אז ישיר משה ובני ישראל, “Then Moses and the Children of Israel sang, etc.” The word ישיר is a present tense. Mechilta (Shirah, section two) points out that the Torah did not write שר which would have been the appropriate past tense. The tense used by the Torah here is proof that the resurrection of the dead in the future is a Biblical promise.

The Mechilta also mentions that the word אז is sometimes used in the future tense and sometimes in the past tense. Examples of the word occurring in the past tense are Genesis 4,26, Exodus 4,26, Numbers 21,17, Joshua 10,12 and others. At the same time there are numerous examples of the word אז referring to future events such as in Isaiah 60,5 אז תראי ונהרת, Isaiah 58,8 אז יבקע כשחר אורך, Isaiah 35,6 אז ידלג כאיל and many others. Moses reasoned that since he had used the word אזwhen he had criticised G’d’s apparent indifference to Pharaoh’s additional decrees worsening the condition of the Jewish slaves (Exodus 4,10), it was now up to him to make amends by using the same word in exalting Him. The word אז, i.e. 1+7, is an allusion to the Unique One who reigns supreme above the seven heavens. According to a Midrash Tanchuma on Genesis 4,26 the Israelites reasoned that seeing that word had been used when G’d punished mankind for the first time collectively when He caused one third of the dry land mass to be inundated in response to the idolatry introduced by the generation of Enosh, it was appropriate to use the same word at a time when G’d’s sovereignty on earth had been demonstrated by means of the water which had been made to retreat even from its own habitat. The words משה ובני ישראל לאמור, teach that Moses and the Children of Israel had the good fortune to personally use this formula of exalting G’d, i.e. praising the attribute called זאת לה'. This was like the bride who applauds her husband the King and says: שיר השירים אשר לשלמה. [This mystical approach is based on the apparent redundancy otherwise of the extra words את השירה הזאת. Ed.] The author promises to deal with this in greater detail in Numbers 21,19.

ויאמרו לאמור, “they said as follows:” the reason the word אמירה is repeated here is to make it parallel the previous duplication of the word שירה. One look at the entire song will convince you that repeating words is the salient feature of the syntax of this entire song. It is impossible not to notice that either the same words are repeated or that the same meanings are expressed in different verbs and adjectives. We find something similar in Hallel, i.e. the combination of psalms arranged by our sages to be recited on festivals. Examples are: Psalms 118,5 מן המצר קראתי י-ה ענני במרחב י-ה, all the way till verse 24. David repeats himself albeit using different words. The few lines in which David did not repeat himself (from verse 21-24) the sages have ordered us to repeat verbatim in order to maintain the rhythm of the whole chapter. The reason these praises of G’d are repeated altogether is to show that when G’d orchestrated this event there were forces within forces at work. Moses praised both the attribute of Mercy and the attribute of Justice which combined to achieve the results which triggered this whole song of thanksgiving. As an example of the truth of this statement simply look at the words אשירה לה' “I will sing to Hashem” (the attribute of Mercy), followed by עזי וזמרת י-ה, “my strength and might is י-ה,” i.e. the attribute of Justice. When Moses adds in verse three ה' שמו, that His name is Hashem;” there is no dichotomy. Even though on occasion it appears as if two different powers are at work this is not so. Two forces, both part of the same power, are at work. This theme of alternating references to the attribute of Justice on the one hand and the attribute of Mercy on the other recurs again and again such as in verse six where the word ימינך refers to the attribute of Justice whereas the words מי כמוכה באלם ה' are clearly addressed to the attribute of Mercy. In verse seventeen the words עד יעבור עמך ה' are clearly addressed to the attribute of Mercy, i.e. Hashem, whereas the words מקדש א-ד-י-נ clearly speak of the attribute of Justice. Another approach to the words ויאמרו לאמור: “they enunciated every word clearly.” This would be analogous to Exodus 17,4 ויצעק משה אל ה' לאמור, “Moses cried out to G‘d saying, etc.” What need was there for the word לאמור, seeing surely Moses did not mean for G’d to pass along what he said to anyone else? It meant that he formulated his words very precisely. Similarly, here. The Israelites formulated every word precisely. This verse contains the important lesson that when praying we must formulate every word very clearly so as not to leave room for misunderstanding. I have found support for this in Mechilta Shirah, section one, where Rabbi Nechemyah is quoted as saying that the Holy Spirit rested on all the Children of Israel at that time; This enabled them to recite the שירה as if it were the קריאת שמע which every normal person recites by carefully enunciating every word.

A Midrashic approach: the word ויאמרו refers to infants reciting the שירה. The word לאמור is a reference to the unborn children within the wombs of their mothers. This is in line with Sotah 30 where we are told: “how did the Israelites recite the שירה?” Answer; a slightly older infant while he was lying on his mother’s knees; a still younger infant while he was nursing at his mother’s breast. As soon as the infant lying on his mother’s knees became aware of the presence of the Shechinah he raised his neck, whereas the suckling infant let go of his mother’s nipple and both recited: זה אלי ואנוהו, “this is my G’d let me exalt Him.” The Midrash is based on Psalms 8,3 מפי עוללים ויונקים, “from the mouths of infants and sucklings.” Even embryos in the wombs of their mothers said the שירה as we know from Psalms 68,27: “in assemblies bless G’d, the Lord, O you who are the fountain of Israel.” [The words ברכו...ממקור were a call to unborn babies. compare Midrash Tehillim there. Ed.]

כי גאה גאה, “for He has triumphed gloriously;” seeing that amongst all the animals none is as arrogant in its posture as the horse, and therefore anyone riding it is even more arrogant, the Torah described here that G’d surpasses both horses and rider in His exalted position.

A Midrashic (ancient Tanchuma manuscript) view: of the two words גאה גאה: there are four creatures which are known for their arrogance; the lion amongst the free-roaming beasts; the ox amongst the domestic beasts, the eagle amongst the birds; man surpasses them all in arrogance. The reason for this is that G’d gave man dominion over all the other creatures in the terrestrial universe when He said (Genesis 1,28) “and have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and all the living things which move on earth.” What did G’d do? He had likenesses of all these four “arrogant” creatures made as part of His throne as we know from Ezekiel I,10: “Each of them had a human face at the front; each of the four had the face of a lion on the right, each of the four had the face of an ox on the left; each of them had the face of an eagle at the back.“ The reason for this was that G’d had said: “seeing these creatures display arrogance and consider themselves as superior I have to demonstrate My superiority to them.” This is why we read here that the Jewish people acknowledged this when they described G’d as superior to all who deem themselves superior.

A further comment in Mechilta (Shirah, 2): the words כי גאה גאה are a reminder that anyone who dares act arrogantly in the knowledge that there is a G’d who is superior to him will be punished. A number of examples are listed there. 1) The Egyptians expressed their arrogance by boasting of their unfailing water supply, the river Nile. Hence G’d punished them through water. The generation of the deluge boasted that they did not need rain (a symbol of blessing from heaven) as they depended on the mist rising from the earth (compare Genesis 2,6). As a result of this boast G’d punished them by water (40 days unceasing rain, plus the opening of subterranean sources of water gushing forth, Genesis 7,11). The people of Sodom, etc., boasted of their wealth and the gold and silver they had amassed. They were so arrogant that they legislated against anyone staying in their cities overnight so that they should not have to share their wealth with any traveler. As a result of this insufferable behavior G’d wiped out both them and their belongings. This is the meaning of Job 28,4: “they open up a shaft far from where men live, in places forgotten by wayfarers, destitute of men, far removed.” We also read in Job 12,5: ”in the thought of the complacent; there is contempt for calamity; it is ready for those whose foot slips.” Ezekiel 16,49 describes the sin of the people of Sodom in the following words: “only this was the sin of your sister Sodom: arrogance! She and her daughters had plenty of bread and untroubled tranquillity; yet she did not support the poor and the needy.” Pharaoh boasted of the might of his chariots as we read in 13,14: “he took 600 choice chariots.” As a result of his reliance and boast of the invincibility of these chariots, G’d punished him by means of these very chariots as we read in 15,4. Siserah also was proud of his iron chariots (horse-drawn tanks), as reported in Judges 4,13. G’d punished him by means of these chariots as we know from Judges 5,20. Samson who had boasted of getting what was “good in his eyes,” was punished by being deprived of his eyesight (Judges 14,3 and 16,1). He had committed a sin at Azzah by sleeping with a harlot (Judges 16,1). He was taken prisoner at Azzah and humbled (Judges 16,21). Avshalom used to boast of his hair only to be eventually caught by it which led to his violent death (Samuel II 18,9). Sancheriv, King of Assyria used to boast of his chariots (Isaiah 37,24). In the end G’d sent an angel to destroy his entire military encampment (Kings II 19,35). Nebuchadnezzar had also boasted saying that he would ascend to the clouds and match the Most High (Isaiah 14,14). G’d dealt with him by consigning him to the deepest part of gehinom (Isaiah 14,15). He said to him: “you elevated yourself above mankind, I will separate you from mankind by placing you far below” (Compare Daniel 4,22). The Torah wrote in our verse גאה גאה to teach us this lesson.

