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Shevii shel Pesach 5785

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Unshakeable faith[1]

ויושע יקוק ביום ההוא את-ישראל מיד מצרים וירא ישראל את-מצרים מת על-שפת הים: וירא ישראל את-היד הגדלה אשר עשה יקוק במצרים וייראו העם את-יקוק ויאמינו ביקוק ובמשה עבדו
Hashem saved the [nation of] Israel on that day from the hand of Egypt. Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Israel saw the great hand that Hashem utilized against Egypt, and the nation saw Hashem. They believed in Hashem and in Moshe, His servant[2]

This verse, recited daily as part of the morning prayers, is a bit astounding. It says that after the sea split, the Egyptians went into it, and then the sea collapsed onto them, the Jews believed in Hashem and in Moshe. Our Sages ask[3], that after seeing the amazing ten plagues in Egypt, they didn’t believe in Hashem? Only now? What changed? Furthermore, our Sages tell us[4] that the Jews were small in faith. They were afraid that just like they emerged unscathed from the sea on this side, so too the Egyptians emerged unscathed on the other side. It was only after they saw them dead that they believed. This lack of faith is very hard to understand.

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Yisro 5782

Problematic pronouns and family dynamics[1]

ויצא משה לקראת חתנו וישתחו וישק-לו וישאלו איש-לרעהו לשלום ויבאו האהלה
Moshe went out to greet his father-in-law [Yisro]. He bowed [to him] and kissed him, and one asked the other how they were doing, and they went into the tent[2]

As Yisro, Moshe’s father-in-law, came to join the Jewish people, Moshe greeted him with a grand welcome. As the two reunited, we are presented with a vague verse. It says that “he” bowed to “him”. Rashi confirms[3] the confusion by asking how can we know who bowed to whom? The answer is derived from the fact that the verse says, “one asked the other”, by using the word איש, literally man. This word teaches us that it was Moshe who did the bowing. How so? We see elsewhere that Moshe is referred to as “איש”, from the verse והאיש משה עניו מאד, Moshe was exceedingly humble[4]. The Torah uses this word to hint to us that it was Moshe who bowed to Yisro.

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Pesach 5779 #2

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The stubborn sea[1]

הים ראה וינס הירדן יסב לאחור
The [Reed] Sea[2] saw and ran away, the Jordan River turned backwards[3]

During the holiday of Pesach (as well as every other holiday), we recite Hallel during the morning prayers. It consists of chapters 113 to 118 from Psalms. Chapter 114 describes how when the Jews left Egypt, nature was entirely subservient to them. Nothing stood in their way. Most pronounced was the miracle of the splitting of the sea. On the seventh day of Pesach, we commemorate this event with the Torah Reading being the Song at Sea that the Jews recited[4] after this miracle[5]. In Psalms the sea is described as “running away” from the Jews, meaning that it split in two, after seeing something. What did it see that made it split? Some say that it was Moshe[6]. Others says that it was the coffin[7] of Yosef[8]. A very strange opinion[9] is that the sea “saw” the teaching[10] of the Academy of Rabbi Yishmael. What does this mean?

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