Feb 3/07 — Parashat Beshallach

Commentary by Chazzan Aníbal Mass

In this Parashah, freedom is expressed in a song. The Jewish People have learned to sing. Singing has kept us alive, allowing us to recreate—in melodies—the memories of the past, the facts of the present, and encouragement for the future.

In this Shabbat Parashah, the Israelites walk toward freedom after being expelled from Egypt. But our Beshallach is not permission to leave, but rather it is our right to live in dignity; it is not “authorization” to go and to serve God; it is our duty to find Him and to love Him.

But the dominant episode is not only in the Exodus itself. There is a sea ... wide, immeasurable; a sea that frightens. “Shirat Ha-Yam”, the song intoned by Moshe and the Children of Israel when crossing this sea, is the peculiar mark of this Parashah. It gives a special name to this Shabbat: “Shabbat Shirah”—a Shabbat where freedom begins to be blended with … a song. We attend a new Miracle. The People of Israel could see with their own eyes the salvation of their God, Omnipotent and Omnipresent. Without doubt, the episode related in our weekly portion left a deep impression—not only on the Jewish People—but on all the surrounding peoples. “Shameu amim irgazun, chil achaz yoshvei pelashet,”—“The people have heard. They tremble. Pangs have taken hold of the inhabitants of Philistia,” we read in one of the paragraphs of our song.

Our teachers compare “Shirat Ha-Yam” with the exit from Egypt. The Mishna, Pirkei Avot—Ethics of the Fathers in chapter five explains that: “ten miracles happened to our ancestors in the land of Egypt, and ten in front of the Red Sea ...”

These miracles are not mentioned explicitly in our Torah, but they come to us through the oral transmission (Avot of Rabbi Nathan, 33):

(1) the waters divided;
(2) the waters were like a tent, or a vault;
(3) the sea-bed was dry and hard;
(4) but when the Egyptians trod upon it, it became muddy and slimy;
(5) the sea was divided into twelve parts, one for each tribe;
(6) the waters became as hard as stone;
(7) the congealed waters appeared like blocks of building-stone;
(8) the water was transparent so that the tribes could see one another;
(9) fresh drinking water flowed from the congealed water;
(10) after Israel had partaken of the drinking water, it became congealed, and did not wet the ground under foot.

In this way, we notice that the crossing of the Red Sea didn’t pass unnoticed. This Shabbat we will be singing and enjoying one of the most important moments of our history. So, let us be prepared to capture something of the message that God passed on to Moses: To be really free we only have to take the first step. “Mah titzak elai? Daver el B’nai Israel va-isau!"—“Why do you cry to Me? Speak to the Children of Israel, that they go forward!”

It is a time to move forward. It is a time of freedom. It is a time of singing.

Shabbat Shalom.