סוס ורוכבו רמה בים, “He flung horse and its rider into the sea.” The Torah describes them all in the singular as in G’d’s eyes they were no more of a challenge to Him than a single horse and rider. We find this thought repeated in Deut. 20,1 where the Torah speaks about Israel going to war against its enemies. The Israelites are not to be afraid of the enemy’s cavalry any more than they would be of a single horse and its rider.

The expression סוס ורוכבו, “horse and its rider,” describes the inseparable relationship between the warrior and his steed. Keeping this in mind, Moses said of G’d: רמה בים, “He flung them upwards into the sea,” to portray that their making war had been an act of rebellion against G’d who is high up in heaven. This is also why the Torah says: ירה בים, “He poured out into the sea,” (verse 4) to reflect that “what goes up must come down again,” i.e. that the arrogance of the Egyptians was suitably rewarded. Shemot Rabbah, 23,14 quotes the rider as saying to his horse: “yesterday I dragged you towards the river Nile but you did not follow me; now you are dragging me towards the sea?” The horse answered its rider: רמה בים, i.e. ראה מה בים, “I can see the Supreme One (G’d) in the sea.”

עזי וזמרת י-ה, “G’d’s might and vengeance was my salvation.” When Moses referred to G’d by the term עזי, he paraphrased what is written in Psalms 68,29: צוך אלו-היך עזך, “your G’d has ordained might for you.” The words זמרת י-ה are related to Samuel II 23,1 ונעים זמירות ישראל, “the favorite of the songs of Israel.” This term also occurs in Psalms, 47,7 זמרו לאלו-הים זמרו, “Sing, O sing to G’d; O sing.” ויהי לי לישועה, “G’d became my salvation.” The reason the redemption from Egypt is always referred to as ישועה, is because it was followed by another exile. The redemption of the future which will not be followed by another exile, will become known as ישועות, (plural). This is why we have David (Psalms 53,7) express his hope for מי יתן מציון ישועות ישראל, “O that the deliverance of Israel might come from Zion!” On another occasion the final redemption is called תשועת עולמים, in Isaiah 45,17: ישראל נושע בה' תשועת עולמים, “But Israel has won through the Lord triumph everlasting.” In a parallel sense the “song” Moses sang at the Sea of Reeds is known as שירה, “a song (feminine),” whereas the song that will be sung after the final redemption will be known as שיר, “a song (masculine),” reflecting the permanent nature of that redemption; compare Isaiah 26,1 ביום ההוא יושר השיר הזה,”On that day this song which will be sung will be masculine.”

זה אלי ואנוהו, “this is my G’d and I want to exalt Him.” According to the plain meaning of the text the meaning of ואנוהו is “I wish to build a residence for Him.” This is why Moses continues in verse 13 speaking about נוה קדשך, “Your holy abode.” The Holy Temple has also been called נוה in Jeremiah 31,22.

A Midrashic (Mechilta Shirah 3) approach to our verse: The word אנוהו refers to exalting G’d’s name before all the other nations. The point is to get the nations of the world to acknowledge that there is no G’d comparable to the Lord our G’d. Whereas previously such statements had a somewhat hollow ring, at the Sea of Reeds such a statement had been vindicated for all the world to see. Our sages (Mechilta Beshalach 2) also confirmed this when they said that any lowly maid saw visions at the Sea of Reeds which even the prophet Ezekiel had not been granted. The words אלו-הי אבי וארוממנהו mean that “I want to aggrandize the Lord who has already been the G’d of my father.”

ה' איש מלחמה, “Hashem is a master of war.” Seeing that Moses had told the people earlier that “Hashem will fight on your behalf,” they now confirmed to him: “G’d is a master of war.” In order to prevent someone making the mistake of thinking G’d employs conventional weapons when He carries on warfare, they added ה' שמו, “His name is Hashem.” It suffices for G’d to invoke His name and He does not have to engage in tiring and bothersome activity to prevail over His adversaries. We have a parallel line in Jeremiah 32,18: “O great and mighty G’d whose name is the Lord of Hosts.” When Jeremiah describes G’d as the Creator of the universe in Jeremiah 33,2, he also writes: “the Lord Who is shaping it (the universe) to bring it about, Whose name is “the Lord.” [Just as creating the universe did not entail toil and fatigue, neither will restoration of the Jewish state.] A different approach: the word ואנוהו may be understood as אני והוא, meaning אדמה לו, “I wish to emulate Him.” The idea is similar to that expressed in Deut. 28,9 והלכת בדרכיו, “and you go in His ways.” Our sages (Shabbat 133) elaborated on this: “just as He displays patience and is long-suffering (man’s errors) so you shall be patient and long-suffering. Just as He clothes the naked so you shall clothe the naked. Just as He buries the dead, so you shall bury the dead.” The point of this Midrash is to demonstrate that just as G’d was involved in our redemption He is also part of our exile experience, suffering alongside with us. Proof that He participated in our exile is provided by the assurance in Genesis 46,4: “I will go down with you to Egypt.” Our sages used this verse to say that the Shechinah was exiled together with the Jewish people (Megillah 29). We also have a verse in Exodus 1,1 that G’d kept His promise when the Torah wrote the extra word את in that verse to show that G’d had gone down to Egypt together with Yaakov and his family. When we read in Exodus 12,37 that “the Israelites journeyed from Raamses, etc., this is followed in 14,19 where the Torah writes that “an angel of G’d traveled with them.” This illustrates that the Shechinah left Egypt together with them. When David wrote in Psalms 60,7 הושיעה ימינך וענני, “deliver with Your right hand and answer me,” this is a clear indication that G’d, i.e. the Shechinah, was itself in need of salvation. The word ואנוהו, i.e. אני והוא is an allusion to both the Israelites and the Shechinah. They shared the exile experience first and now are ready to celebrate the redemption together also. When Ezekiel 1,1 describes his first experience as a prophet and says ואני בתוך הגולה, “and I was in the midst of exile,” the introductory letter ו is a reference to the Shechinah which shared the exile experience with the Jewish people. When Jeremiah 40,1 speaks of והוא אסור באזקים, “and He is bound in fetters,” the extraneous word והוא is a reference to the Shechinah.

Having explained all this to you, you need no longer ask about the formula אני והו הושיעה נא which we recite on Hoshanah Rabbah. Had it not been for the fact that the reference is to the Shechinah which is perceived as being in exile and therefore cannot be addressed in our prayers, the wording ought to have been: אני ואותך הושיעה נא. At the same time, there can be no greater ray of hope concerning our own eventual redemption than the knowledge that the Shechinah shares our fate while we are in exile. Another reason why the prophets Ezekiel and Jeremiah both refer to the Shechinah in the third person in the verses we have quoted. Speaking of G’d’s attributes in the third person is a reminder of the relative inaccessibility of G’d who by definition is beyond our capacity to fully comprehend. However much G’d has revealed Himself both at Mount Sinai and through His Torah, there will always be elements of His essence which will escape our understanding at least while we are alive on this earth. The juxtaposition of the formula אני והוא הושיעה נא instead of אני ואותך הושיעה נא, is designed to remind us that although G’d is wrapped in mystery this does not make Him inaccessible to our prayers and our entreaties. Part of G’d’s mystique is that even the angels do not know His location, as we say in the Shabbat קדושה prayer that they ask each other (and Israel) איה מקום כבודו, “where is the site of His glory?” This is why we adopted the formula used by Ezekiel 3,12: ברוך כבוד ה' ממקומו, “blessed be the glory of Hashem from His place (wherever that may be).” These concepts are best illustrated by the benedictions we recite in our עמידה prayer every day where our sages formulated each one so that it contains both a direct approach to G’d and an indirect approach. At the commencement of each benediction or request we approach G’d directly such as in שמע קולנו, “listen to our prayer, or in רפאנו ה' ונרפא, “heal us O Lord and we shall truly be cured.” On the other hand, we conclude these benedictions by affirming G’d in the third person instead, i.e. שומע תפלה, “the One who listens to prayer,” or רופא חולי עמו ישראל, “the One who heals the sick of His people Israel.” [The author continues with a list of verses all designed to make the same point. I have omitted same in the interest of brevity. Ed.]

