By Rabbi Judd Kruger Levingston
This week’s Torah portion is Parashat Beshalah: Exodus 13:17 – 17:16
Imagine for a moment:
What would you have felt if you were following Moses from slavery into freedom, from the dry land of Egypt into the watery sand ahead as the Sea of Reeds split and offered a path before your very eyes?
Would you have felt excited? Nervous? Inhibited? Bold? Light on your feet? Completely grateful?
When the Children of Israel flee from their enslavement in Egypt on Passover night, they reach that Sea of Reeds, with Egypt behind them and the urgency of freedom awaiting them. They have no time to savor the moment or to hesitate and question before going forward. According to a favorite Midrashic tradition recorded in the Talmud (bSotah 37a), a spirited fellow named Nahshon courageously jumps into the waters before anybody else; he begins to sink as the waters “enter his soul”, but he goes forward as the waters split and form a safe passageway for the rest of the people.
After the Children of Israel cross the sea bed, they burst into a joyful, triumphant song that we read this week from our Torah scrolls in Shemot/Exodus Chapter 15. This is such an extraordinary moment that our tradition has us recall this drama every morning in our Shaharit service and in the Torah reading for the seventh day of Passover. We also recall this Song of the Sea — Shirat HaYam, as it is known, at our Passover Seder, when some families get out of their seats, reach for a tambourine and dance like the ancient Israelites, re-creating this liminal moment in their dining rooms and living rooms.
The song begins with the colorful words, “I will sing to the Lord who is highly exalted.” The Torah uses the doubled words “ga’oh ga’ah.” Although these doubled words come from a root that means “triumph” or “exalt” in this context, in other passages, it can also have other relevant meanings related to growing up and feeling proud.
The power of the song is not only in the triumph of the God of Israel over the wicked forces of oppression and darkness in Egypt. The Israelites’ song celebrates a coming of age, a growing up, a moment for elevating God, exalting the name of God with pride.
Having entered a new epoch, the Children of Israel still cannot afford to forget the humility of slavery while they feel newly proud of their freedom, establishing a new sense of community, reinforced by the covenant with God. In singing of God with the words “ga’oh ga’ah”, and in being able to praise God and not take credit for themselves, they have grown up in an important way, rising to the moment in which they will need to take responsibility for their future.
The Song of the Sea and the freedom from captivity that the ancient Israelites felt may have resonated with the feelings of freedom experienced by the hostages who have been held in Gaza and who are gradually being released in the nearly 500 days since the attacks on Oct. 7, 2023. While I wouldn’t presume to know for certain what the experience has been like for the hostages, I wonder how it feels to experience their first breaths of safety and freedom. I imagine that they must feel relief, elation, sadness about those who perished, gratitude for their freedom and hope for the speedy release of those who remain in captivity.
This week’s reading is a coming-of-age story that we relive every day through our liturgy. Note that once our ancestors cross the sea, they do not turn back to seek revenge. Instead, as the song goes, they express their gratitude to God for redeeming them with hesed, with loving kindness. When we sing that song at our Passover Seder and in our daily services, we remember that we did not make that journey across the sea into freedom by ourselves. In exalting God, we are expressing pure gratitude and true joy.
May we continue to cherish joy in our freedom, gratitude for the power of kindness and hope that the waters will part once more.
Rabbi Judd Kruger Levingston, Ph.D., serves as instructor in Jewish studies and advisor to the Derech Eretz Honor Council at Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy. He is a 2024 recipient of the Covenant Prize for Jewish educators and is an active member of Germantown Jewish Centre. The Board of Rabbis of Greater Philadelphia is proud to provide diverse perspectives on Torah commentary for the Jewish Exponent. The opinions expressed in this column are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the view of the Board of Rabbis.