The Flavor of Love: Towards a New Appreciation of the Manna

Although Pharaoh capitulated at the tenth plague and finally freed the Jews, Hashem wasn't done with him yet.

I shall strengthen Pharaoh's heart and he will pursue you. (Shemos 14:4)

Pharaoh pursues the Jews to the sea, the sea splits, and then... you know the story. The question is why? Why split the sea? If Hashem wanted to kill Pharaoh and destroy his army, He had ample opportunity to do it in Egypt during the Ten Plagues. There was no need for yet another miracle.

As the Egyptian army closed in on the Jews, Hashem told Moshe exactly why this was happening.

ואיכבדה בפרעה ובכל חילו ברכבו ובפרשיו - "I will be glorified through Pharaoh, and through his entire army, his chariots and his horsemen. (14:17; see also 14:18, 14:4)

Hashem split for the sea for His kavod, His honor and glory. Assuming that the Creator is not insecure or arrogant, how are we to understand the meaning of this? 

A clue to the answer appears later in the Parsha, in the story of the manna. When the Jews run out of Matzah, they complain.

The entire community of Bnei Yisroel complained to Moshe and Aaron in the desert. The Bnei Yisroel said to them, “If only Hashem had killed us in the land of Egypt when we sat by the meat pot, when we ate bread to the fill! You have taken us out to this desert to kill this entire congregation by starvation!” (Shemos 16:2-3)

Yes, it is a big chutzpah, but worse, it's heresy. The Jews accuse Moshe and Aaron of bringing them into the desert when they should know good and well that Hashem is the one who took them out of Egypt. Ignoring their pleas for food, Moshe and Aaron address the basic issue of faith first. 

Moshe and Aaron said to the entire Bnei Yisroel, “Tonight you will know that Hashem took you out of the land of Egypt, ובקר וראיתם את כבוד י-ה-ו-ה, and in the morning you will see the glory of Hashem. Your complaints against Hashem have been heard. What are we that you complain against us?” (ibid 16:6-7)

Moshe explains: "When Hashem gives you (quail) meat to eat in the evening and (manna) bread to the fill in the morning..." (ibid 16:8). In other words, since you seem to think we took you out of Egypt, the arrival of quail tonight will prove that Hashem orchestrated the Exodus, and in the morning, with the arrival of the manna, you will witness His glory.

Quail vs. Manna

According to the Ibn Ezra, both the quail and the manna served as "signs" that Hashem took them out of Egypt. The Ramban, however, points to the plain meaning of Moshe's words. The manna's function was different. It was an experience of Hashem's honor and glory, His kavod. 

What does this mean? What is Hashem's "kavod"?

The Ramban explains that the quail and the manna are not comparable. The quail were ordinary birds that were brought in by a strong wind; the manna was a unique creation ex nihilo. When Hashem performs extraordinary wonders, the full extent of His power and sovereignty - כבוד מלכותו - is made manifest. This, writes the Ramban, was what Moshe meant when he said, "In the morning you will see the kavod of Hashem."

The distinction between the quail and the manna is clear, but it raises a different question. Was the manna really necessary? If the arrival of the quail reminded the nation that Hashem took them out of Egypt, why the need for another miracle? If Hashem wanted to give the Jews bread, He could deliver sacks of flour the same way He delivered flocks of quail. Why perform the super-miracle of the manna?

Living on Light

The Ramban continues his comments on this verse with a description of the extraordinary nature of the manna. Extraordinary is an understatement. He begins by quoting Rabbi Akivah (Yoma 75b) who said that angels eat manna. The Ramban explains that to make manna, Hashem took the spiritual light that emanates from His Shechina and gave it physical form. Manna is the splendor of the Shechina corporealized!

It goes without saying that I don't have the foggiest clue what this means. To borrow an Artscrollism, Kabbalistic concepts are "beyond the scope of this elucidation" (see header). Nonetheless, I quote it for it brings us to the Ramban's next big idea.

If the manna was so lofty and spiritual, how did it sustain men of flesh and blood? The truth is, ordinary mortals cannot live on manna. However, the Jews of that generation were not ordinary. They witnessed the splitting of the sea, and it changed them. When the sea split, it was a revelation of God greater than the prophet Yechezkel ever saw. In the words of the Ramban, the souls of the Jews were "elevated" by the experience, and that is what made it possible for them to live on manna, the food of angels.