You may be interested to know that the numerical value of the words אני והו is the same as אנא י-ה-ו-ה, i.e. 78. The word אנא =52, i.e. twice the numerical value of the tetragram, i.e. 26. This would account for the formula אנא הושיעה נא, The words אנא ה' represent the numerical value of the letters in the tetragrammaton three times, (78) suggesting that our appeal to that attribute is addressed to three time frames, the past, the present, and the future.

We also have a tradition that these “names” appear as the three-lettered fractions of the 72-lettered name of G’d as arrived at by positioning the words of the three verses (Exodus 14,19-21) in a certain order [as the author discussed there. Ed.]

A kabbalistic approach to the words זה א-לי ואנוהו. The word זה (as well as the word זאת) is a name of the Shechinah. Examples are 13,8 בעבור זה עשה לי, “He did it for me on account of זה.” In Genesis 49,28 we read וזאת אשר דבר להם. In Leviticus 26,44 we read: ואף גם זאת בהיותם בארץ אויביהם; these verses demonstrate that the Shechinah is with the Jewish people in all the exiles. This is why we read in Exodus 13.19 that “the angel of G’d journeyed with the Israelites,” as this presence orchestrated the salvation. This is also the meaning of the line in Exodus 23,21 -which is both promise and warning- כי שמי בקרבו, “for it (the angel, i.e. Shechinah) contains My name.” This “name” is what David referred to in Psalms 114,7 as אדון חולי ארץ, “the Lord who was present at the beginnings of the earth.” These considerations prompted Moses to mention עזי וזמרת י-ה, referring to G’d by His name י-ה, something totally uncharacteristic of Moses. Even though we do find that after the battle against Amalek Moses did mention that name of G’d (Exodus 17,16) where he spoke of כי יד על כס י-ה, we need to remember that in that context Moses made the point that G’d’s name as י-ה is incomplete just as the word כס for throne is incomplete and should have been כסא. While an Amalek exists in this universe, G’d, i.e. His name and His Kingdom, cannot be complete. The reason that Moses did mention that name is because it represents the attribute of Justice. This is also why David uses this name in Psalms 130,3 where he says אם עונות תשמור י-ה מי יעמוד, “if she will keep track of sins (the attribute of Justice) who can possibly survive?” The word תשמור in that line is not a masculine second person future, but a feminine third person future, i.e. an indirect reference to the feminine attribute of Justice. In Psalms 118,18 David discusses the same theme when he writes that the attribute י-ה, though it had disciplined him severely, had not delivered him to the angel of death.” Again the name י-ה appears as the attribute of Justice. We find the same in Psalm 94,12. In Bereshit Rabbah 92,1 the author emphasizes that David does not mention the tetragrammaton when speaking of the afflictions endured by those whom the Lord disciplines, but he rather refers to the source of these afflictions as י-ה. Here too the word תיסרנו should not be understood as “You discipline him,” but as “whom the attribute י-ה disciplines.” We may picture someone as standing in front of a judge who pronounces judgment upon him. Thus far Bereshit Rabbah.

I have found in Midrash Tehillim on Psalm 118,14 that whereas in this world G’d is exalted only in His capacity as the two-lettered name י-ה, in the world of the future He will be exalted in His capacity as a six-lettered name. This is the meaning of Isaiah 26,14 כי ביה יהוה צור עולמים “that in the eternal life the Rock will be called י-ה י-ה-ו-ה.” I believe that the message of this Midrash is that whereas the present world was created by G’d in His capacity as י-ה, i.e. as the attribute of Justice, the world to come will represent a world created by the attribute of Mercy, i.e. י-ה-ו-ה. Seeing that at that time there will neither be a יצר הרע, an evil urge, nor death, the function of the attribute of Justice will be severely curtailed and the world will be based almost exclusively on the attribute of Mercy. There is another short passage in Shemot Rabbah 19,6 which may be understood along similar lines. The author, quoting G’d, says: “in the past I and My court used to walk ahead of you as described in Exodus 14,21. In the future, however, I will be walking all by Myself;” as we read in Isaiah 52,12: “for the Lord (י-ה-ו-ה) is marching before you, the G’d of Israel is your rear guard.” The G’d of Israel is identical with the “G’d of Yaakov.” This is the same attribute. When Moses spoke both of אלי and of אלו-הי אבי separately, the reference to the אלו-הי אבי was to the G’d of his tribe, the tribe of Levi (seeing that Levi represented the attribute of Justice both when he killed the males of Shechem and when he carried out the execution of the Jews who had worshipped the golden calf). וארוממנהו, “and I wish to declare Him supreme.” This is a veiled reference to the time when G’d can be called by His full Name as the world will have recognised His full potential in the affairs of man. Moses follows with ה' איש מלחמה ה' שמו, “eventually G’d’s attribute of Mercy will be permanently in the ascendancy.” The unique nature of G’d consists of the fact that He will link the beginning to the end, the start of a development to its successful completion. He can do this as He is eternal and has foreseen the final outcome already at the beginning of its development. You will find this concept confirmed in the Sefer Yetzirah 1,4: הבן בחכמה וחכם בבינה העמד דבר על בוריו והשב יוצר על מכונו, “[if I understand it correctly. Ed.] when approached with wisdom and understanding it will be seen that though initially man could not decipher how G’d’s plan for the universe was going to work out, eventually it will be demonstrated as having been the logical result of the premises it is built on.”

מרכבות פרעה וחילו, “Pharaoh’s chariots and his army.” The “chariots of Pharaoh” are the 600 chariots mentioned in 14,7. The word חילו, “his army,” refers to the שלישים who were manning these chariots. In view of this we would have expected the Torah to have written the following sequence: “He flung into the sea the chariots of Pharaoh and his army whereas his choicest captains drowned in it.” It is possible that the correct interpretation of the verse is: “seeing that the fate of Pharaoh’s chariots had already been determined in the celestial tribunal, they and their captains were bound to drown in the sea.” Mechilta Beshalach 4 comments on our verse as follows: man is measured by the same yardstick he himself had applied to others. Seeing that Pharaoh had decreed that every Jewish male baby be thrown into the sea, his own chariots and his army were flung into the sea. He had instructed the midwives to look at the birthstool (Exodus 1,16) prior to male babies being born alive; in retaliation many of his soldiers went down in the sea like a stone (אבן).

ימינך ה', Your right hand O Lord, etc.” It is an accepted rule that every one of G’d’s attributes contains within it an element of its opposing attribute. As a result the attribute of Justice is “clothed” in the attribute of Mercy. This idea appears to be expressed by the words נאדרי בכח “is glorified by strength.” The word is derived from אדרת, “mantle, cover,” the power of the mercy contained in that mantle over the attribute of Justice was responsible for the Israelites escaping the fate of the Egyptians. The latter were drowned by the essence of the attribute of Justice whereas the Israelites were saved by its periphery, the mantle of Mercy. Some Midrashim (Tehillim 18) phrased it thus: The word “Your right hand smashed the enemy,” suggests that G’d’s other hand saved the Israelites.

תהרוס קמיך, “You destroy Your opponents.” The reason Moses employed the word הריסה, a word applicable to the destruction of buildings, may have been to demonstrate that whereas the Egyptians had forced the Israelites to build, G’d now tore down the very people for whom these buildings had been constructed. This would be another illustration of “measure for measure.” This is precisely what impressed Yitro when he said (Exodus 18,11) “by the very matter with which they had sinned.” Gentiles were impressed by how G’d made the punishment fit the crime. Moses said קמיך instead of קמינו, “those who oppose You,” instead of “those who oppose us.” Moses thereby equated people who attack Israel with an attack against G’d Himself i.e. the Shechinah which protects Israel. David followed in Moses’ footsteps when he said (Psalms 83,3) “for Your enemies rage, Your foes assert themselves.” People who attack G’d’s people by definition attack G’d .

