Rabbi Pardo was born in Amsterdam in 1626 and emigrated to Jamaica, at a time when Jews were gradually re-adopting religious practices after persecution in Spain and Portugal. His gravestone bears a quote from 2 Kings 22:2 – [he] “never turned right or left from the path of G-d.” That is a message that is particularly relevant today.
Rabbi Sacks writes that the Revelation at Sinai was unique in history. God spoke to an entire nation of individuals, not one individual. It had political significance, as well as religious significance; a new society was formed. The covenant with God superseded any political entity of power. Any king who violated Torah could be challenged.
Ariel Wernick observes that the text repeats the phrase about the Israelites crossing the Reed Sea. He refers to Targum Yonatan Uziel, which wrote that 2 Jews, Datan and Aviram, were happy in Egypt and refused to leave. When they were forced to leave against their will, the second phrase refers to the splitting of the sea a second time for them.
After all of God’s miracles and wonders, the Israelites seemed ready to leave. Yet, when they arrived at the Reed Sea, they had serious doubts, and berated Moses. Rabbi Simmons compares this to the Stockholm Syndrome, wherein the captives began to praise their captors.
The sages debate how exactly the people sang the Song of the Sea – repetitive, following along, responding with a standard conclusion for each verse. The manner in which it was sung depends on whether the song leader leads as a king, a person in authority, a parent. According to Rabbi Eliezer ben Taddai, Moses led the song like a father.
Devorah Abenhaim considers the fact that Moshe’s lineage in not mentioned at all until this parashah, despite the importance of lineage throughout the Torah. She cites Rabbi Hirsch, who stated that Moshe was not successful in his mission until this time. God reassured him of his coming success, which required that Moshe be perceived as a human being, rather than supernatural.
Rabbi Angel writes about Moses’ great message for the Israelites, which they were not receptive to. As he observes, they were exhausted from their bondage and were basically unable to accept the message as realistic. The text uses the phrase “kotser ruach”, which is understood in different ways – short of breath, gasping under the pressure of their labor. They were psychologically unprepared to listen.
Rabbi Sacks writes of humor in the Torah: when humanity attempts to defy heaven, God laughs. He reads humor into Pharaoh’s magicians, who could not produce lice with their sorcery, while the lice continued to infest everyone, claiming that it was “the finger of God.” In response, God hardened Pharaoh’s heart. Satire is an essential aspect of understanding some of the plagues – wherein those forces of nature represented gods of the Egyptian pantheon.
Professor Schneider writes about an interesting dichotomy. When Moses was born, he was described as beautiful. The sages (Sotah 12a) compare this to the light that God saw as good. Yet Moses described himself to God as slow of speech and slow of tongue. Professor Schneider considers different understandings of what this means.
The book of Exodus begins with a statement that the Israelites have become too numerous, and that we (Egypt) need to do something about that. James Loeffler raises the question of whether Pharaoh is evil or simply misguided. What is the real reason for Pharaoh’s fear? He cites Kohelet, who “warned against pretensions to wisdom that lead to self-destruction.” The Hebrew text is not exactly clear.