The Ramban thus links the sea and the manna: both are manifestations of the Shechina, and as such, the sea is what made the manna possible. These two miracles also share another distinction, a most puzzling common denominator: both the splitting of the sea and the manna stand out as the greatest miracles of our history - and we didn't need either of them. Both could be deleted from our history with no negative effect. But the question answers itself. It certainly is true that we did not need the manna or the sea - and that is exactly the point. These miracles functioned solely to reveal the kavod of Hashem.

If Pharaoh did not pursue the Jews and the sea never split, then the Exodus would simply be the salvation of an oppressed people. Had the manna never appeared, the quail would serve to keep the Jews alive in the desert. The formative miracles of our history would all be purely utilitarian, and this was not Hashem's intent.

The completely unnecessary revelation at the sea and the edible light called manna were Hashem's way of saying that something else is happening here: the Creator desires an intimate relationship with man. Hashem wants the Chosen People to recognize His kavod and to know who He is. He therefore orchestrated a ruse, a transparent excuse to reveal Himself for no reason other than love itself.

A Nes of Faithfulness; a Nes of Kindness

Now we understand Hashem's response to the Jew's embarrassing failure of faith. When the Jews forgot their history and blamed Moshe for taking them into the desert, Hashem refreshes the their memory with a replay of the two fundamental messages of the Exodus. First, He restores their faith by delivering quail and reminding them that He took them out of Egypt. This happens at night, matching the original emancipation - the Tenth Plague - which occurred at midnight. Hashem then reveals his kavod with the manna in the morning, just as the Jews experienced the splitting of the sea in the morning.

The timing of these events has great symbolic significance. The rising sun proclaims Hashem's kindness and the darkness of night calls for faith. This dichotomy, the contrast of day and night, was spelled out by the Psalmist. "To speak of your kindness in the morning and of your faithfulness in the evening" (Tehillim 92:3). Taking us out of Egypt was a divine act of faithfulness, a fulfilment of Hashem's promise to Avrahom. That is why it occurred at night, a time of faith. In contrast, the forefathers were never told about the revelation at the sea. It was a surprise gift; an expression of Hashem's love for His fiancee, the Chosen Nation. That is why it occurred in the morning, a time of kindness.

The same is true for the quail and the manna. Providing food was an act of faithfulness - Hashem had to take responsibility for the nation's survival - and so it came at night, like the freedom from slavery. But the manna, the light of the Shechina, was a divine kiss, if you will, and that is why it came with the rising sun, like the splitting of the sea. 

Faithometer

Hashem introduced the manna with these words:

"I will rain down bread for you from the heavens. The nation will go out and collect each day's ration daily, in order for Me to test them, will they follow my instructions or not." (16:4)

What is the test of the manna? The Ramban explains that it is not easy for people to live in a desert and have to rely on miracles for survival. To agree to such an existence requires an extraordinary degree of faith. By entering the desert after the Exodus the Jews demonstrated their loyalty and Hashem took note. "I remember the the kindness of your youth, the love of your nuptials; you followed after Me into the desert, a land where nothing grows" (Yermiyah 2:2). With the challenge of manna, Hashem continually tested the strength of the nation's loyalty.

The manna thus served as a barometer of faith and a geiger counter for sin. "Just as the prophets would speak to the Jews [about crimes they hide] in holes and cracks, so too the manna would tell the Jews what [lurks] in the holes and cracks" (Yoma 75a). Manna fell at the front door of the righteous, but the less righteous you were, the further you had to travel to find your portion of manna (ibid). It was a symbiotic relationship: manna produced faith and faith produced manna.

Stop Praying?

When the Jews were trapped between the enemy and the sea, they were obviously terrified. Some began to cry out in prayer (14:10). Moshe said to the people, "Do not be afraid! Stand and watch the salvation of Hashem... Hashem will do battle for you, and you will be silent!" (14:13). Hashem then said to Moshe, "Why do you cry out to me? Speak to the Jews and move!" (14:14).