נערמו מים, “the waters piled up in a heap.” The plain meaning corresponds to the translation by Onkelos חכימו מיא, “that the waters acted intelligently.” The waters are given credit for arranging themselves in a tall column in order to permit the liberated Israelites to find a path through them and to pour the Egyptians into them immediately after the Israelites had completed crossing when they would again resume their original shape, etc.

A Kabbalistic approach: the word נערמו is similar to the pile of ashes which formed a huge pile on the altar from the burned parts of the sacrifices, a pile which would be cleaned off regularly (compare Numbers 4,13). This would mean exactly the reverse of displaying intelligence as Onkelos understood it. In fact, it would mean that due to the waters’ whole orderly behaviour having been upset, it appeared unable to act in any kind of orderly manner. This was the result of the input from the attribute of Mercy having ceased to reach the waters due to the prevalence of the attribute of Justice at that time. The very words נערמו מים instead of נערמו מי המים are an allusion to the confused state the waters were in. Had they acted intelligently the Torah would have described their behaviour as that of the מי המים, “the waters of the body of water,” or “the waters of the sea.”

You should also appreciate that the very word מים is an allusion to the attribute of Mercy. The reason that the waters split, i.e. lost their cohesion, was that they failed to receive the input from the very attribute that enabled them to act as a constructive force. The celestial agent responsible for water (שרו של מים) is one of the disembodied forces as we can prove from the Jerusalem Targum which translates the words קפאו תהומות בלב ים, as בגו פלגס דימא רבא, “they froze inside the high seas of the great ocean [“great ocean” is presumably a reference to this celestial agent in charge of the waters. Ed.].

מי כמכה באלים ה' מי כמכה נאדר בקדש, “Who is like You amongst the heavenly powers, who is like You majestic in holiness!” The additional letter ה both times at the end of the word כמך is an allusion to the attribute of Justice; the first one refers to the “weaker” attribute of Justice, this is why the letter כ at the beginning is weak,” i.e. without dagesh. This attribute is merely a conduit having received its input from the “strong” attribute of Justice. This is why the second word כמכה is spelled with the dagesh in the first letter as it describes the original attribute of Justice, not its delegate. It originates in the region Moses described as קדש.

נורא תהלות, “awesome in splendour.” All G’d’s creatures are afraid to proclaim His praises as they are afraid to do so inadequately. David echoed this sentiment in Psalms 65,2 when he said לך דומיה תהלה, “vis-a-vis You o G’d silence is the essence of praise.” This is so because who can be arrogant enough to presume to praise the Lord adequately? Praise may be offered in one of three ways. 1) Excessive praise. Exaggeration demeans. 2) adequate praise. 3) inadequate praise; this reveals lack of perception by the one who offers the praise. When applied to G’d, the first two ways amount to a lie when applied to someone praising the Lord. This leaves only the third possibility of praising the Lord inadequately. Seeing this is so David explains that silence is best. We have a similar though differently worded statement by David in 106,2: “who can tell the mighty acts of the Lord?” A third statement in Scripture making a similar point is found in Nechemyah 9,5: “exalted though it is (His glorious name) beyond every blessing and praise.” Jerusalem Talmud Berachot at the beginning of chapter 9 writes לך דומיה תהלה סמא דכולא משתוקא, “as to You, silence is praise, seeing that in the final analysis there is only silence.” Just as if one praises the beauty of an exquisite pearl one invariably fails to do justice to its beauty, so when attempting to praise the Lord one invariably will fall short of one’s objective.

Nachmanides writes as follows about the words נורא תהלות: “seeing that the nations of the world put their trust in that which is fraudulent and tortuous, Moses made the point that G’d is awesome, entitled to all the praises with which He is being extolled.” עושה פלא, “working wonders.” Moses referred to the miracle that the same wind which had dried out the sea, etc., also accomplished the reversal. One might have expected G’d to employ separate agents for separate objectives. The same רוח אפיך which had caused the waters to pile up in a wall, etc. (verse 8) was active in making the waters cover the Egyptians with the waters of the sea as spelled out by Moses in verse 10.

Had G’d employed two different winds for this purpose, the Torah (Moses) would have referred to His performing נפלאות, “wonders” (pl) instead of פלא, a single miracle. The entire phenomenon of the splitting of the sea and everything connected with it is described by Moses here as a single miracle, פלא. You are aware already that the types of miracles which are visible phenomena are known as נפלאות, seeing that they are phenomena which, though they have been revealed, originate in causes, i.e. in a power that is hidden from us. The very word פלא means something which is at one and the same time visible and concealed. The source of the concealed power is the letter א in that word. The emanation חכמה is derived from the א. This is why Elihu says (Job 33,33) אאלפך ,”l will teach you (wisdom).” [He referred to the letter א as being the source of that wisdom. Ed.]

A Midrashic approach (based on Midrash Tehillim 106): Rabbi Yudan said that the words נורא תהלות mean ‘You are more awesome than any of the praises of You could describe.’ When one praises a king of flesh and blood his subjects will call him “a hero, a strong man” even if he is physically weak and lacking in courage. The reverse is true of G’d. However much one praises Him, and however exaggerated these praises may sound they still fail to do justice to His grandeur.

נטית ימיך תבלעמו ארץ, “when You inclined Your right hand the earth swallowed them.” Pirke d'Rabbi Eliezer chapter 17 use this verse to prove that the Egyptians were granted burial in the earth. This was in recognition of their having accompanied Yaakov on the long journey to the land of Canaan at the time he was buried. Mechilta Shirah section 9 adds: ”the word ימין or ימינך when referring to G’d always refers to an oath G‘d has sworn. We know this from Isaiah 62,8: ‘The Lord has sworn with His right hand.’ The meaning of all this is that whereas the sea had spat out the bodies of the Egyptians who had been drowned in it, the earth refused to accept these bodies remembering G’d had cursed it for accepting Hevel’s body at the time (Genesis 4,11). It continued in its refusal until G’d swore an oath that He would not demand an accounting from earth for accepting these bodies. This accounts for the words נטית ימינך תבלעמו ארץ, ‘after You gave a signal with Your right hand the earth swallowed them.’”

נחית בחסדך, “You guided in Your love, etc.” The Israelites had three merits to their credit which helped them become redeemed. 1) the merit of performing deeds of kindness to one another. 2) the merit of Torah; 3) the merit of the sacrificial offerings. The word בחסדך in our verse alludes to the deeds of loving kindness performed by one Israelite for another in return for which You G’d repaid them with kindness.” In Deut. 30,14 the Torah refers to all three of these merits when we read כי קרוב אליך הדבר מאד בפיך ובלבבך לעשותו, “for the matter is very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart to observe it.” The word בפיך, “in your mouth,” refers to Torah; the word ובלבבך refers to sacrificial service of which G’d said (Deut. 11,13) “you shall serve Him with your whole heart;” the word לעשותו, “to do it,” refers to deeds of loving kindness.

שמעו עמים ירגזון, “when the nations heard they became agitated.” Moses mentioned the various nations here in four sections to describe the four directions on earth where these nations had their habitat. Palestine, Edom, Moav, and Canaan are merely representatives of the four directions. The name פלשת includes all nations residing in the West; the name Edom includes all nations south of the Holy Land. The name Moav includes all the peoples residing east of Eretz Yisrael; the name Canaan includes all the nations north of where Moses sang this song. The phenomenon of the sea splitting was felt by all these nations.

According to the Midrash, the reason why the Philistine inhabitants are specifically mentioned is because they had cause to be particularly fearful at that time, being that the Philistines had killed 200,000 members of the tribe of Ephrayim who had made an ill-fated attempt at fleeing from Egypt 30 years prior to the Exodus, having calculated that the decree of 400 years was at an end. They marched to the land of the Philistines on their route to the Holy Land but were killed to a man by the Philistines. This is why the Philistines were now afraid of the Jewish G’d’s retribution. The Edomites were afraid that the Israelites would now revenge themselves on their ancestor Esau’s behavior against Yaakov. The Moabites trembled remembering the feud between the shepherds of Avraham and the shepherds of Lot. The inhabitants of Canaan had special reason to be afraid as they had simply appropriated to themselves lands belonging Yaakov and his family.

