations of the world - symbolized by the 70 date trees - to further their march towards redemption. Unless all the nations of the world - including our neighbors in the Middle East, North Korea and Al Qida - understand G-d's prescription for sweetening the waters, a free humanity will never endure.

Shabbat Shalom.

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