Parashat Beshalach: How to cross the Reed Sea

We are at a watershed moment, and we need to respond from courage, artfulness, and faith, – not from despair. It’s time to cross the Reed Sea together.

By RAPHAEL SHUCHAT FEBRUARY 7, 2025 09:36

An illustrative image of feet walking through the water. (photo credit: SHUTTERSTOCK)

Rabbi Abraham Ibn Ezra asks on Exodus 14:13: “How is it that the Israelite encampment of 600,000 men [of army age] cannot fight for their lives and for their children’s lives with those [Egyptians] pursuing them?”

Why can’t each one pick up a rock and a stick and fight? After all, how many Egyptians came after them? There were 600 choice chariots, along with the other chariots (maybe one or two thousand) and their commanders. He answers: The slave cannot fight the master. He hears the crack of the whip and freezes. One can leave the servitude of Egypt, but how does one get Egypt out of oneself? 

In this Torah portion, “Beshalach,” it is Egypt now pursuing the Israelites after we already left. God again hardens Pharaoh’s heart as He did in the final five plagues. There, it was to display all of the 10 plagues so that “the Egyptians shall know that I am God” (7:5). This time, in addition, it is to teach the Israelites the first lesson in being free: Believe in yourself and in your right to be free. 

The Egyptians approach from behind, and the Israelites see the sea in front of them and panic. “Are there not enough graves in Egypt that you took us to die in the desert?” (14:11). “Better to be enslaved to the Egyptians than die in the desert” (14:12). 

The midrash presents four reactions in the Israelite camp (Mekhilta de Rabbi Shimon 14:13). One group said: “Let’s just jump into the sea [and commit suicide].” The second said: “Let’s return to Egypt [and give in].” A third group said: “Let’s fight [even if we lose].” And the fourth said: “Let’s just scream at them [in protest].”

The splitting of the Red Sea: A biblical miracle (Illusteative). (credit: FLICKR)

The first is an act of total despair, to end the game right there in the sea. The second is also an act of despair, going back to Egypt as slaves. The third seems more constructive but is, of course, a fight without a plan and experience. The last is curious and seems to also be a futile plan. 

The midrash rejects all four options, as Moses answers the people saying: “Do not be afraid. Stand and watch the salvation of God, which He will do for you today. You have seen Egypt today for the last time. God will fight for you, and you shall remain silent” (Exodus 14:13-14). However, after Moses’ answer to the people, God surprisingly rejects it in the next verse, saying: “Why are you crying out to me? Speak to the people of Israel and tell them to go forward.”

How will they go forward? 

Until now, God performed all the miracles. Even Moses thought that was what was going to happen. At that moment of perplexity, Nahshon ben Aminadav heard the order to go forward and did just that. 

He entered the water up to his chest, but the sea did not split. He just kept walking forward until God ordered Moses to raise his staff over the sea and cause it to split (Exodus 14:16) (Sotah 36b). 

The verses and the Talmudic passage present to us the new relationship between God and Israel. They are now not just passive onlookers but active partners. Like Nahshon, they need to believe in themselves and in God’s promise, and then the miracles will occur. 

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The sea splits, the Israelites cross, and the Egyptian army drowns. The people see God’s victory over their oppressors and sing in gratitude. Here again, the midrash makes an unusual statement: “The simplest Israelite slave [shifha] at the sea saw what even the prophet Ezekiel ben Buzi did not merit to see” (Mekhilta Beshalah 3). 

I assume the term “slave” here represents all the Jews, since they did not have slaves but were slaves themselves until being saved. The proof the midrash brings is that the people said: “This is my God, and I will praise Him” (Exodus 15:2). I find this puzzling. 

It would seem more logical to say that what the simplest Israelite saw at Mount Sinai was greater than what Ezekiel saw, since the revelation at Sinai was considered a one-time event in history where God revealed Himself to the entire people. Why, then, mention the song at the Sea of Reeds, where there was no such revelation? 

Obvious miracles at the sea

What Israel was able to behold at the sea was God’s salvation. 

Normally, God “watches from the windows and peers through the cracks” (“Song of Songs” 2:9) but refrains from revealing Himself to enable human free will. The Egyptian enslavement required that God perform obvious miracles, which was an exception to the rule. Therefore, the people knew right away that it was the work of God’s hand. 

Even Ezekiel was not privy to such a sight, since he lived during the Babylonian exile. He prophesied the ingathering of the exiles but did not live to see it. In parashat “Va’era,” God tells Moses that he appeared to the patriarchs in the name El Shaddai but not Havaya (the Tetragrammaton). Nachmanides interprets this to mean that God performed miracles within nature for the patriarchs. He helped Abraham win the battle over the four kings with only 318 men, but it still was a battle. He promised Sarah a child in her old age, but she did conceive naturally. However, Moses performed supernatural miracles in the exodus story by way of the inner name of God, the Tetragrammaton. 

Natural miracles in our days

In our days, we do not see supernatural miracles anymore. God hides His countenance to allow complete human free will; however, we can still see natural miracles in which God works behind the scenes. 

The ingathering of the exiles in the 20th century was one such miracle within nature, and so was the survival of the State of Israel against all odds. 

In May 1948, US president Harry Truman sent a message to David Ben-Gurion warning of the imminent attack of seven Arab countries if Israel declared independence, and advised against it. Ben-Gurion turned to Yigal Allon, intelligence officer for the fledgling Hagana paramilitary group, and asked what the odds might be in winning such a war. 

Allon answered, “Not more than 50-50.” Ben-Gurion replied: “When in the last 2,000 years have the Jewish people had such good odds at taking back their country?”’ and subsequently declared independence. 

Sometimes we have to use our gut feelings to seize the opportunity offered. 

Natural miracles now

We have seen natural miracles already in this war. Whoever thought Hezbollah would cave within a month of the ground operation, that Iran would be afraid to attack after two massive attacks that produced no results, or that Syria would fall? 

Yes, we are still in difficult times, and today there are also four reactions among the public imitating the Hebrews at the Sea of Reeds. However, what we need now is to believe in the righteousness of our cause and in ourselves.

 We need leadership who, like Nahshon, will not be afraid to go forward; who will not give in to bad options out of a feeling of despair; who will believe in the power of a people that “shall rise up as a lion” (Numbers 23:24) when it is united in its cause. The Middle East is changing quickly, and the opportunities are there. 

We are at a watershed moment, and we need to respond from courage, artfulness, and faith, – not from despair. It’s time to cross the Reed Sea together.■

The writer, a rabbi, is a senior lecturer in Jewish thought at Bar-Ilan University.