תפול עליהם אימתה ופחד, “May fear and terror befall them, etc.” According to the plain meaning of the text the word אימתה, “fear,” refers to the nations close by whereas the word פחד refers to those nations who lived further away. The people living a considerable distance from the Sea of Reeds, i.e. the people of Jericho, admitted 40 years later (Joshua 2,10) that they had heard about G’d having dried out the sea in order to let the Israelites pass, something that still left them afraid. The word אימתה is basically the same as אימה, the letter ת being an addition much as we find in Psalms 44,27: קומה עזרתה לנו, where the letter ת is also a poetical license taken by the author.

A Kabbalistic approach: the word אימתה is equivalent to אימת ה', a fear of G’d derived from the attribute פחד. Moses’ prayer was that this attribute should be stretched taut over all the Israelites’ enemies. The letter ה at the end of the word is taken from the last letter of the tetragrammaton so that when you read the sequence אימת ה' ופחד, the reference is to the attribute of G’d as represented always by the Shechinah (symbolized by the Holy Ark in the Tabernacle). The fact that this Holy Ark was fear-inspiring is documented in Samuel I 4,17 after the Holy Ark had been captured by the Philistines and it caused terror and panic amongst them and their deities until they voluntarily returned it to Israel. You will find a clear allusion to all this when you note that the capture of the Ark is described there as נלקחה instead of as נלקח, seeing the word ארון is masculine. The letter ה at the end then is not a sign of the noun being feminine, but refers to this attribute of Justice which is an integral part of the Ark and which spread fear and terror when in the hands of the wrong people. Proof of the attribute of Justice being an integral part of the Holy Ark is the fact that frequently when the Torah speaks of the Ark, the Ark is simply called ה'. Examples are: Numbers 10,36: ובנחה יאמר שובה ה', “when it came to rest, he would say: ‘reside tranquilly O Hashem.’” The word ובנחה is a contraction of ובנח ה' ”when G’d came to rest.” The subject under discussion in Numbers is the Ark being returned to the Tabernacle after the Israelites had made camp. We find something similar when the Israelites broke camp (Numbers 10,35). At that point the Torah writes that Moses would instruct קומה ה' ויפוצו אויביך, “rise O Lord and let Your enemies scatter.” Clearly he was addressing the attribute of G’d linked to the Holy Ark. The word קומה is a contraction of קום ה' just as שובה is a contraction of 'שוב ה'. Furthermore, the letter ה at the respective end of the words קומה and שובה are feminine endings of a verb addressing a feminine noun, i.e. the Shechinah, an attribute of G’d which is viewed as feminine (as indicated by the word itself). This is all part of the proof that Moses did not just address the Ark [though the Ark was capable of supporting both itself and those who carried it. Ed.] but that he addressed the Shechinah, the attribute of Justice we discussed earlier. Support for our theory is found also in the way the Targum translates the words in Exodus 33,14 פני ילכון. The wording is שכנתי תהך, “My Shechinah will go.” This is the feminine form for “walking, traveling.” The masculine equivalent would have been יהך. The Shechinah, which is viewed as the “signature” of the structure, receives its input from the attribute גבורה also known as פחד. This is why Moses said תפול עליהם אימתה ופחד, as if he had said: “may the fear of the Shechinah which receives its power from the attribute פחד fall upon them.”

עד יעבור עמך ה', “until Your people O Hashem cross over.” Moses refers here to the Israelites crossing the river Arnon (Deut. 2,24). When he continued עד יעבור עם זו קנית, “until this nation whom You have acquired will cross,” he referred to the Israelites crossing the river Jordan (compare Pessikta Zutrata) This is why we are told specifically that when the Ark entered the waters of the Jordan, that the water piled up north of the river to afford the Israelites passage on a dry river bed (Joshua 3,16 and 17).

עם זו קנית, “this nation You have acquired.” Why did the Torah change from calling the Jewish people עם זו גאלת, in verse 13 to עם זו קנית? As long as Moses had spoken about the status of the Jewish people at the crossing of the Sea of Reeds when they had not yet accepted the Torah he described them as the nation whom “G’d had redeemed.” When he speaks about future events, events which would occur after the revelation at Mount Sinai, he speaks of the people G’d had acquired.

A Midrashic approach (Mechilta Shirah section 9) to the words עם זו קנית: G’d is described as having acquired four things. 1) “Israel,” as we know from the words עם זו קנית.” 2) “The Torah,” as we know from ה' קנני ראשית דרכו (the Torah speaking in Proverbs 8,22) “The Lord has acquired me at the beginning of His way.” 3) “Heaven and Earth” as we know from Genesis 14,22 קונה שמים וארץ “who owns heaven and earth.” 4) “The Holy Temple,” as we know from Psalms 78,54 הר זה קנתה ימינו “His right hand has acquired this Mountain.” It is therefore appropriate that Israel which has been called an acquisition of G’d should receive the Torah which has also been described as G’d’s acquisition. The whole world which is also an acquisition of G’d owes its continued existence to the merit of Torah. It is furthermore appropriate for Israel who are G’d’s acquisition to build the Temple which is also G’d’s acquisition.

תביאמו ותטעמו, “You will bring them and plant them, etc.” By excluding mention of himself in this verse, Moses prophesied that he would not enter the land of Israel (Mechilta Shirah section 10). As to his words מכון לשבתך פעלת, “You have made the foundation of Your dwelling-place,” these words are a continuation of the words בהר נחלתך, “on the mount of Your heritage.” The meaning of the whole verse is: “on the mount of Your heritage down here on earth You have established the foundation of a dwelling-place which corresponds to Your dwelling in the heaven.” Moses referred to that dwelling-place with the words מקדש ה' כוננו ידיך, a reference to the Sanctuary in the heavens. This is the reason that you find the tone-sign zakef gadol on the word מקדש, “Sanctuary.” The letter ק in the word מקדש is spelled with the dagesh chazak tone-sign in the letter to indicate the תוקף, “the strength” represented by that Sanctuary. This is because it is a “Sanctuary of Sanctuaries,” the crown of the Sanctuary on earth. Whereas in connection with the Sanctuary on earth Moses speaks of a פעולה, a physical activity, something appropriate for the terrestrial regions, no such activity is mentioned in connection with the Sanctuary in heaven. However, he did say כוננו ידיך, “Your hands have established it,” a reference to the ten emanations (i.e. the ten fingers on the two hands).

ה' ימלך לעולם ועד, “the Lord will rule forever.” The plain meaning of the text is that just as G’d had demonstrated His supremacy over all of mankind and the forces of nature at this time by saving the deserving and punishing the guilty, may He continue to do so in each and every generation. The same idea has been expressed by David in Psalms 146,10: “The Lord will reign forever, your G’d, O Zion, for all generations, Hallelujah.” The word ימלך is written defective, without the letter ו to teach us that G’d does not approach His subjects with great demands by demanding an exhausting sort of service from them. (Avodah Zarah 3). The prophet Micha 6,3 has already publicly remonstrated with his people showing that G’d’s demands of His people (and on mankind) are quite minimal. He asked: “My people! What wrong have I done you? What hardship have I caused you?”

A Kabbalistic approach: after Israel had watched the emanation מלכות split the sea and they had offered their praises to G’d and His Kingdom, they concluded their praises by invoking the tetragram just as they had used that attribute at the beginning of the song when they sang אשירה לי-ה-ו-ה. Onkelos translates the word ימלך as if it were present tense; i.e. “G’d’s kingdom endures forever.” We find the same in Psalms 10,16: “The Lord is king forever and ever; the nations will perish from His land.” [Whenever G’d’s kingdom is expressed in the present tense some of our commentators are concerned that the reader who in his lifetime sees no evidence of G’d exerting His power may find such terminology bothersome. This is especially so if, as here, the grammar clearly speaks of the future. Ed.] Perhaps what prompted Onkelos to translate the word ימלך as a present tense instead of as a future tense is that Moses and the people of Israel had in mind G’d in His capacity as representing מלכות, kingdom, sovereignty. This is why they thought it appropriate to conclude the song with that theme. This then was in contrast to the opening of the song when they emphasized the tetragrammaton, at the conclusion they emphasized the מלכות aspect of G’d.

When we look at the missing letter ו in the word ימלך, the idea may have been to impress upon us that the King, i.e. מלך, is the essence of any kingdom. It is in the nature of a king to exert different degrees of his influence and power on the affairs of state at different times depending on his judgment of which is more appropriate. It is also possible that what Onkelos had in mind was that in G’d’s thinking all the “times,” be they past, present or future, are all one, i.e. as if they were the present, seeing that He had preceded the very concept of time and He will be in existence long ”after” the concept of time has ceased to exist.

It is important to remember that the entire song consists of 18 verses; perhaps the number 18 is to symbolize the number of vertebrae in our backbone (Berachot 28) which will be renewed at the time of the resurrection and at which time we will recite such a song of thanksgiving for having been resurrected. This also gives even deeper meaning to the statement by our sages in Sanhedrin 91 that the reason that the Torah does not insert Moses’ song by referring to it as אז שר משה, “at that time Moses sang,” instead of writing אז ישיר משה, “then Moses will sing.” The Torah wanted to provide us with an allusion to the eventual resurrection. You will find a parallel wording when Isaiah 26,1 speaks of the song of thanksgiving to be sung in the future after the final redemption. He writes: “In that day, this song shall be sung in the land of Yehudah: ‘ours is a mighty city; He makes victory our inner and outer wall. Open the gates, and let a righteous nation enter, a nation that keeps faith, etc., etc.”.....This song concludes with the words יחיו מתיך, “Your dead will come alive.” Isaiah too composed 18 verses to make up that song of the future Just as Moses made reference to עזי וזמרת י-ה, so Isaiah mentions in that song the words בטחו בה' עדי עד כי בי-ה ה' צור עולמים, adding the tetragrammaton to the two-lettered name of G’d י-ה which had been in use prior to that final redemption. All of this was to hint of additional spiritual attainments which would be achieved at that time. At that time G’d’s name will be complete and His throne will be whole (compare Tanchuma Ki Tetze 8).

כי בא סוס פרעה, “for Pharaoh’s cavalry came, etc.” The Torah now goes back to the beginning of the שירה as if the opening line had read אז ישיר משה ובני ישראל את השירה הזאת כאשר בא סוס פרעה ברכבו ובפרשיו בים, “then Moses and the Children of Israel sang a song when Pharaoh, his cavalry, and its riders went into the sea and G’d brought the waters of the sea upon them whereas the Israelites walked on dry ground.” The verse teaches that the Israelites sang the song while still crossing.

ותקח מרים הנביאה, “Miriam the prophetess took, etc.” According to the plain meaning of the text the reason the Torah added the words “sister of Aaron,” — something we were well aware of — was to ensure that the three siblings Moses, Aaron, and Miriam should all have their names associated with this song. Another reason is connected with good form. It is customary that when the name of a person is introduced we relate it to his or her oldest brother as we find in Genesis 36,22: “the sister of Lotan was Timnah.” It is also possible that Aaron was mentioned in order for her to obtain permission to use the percussion instrument drum, seeing a drum is an instrument connected with the planet (zodiac sign) Jupiter. Each of the planets had a musical instrument which was specifically associated with that planet, the drum being that associated with Jupiter. We have a verse in Job 29,14 צדק לבשתי וילבשני, “I clothed myself in righteousness and it robed me.” This verse is understood to refer to Aaron’s priestly garments. The word צדק then appears both as meaning “Jupiter” and as meaning “Aaron.” Miriam had to obtain Aaron’s permission to use the drum. You are aware that Psalm 150 contains 10 “hallelujahs” of G’d but only nine musical instruments corresponding to nine celestial bodies — horn, harp, lyre, timbrel, dance (מחול), lute, pipe, cymbals, loud-clashing cymbals. [More on this subject on Exodus 32,19.] The words אהרון את התוף are a clear allusion that there was a conceptual linkage between Aaron and the instrument called תוף.

A Midrashic approach (Sotah 12-13): the Torah links Miriam as a prophetess to her brother Aaron rather than to her brother Moses. The Torah’s message is that she demonstrated her prophetic gift while she was a sister of Aaron, before Moses had been born. In fact, her prophecy concerned Moses. She predicted that her mother would give birth to the redeemer of the Jewish people.

We need to understand why the prophetic spirit was entrusted to a woman rather than to a man. Actually, there is hardly anything surprising in this; after all woman is as much part of the species as is man. Did not the Torah refer to both of them as אדם in Genesis 5,2? Our sages (Megillah 14) claim that Sarah was not inferior to Miriam in her prophetic qualities seeing the Torah refers to her as יסכה (Genesis 11,29) which means means that she saw things with her Holy Spirit. Shemot Rabbah 1,1 claims that the word in Genesis 21,12 where G’d told Avraham to listen to all that Sarah would tell him prove that as a prophet Avraham was junior to Sarah. This is the view of the Midrash. The fact is that the Torah itself does not mention prophecy in connection with a woman until Miriam. The reason that this is the time the matter of Miriam’s prophecy was revealed is either to teach us that she possessed this gift prior to Moses’ birth or because the Torah wanted to wait with telling us this until the Shechinah itself had been exiled. The Torah wanted to allude to the statement we have already quoted that the quality of the prophetic visions granted even to women at the bottom of the social register at the time of the crossing of the sea surpassed that of the visions granted to the great prophet Ezekiel. Hence the Torah saw fit to record that not only Miriam but all her colleagues broke out in song and dance praising the Lord. The Midrash (Mechilta Shirah 3) means that Miriam and her colleagues broke out in that song spontaneously; they did not paraphrase the words Moses had composed but composed their own.

There are numerous other fundamental aspects of Torah which have been taught to the people by women. One such fundamental concept is the spelling out of the existence of spiritual life after death which Abigail mentioned to David when she explained to him that by not taking revenge on her wicked husband Naval he would merit to be accorded special status in that hereafter (See Samuel I 25,29 where participation in the hereafter is called והיתה אדוני צרורה בצרור החיים את ה' אלו-היך, “and may the soul of my lord be joined to the bundle of life in the care of the Lord”). Another major contribution about fundamentals of our faith was provided by Chanah (mother of the prophet Samuel) when she referred to the resurrection in her prayer of thanksgiving after Samuel had been born and she brought him to the High Priest Eli (Samuel I 2,6); compare Rosh Hashanah 17. The fundamental belief in transmigration of souls was taught by the woman from Tekoah (Samuel II 14,14) when she told David that “G’d would not take away life from a person in such a way that nothing remains, etc.” All of these examples I mention to show that woman is not to regarded as a mere subsidiary to the male. She is a mainstay of the tenets of Judaism in a number of spheres. [Perhaps the fact that the author enumerates only examples connected with life and earth is due to the fact that it is woman’s domain to bring forth life on earth. Ed.] Our sages in Megillah 14 have taught that there were a total of seven women-prophetesses: Sarah, Miriam, Chanah, Devorah, Chuldah, Avigail and Esther. The number corresponds to the seven attributes which are of a passive nature (חסד, גבורה, תפארת, נצח, הוד, יסוד, מלכות).

בתופים ובמחולות, “with drums and dances.” The women mentioned here were extremely wise as we mentioned earlier. They had experienced visions not granted to the greatest prophets bar Moses. Some of them were motivated by pure motives, others had unacceptable motives. The ones who engaged in dancing had unacceptable motives as the “dance” as a musical instrument was the one associated with the planet Mars, a symbol of warfare, violence. The negative impact of that “instrument” became evident at the time of the golden calf where the Torah reports the woshippers as indulging in מחולות, (Exodus 34,19). I will have more to say on that subject in my commentary on that verse.

ויצאו אל מדבר שור, “they went out to the wilderness of Shur.” The reason that wilderness was called שור was because it was the place where the Jewish people yearned to see further revelations of the emanation חכמה, such as had been granted to them during the crossing of the sea. The name ישורון was bestowed on the Jewish people in recognition of these insights which had been granted to them. The word is also reminiscent of Bileam’s blessing in Numbers 23,9 ומגבעות אשורנו, “and I can see them from the tops of hills.” At that time the Israelites were on a spiritual high, ascending higher and higher. The wilderness of Shur is identical with the wilderness איתם, of which we read in Numbers 33,8: “they set out from Pi Hachirot, and passed through the sea into the wilderness; and they made a three-days’ journey in the wilderness of Etham.” They camped at Marah.

A Midrashic view cited in Shemot Rabbah 24,4: “This was a place where the Israelites were anxious to place flags in rows upon rows. Another explanation: the desert of Shur is a euphemism for the Jewish people prior to their receiving the Torah. As long as the Torah had not been given the entire world was comparable to a wilderness. Once the Torah was given it was transformed into “Shur” i.e. a (protective) wall. Rabbi Yehudah son of Rabbi Seymon quoted G’d as saying that in the future He would do the same for Zion. Whereas in Isaiah 64,9 Zion was described as a wilderness, it would become a protective wall as prophesied in Zecharyah 2,9 “I shall become a wall of fire (for Zion) surrounding it and I will glory inside it.”

וילכו שלשת ימים במדבר, “they walked for three days through the desert.” I have already mentioned at the beginning of my commentary on this portion that every occurrence that took place in the desert was in the nature of a trial. There has never been a reported march of a nation numbering three million souls plus through the desert without their being supplied with a drop of water especially at a hot time of year. According to our sages (see our comment on 13,17) when the Israelites arrived at Marah the waters they found there had first been sweet, water fit to drink. These waters turned bitter, bracken, to intensify the trial they were undergoing. This is best reflected in the Torah itself writing “there He subjected them to a test” (verse 25). When Moses prayed and G’d showed him how to sweeten the water by throwing some bitter piece of wood into it, this was all part of the same trial. The very irrationality of bitter wood turning bitter water into sweet water was designed to underline that the whole experience was designed to test the Israelites’ dependence on G’d’s goodwill. In discussing this matter, Rabbi Nathan in Mechilta Vayissa section 1, says that the wood G’d showed Moses is called Hardefani, a tree growing by the banks of a river, and the fruit of which is a deadly poison for any man who eats from it. On the other hand, Rabbi Eleazar Hamodai claims that the tree was the olive tree. A third opinion offered holds that it was the root of the fig tree. In any event, the common denominator of all these traditions is that the wood was bitter and could not have sweetened the water by natural means. Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel, reflecting on this phenomenon (and others) was prompted to exclaim: “how wondrous are Your works O Lord, so much more wonderful than anything designed by man.” When Elisha told his disciples (Kings II 2,20 ) “bring me a new dish and put salt in it,” he added matter which would make the water even less palatable than before in order to turn the water into drinking water. This too was an example of a miracle within a miracle.

Rabbeinu Chananel writes that when the Torah writes that the Israelites marched through the desert for three days, this does not mean that they actually walked for three days. It means that they covered a distance that would normally be a three days’ march in a single day.

וילכו שלשת ימים במדבר ולא מצאו מים, “they walked in the desert for three days without finding water.” The water which they had drawn from amongst the rocks in the Sea of Reeds had been exhausted at that time. The commentators described in Baba Kama 82 as דורשי רשומות in commenting on this verse say that the word מים in this verse is a simile for Torah as we know that when the prophet Isaiah 55,1 invited the people with the words: ”let every thirsty person come and drink water,” he did not refer to physical water, but to the equally life-sustaining Torah. The fact that the Israelites went without water for three days prompted the sages under the leadership of Ezra to introduce Torah-reading in the synagogue at least every three days (the Monday and Thursday readings).

שם שם לו חוק ומשפט, “there He established for it (the Jewish people) statute and social legislation.” According to the plain meaning of the text Moses (at the instruction of G’d) laid down some ground rules for the Israelites’ conduct while they journeyed in the desert. Moses occupied the de facto position of king, lawgiver. He rebuked the people and told them how to treat their wives and children. He also established rules how to relate to other nations with whom the Israelites could expect to come in contact during their trek to the land of Canaan. They would have to engage in trade relations with surrounding nations.

Some commentators say that he taught them details about the vegetation they would encounter in the desert, which plants had therapeutic value, which were poisonous, etc., etc. The word חק applied to phenomena which were known only empirically, whereas the word משפט applies to knowledge of the inner workings and the why and wherefore of the phenomena in question.

ושם נסהו, “and there He tested it” “It” refers to the various plants which were unfamiliar to the people. This is why Moses added (verse 26): “if you will surely listen to the instructions of the Lord your G’d...for I am your healer.” In view of the new-found knowledge about nature’s remedies, etc. the people might have considered themselves as self-sufficient, less dependent on G’d. Moses therefore warned them that in the final analysis not their familiarity with what nature had to offer would ensure their well being but their obedience to G’d. These were the considerations which prompted Chizkiyah King of Yehudah to hide the medical textbooks as the people had come to believe that cures to illnesses were to be found there rather than by faith in the Lord and observance of His commandments (compare Pessachim 56 where the sages of his time are recorded as having approved of Chizkiyah’s measure).

A Midrashic approach: the words חק ומשפט refer to the legislation preceding the Torah which G’d revealed at Marah, notably certain aspects of the Sabbath legislation and the laws of the red heifer (known as חוקים as they cannot be arrived at by means of human logic) as well as laws about litigation which the Torah here mentioned under the heading משפטים. Sanhedrin 56 lists 10 laws which were revealed at Marah.

If you will read this paragraph carefully you will note that at this point of their wanderings the celestial force ruling the deserts began to actively try and interfere with the Israelites’ obedience to G’d and Moses. The obstacles to a smooth journey which this שר המדבר, the celestial agent in charge of the desert, placed in the path of a smooth journey of the Israelites led to their complaints against Moses and indirectly against G’d. In the ספר הבהיר by Rabbi Nechunyah Hakanah the matter is described in the following words: “Satan said to the Israelites: ‘although these bitter waters which have now become sweet are sufficient for you for the moment, as you progress deeper and deeper into the desert you will not even find enough water to wash your faces.’” Another comment found in connection with the bitter waters turning sweet, on the words “He taught them about a certain wood” teaches that this was the tree of life (from Gan Eden) which surrounded the bitter waters. When Satan became aware of the presence of that tree he removed it in order to confuse the Israelites and to lead them into sin As a result, וילונו העם, the people complained. This was followed immediately by Moses crying out to G’d (verse 25), and He showed him an alternative wood to sweeten the water.” In other words, G’d intervened and weakened the power of Satan. He did so by providing the Israelites with the legislation mentioned so that performance of these commandments would fortify them against temptation by the Satan. Had G’d not weakened the power of Satan at that time the Israelites could not have prevailed against him. This is the reason the Torah condensed all this into the few words: “there He gave them certain laws and there He had tested them.” The manifest presence of Satan at that time and at that place had made it necessary for Moses to engage in prayer to secure G’d’s assistance. The very words שם שם לו are an allusion to the presence there of סמאל, Satan (similarity of pronunciation of these letters). Bileam alludes to this in Numbers 24,23: אוי מי יחיה משמו, “who will survive when He imposes these!”

ויאמר אם שמוע תשמעו לקול ה', “He said if you will truly hearken to the voice of the Lord, etc.” According to the plain meaning of the text Moses meant that if the Israelites were truly going to observe G’d’s laws then neither disease caused by internal causes such as the intake of rotten food, nor by external causes would befall them. The reason that Moses mentions “the voice of G‘d” in this instance is because he already alludes to the Ten Commandments which would be given to them by the ‘voice’ of G’d which they were going to hear at Mount Sinai. In Deut. 4,12 Moses reminded the people that they had heard קול דבריו, “the voice of His words.” He continues to break down the commandments into their constituent parts, i.e. rational ones, laws involving faith, and laws that are statutes, not accessible to our understanding. והישר בעיניו תעשה, “and you will do what is right in His eyes.” These are the social laws, laws accessible to our logic. Nechemyah 9,13 refers to these laws by saying: ותתן להם משפטים ישרים, “You have given them laws which are “right, fair.” והאזנת למצותיו, “and you will give ear to His laws.” These are the commandments whose performance demonstrates faith; they are commandments which no sane person would have invented by himself. One needs an ear in tune with G’d’s instructions in this matter. Proverbs 15,31 speaks of “He whose ear heeds the discipline of life.” ושמרת כל חקיו, “and you will observe all His statutes.” This is a reference to all those laws which defy our logic to find reasons for them. The Torah promises that if in spite of our total inability to understand the reasons for these laws we observe them meticulously, we will be spared all the diseases and sicknesses other nations are suffering from at intervals. There was no need to tell us that we would not be stricken with the plagues G’d inflicted upon the Egyptians with which we are familiar from having watched the Egyptians. G’d promises that even ordinary sickness will not affect the Jewish people if they observe the חקים. כי אני ה' רופאך, “for I the Lord, am your healer.” “I will preserve your good health so that you will not become a victim of natural diseases at all.”

Nachmanides writes: “Since when does someone ‘reward’ his servant by ‘promising’ that if he carries out his duties he will merely not fall victim to disease or other afflictions? None of the other promises by G’d are of this type at all. G’d usually promises long life, fertility, success in agriculture, etc., i.e. promises of positive developments, not promises of negative developments not occurring! This “promise” therefore is not a promise at all; rather it is a warning of what could happen if the people did not obey the statutes. It is an implied threat that what did happen to the Egyptians could happen to a Jewish people who rebel against G’d’s commandments. Deut. 28,60 is more specific in this respect, Moses saying: “He will bring back upon you all the sufferings of Egypt of which you were terrified, etc.” The words: “for I, the Lord, am your healer,” are a promise that G’d is able to remove all ordinary sickness from afflicting the people just as He had demonstrated that He healed the bitter waters at Marah. Thus far Nachmanides.

A Kabbalistic approach: The word ויאמר refers to the emanation (attribute) Tiferet. The word לקול is a reference to kenesset Yisrael, (the spiritual concept of the Jewish people). It is the “glory” of which we have been warned כי אם שמוע תשמע בקולו (Exodus 33,22) “to listen to the voice of that spiritual concept (called כבוד).” The meaning of the whole verse then is: “if you will hearken to that voice in that you will observe the Lord’s various commandments, i.e. the commandments issued by the attribute תפארת, I will not afflict you with any of the afflictions with which I afflicted the Egyptians because My attribute כבוד will act as your healer.”

In the Sefer Habahir of Rabbi Nechunyah Hakanah (items 163-4) our verse is understood thus: “The verse is aimed at the evil urge within us, seeing that the Israelites’ complaints against Moses and G’d about which we read just before were inspired by the evil urge. G’d says that ‘if you will surely hearken to the voice of the Lord your G’d (instead of to the voice of Satan, the evil urge), and you will observe His commandments instead of the urgings of Satan, all His statutes, and not just part of His statutes and part of Satan’s urgings, then I will keep away from you all manner of disease, etc.” What precisely is meant by “the spirit of the evil urge?” Let me explain by means of a parable. A king had appointed officials in charge of his Kingdom and the economic health of his country. Different officials were placed in charge of different government departments. One official was in charge of the treasury, another one in charge of the supply of stones for building, a third one in charge of exotic foods and fruit. It was found that the official in charge of exotic fruit and food enjoyed great popularity, everyone flocked to him to buy the wares he had to offer. When the official in charge of the building materials saw that he had hardly any customers, he engaged agents to destroy poor people’s houses so that they would need to buy stones to repair the damage to their homes. He did not order that the houses which had firm foundations be torn down as his agents were not able to do that without giving themselves away. Not only that, he reasoned that in the time it would take his agents to tear down one solidly built house they could destroy twenty shacks in the same amount of time. He would then attract twenty customers instead of merely one. By resorting to this stratagem he hoped to attain the same popularity as a supplier of essential products as had his competitor the official selling exotic fruit and foods. This is the meaning of the verse in Jeremiah 1,14: “for evil will originate from צפון, from the north.” According to commentators this means that Satan has permission to cause destruction only in the “northern spheres,” i.e. in spheres already prone to destruction. In terms of the evil urge, this means that only spiritually weak people are legitimate targets for Satan. The way to fortify oneself against the attempts of Satan to undermine one’s well being is to observe כל חקיו, “all of G’d’s statutes.” By doing this G’d will ward off any attempt by Satan to undermine one’s piety and faith in Him. If Satan were to find a person weaken even a single time it is as if he opened a door for him to enter. After that, it will be much harder to expel him from an area to which he felt he had been freely admitted. What is the meaning of the words: “for I the Lord am your healer?” How can such words be appropriate to people who have not been previously afflicted by any disease? We must understand the words to mean that when Satan gets ready to attack such a person G’d will use preventive medicine to ward off such an attack. Thus far Sefer Habahir.

I have heard further that the numerical value of the acrostic describing the ten plagues i.e. דצ'ך עד'ש באח'ב amounts to 501. This is the numerical value of the word אשר in the line אשר שמתי במצרים in our verse.

ויבאו אילמה ושם שתים עשרה עינות מים ושבעים תמרים, “they arrived at Eylim and there they found twelve springs of water and seventy date-palms.” According to the plain meaning of the text the fact that the Torah relates these details shows that the waters were sweet as otherwise the date-palms could not have survived there. As a result of this oasis being pleasant, the Israelites stayed there a little while longer. The Torah alludes to this with the words “they camped there by the water.” The climatic conditions at this time of year were such that these waters would be cool and refreshing. Jeremiah comments on such conditions when he writes (‎Jeremiah 18,14) “Does one forsake Lebanon snow from the mountainous rocks? Does one abandon cool water flowing from afar?”

A Midrashic approach (Mechilta Yayissa section 1) on the words “12 springs of water and seventy date-palms.” Rabbi Eliezer Hamodai said that from the day G’d had created the universe He had created 12 springs of water corresponding to the 12 tribes of Israel. He had also planted 70 date-palms corresponding to the seventy elders of the Jewish people. The meaning of this Midrash is that after the crossing of the Sea of Reeds the Israelites had not encountered such a good camping place as this one at Eylim. Just as they had experienced a miracle at the sea when G’d sweetened the salt-water of the sea so that they could drink from it while crossing, and He provided 12 lanes for the different tribes to cross in, so this type of miracle was re-enacted at Eylim. Its waters were sweet and flowing; there were 12 separate springs so that each tribe could have its own water supply. The seventy date-palms corresponded to the seventy elders each of whom was accorded honour in his own right.

A kabbalistic approach: the words “they came to Eylim where there were twelve springs of water and seventy date-palms“ mean that when the Israelites now arrived at this site they attained a certain spiritual level called “elohim” (play on the word אלימה with the letters re-arranged). The 12 fountains are a simile for 12 angels, three from each of the four directions. Each group of three angels was accompanied by an army of minor angels so that between them all they represented the מחנה שכינה, the camp of the Divine presence supported at four corners with its celestial entourage. The seventy date-palms represent the seventy angels who surround the throne of G’d’s glory and who are assigned, one each, as the celestial representatives of the 70 nations of the world. You find this confirmed in the Sefer Habahir items 165-6. The author there asks: “what was the significance of the twelve fountains? First G’d gave the Israelites 12 fountains. These were exchanged later when the Jewish people crossed the Jordan into the twelve stones Joshua erected there (Joshua 4,9). The reason is that originally the Torah was likened to life-giving water seeing the Torah, i.e. its bearers were on the move, just like the waters issuing from fountains are on the move, their waters constantly flowing. Once the Israelites crossed the Jordan and began to conquer the Holy Land Torah found a permanent home, was stationary. As far as the 70 date-palms are concerned, this is a symbol for seventy different קומות, conduits, by means of which G’d dispenses His largess. These draw their input from twelve of the “simple” letters in the alpha-bet. Just as these waters are ordinary waters (of terrestrial origin), so the seventy nations are essentially terrestrial in nature. Whence do we know that a date-palm may be equated with a קומה? We base this on Song of Songs 7,8 זאת קומתך דמתה לתמר, “such is your stature, likened to a towering palm tree.” Not only that but there are 70 different species of palm trees; this is meant by our verse speaking about seventy palm trees. The words ושבעים תמרים mean that each one was different from the other and the fruit they produced were different from one another, each tasting differently. So far Sefer Habahir. [Levush Orah by R' Mordechai Jaffe, in his super-commentary on Rashi, and Menachem Rekanati explain many of these concepts in greater depth. Ed.] It is important to remember that each date-palm had been assigned its task in nature and each had to contribute according to its specific task. It was not in order for them to be grafted one to another to produce new mutations. The entire phenomenon is reminiscent of Yaakov and his twelve sons and the seventy descendants who arrived in Egypt. They were likened to towering palm trees due to their spiritual stature. At the same time they drew their inspiration from Yaakov’s twelve sons who in turn drew theirs from their patriarch-father. The 12 tribes were divided into four camps of three tribes each, encamped in the four directions of the globe enclosing (protecting) the encampment of the Shechinah. This made them carriers of the Divine Presence, Shechinah. This is all reflected in the fact that the patriarch Yaakov himself was called א-ל אלו-הי ישראל, (Genesis 33,20) which line is explained in Megillah 18 as “who called him א-ל? None other than the אלו-הי ישראל, the G’d of Israel.” All of the foregoing only serves the purpose of giving us an inkling of the spiritual stature of our patriarchs.