It is surprising enough to hear Moshe telling people to stop praying, stranger yet, Hashem tells Moshe to stop too! Why is everyone so down on prayer?

The Ohr HaChaim explains that prayer may be an appropriate response in a crisis, but it is not always sufficient. Sometimes extra merit is required for salvation and the call of the hour is not prayer, but an act of faith. The blind march of the people directly into the deadly waves was needed to induce the divine intervention that split the sea.

Once again we find that the manna and the sea share a basic feature. This time it is not the quality or the purpose of the miracle, but the driving force behind it: faith. Both at the sea and in the desert, acts of faith produced acts of God. The reason is easy to understand. When we rise above self-centered, predictable behavior and demonstrate our love with a sacrificial gesture, Hashem responds in kind, violating the natural order to reveal His love for us. Ironically, on both sides of the relationship, meaning is derived specifically from the needlessness of it all. As in human relationships, love between man and God finds expression in the things you don't have to do. (See Mesilas Yesharim, chap. 18)

Avraham and the Sea: Building Faith in the Conquest of Israel

Dedicated in memory of Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein

לע"נ הגאון רבי אהרן ליכטנשטיין ז"ל 

ראש ישיבת הר עציון

The holidays were established to correspond to the forefathers. Pesach corresponds to Avraham, as [Avraham told Sara] in the verse, “Knead and make [matzah] cakes!” – and this occurred on Pesach. Shavuos corresponds to Yitzchok, for the shofar blast by the giving of the Torah was from the horn of the ram of [Akiedas] Yitzchok. Sukkos corresponds to Yaakov, as the verse states, “and for his cattle he built Sukkos” (Bereishis 33:17).

Tur, O.C. 417

This teaching borders on the mystical and is obviously in need of commentary, but this much is clear: the Avraham/Egypt connection goes well beyond the baking of Matzos. Avraham was personally forced by famine to leave Israel and go down to Egypt – an event that foreshadows our national exile (cf. Ramban to Bereishis 12:10). Moreover, Avraham was told that his descendants would suffer exile and enslavement, followed by an exodus. As we shall see, the unfortunate details of that prophecy predetermined what was to come.

Things started off on a positive note. Hashem promised Avraham that his descendants would be as numerous and uncountable as the stars in the heavens (15:5). The Torah reports that when Avraham heard this piece of good news, “he believed in Hashem” (15:6). However, Hashem then made a second, even greater promise: Avraham’s descendants would inherit the Land of Israel (15:7). Here Avraham asks, “במה אדע” – “How will I know?” (15:8). Avraham wanted an אות, a sign, a guarantee (Rashi to 15:6).

Hashem was upset by this request; He viewed it as a lack of faith on the part of Avraham. “Your first father sinned” (Yeshaya 43:27) when he said, "How will I know” (Rashi ad loc.).

In response, Hashem decreed exile, suffering and slavery for Avraham's children.

“You should know that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs and they will enslave them and afflict them for four hundred years…” (Bereishis 15:13; cf. Nedarim 32a).

Avraham may have sinned, nonetheless, it seems cruel and unusual to punish a nation for the sin of an ancestor (cf. Kli Yakar ad loc.). An excellent explanation for this anomaly is offered by the Alter of Slabodka.

Avraham’s request for a sign was a failure of his otherwise unquestioning, pure faith in God - and this is why Hashem decreed that his descendants must be slaves. There is basic law of spiritual genetics: a weakness in an ancestor will be magnified in his descendants. If Avraham's faith is weak, then his progeny are in danger. Hashem’s plan was to reinforce the faith of the Jewish People through an experience of exile followed by a miraculous redemption, and this is exactly what happened. When the Exodus culminated with the drowning of the Egyptian army in the Red Sea, “The Children of Israel saw what Hashem’s great hand did with Egypt, and they believed in Hashem.” At long last, Avraham’s weakness was fixed. (אור הצפון ח"א, מעמקי האמונה)

The only question is this: Why did it take so long? Were the ten plagues insufficient to prove the power of God? Why did the Jews need the splitting of the Red Sea to restore their faith?  

A more precise understanding of Avraham’s problem will provide an answer.

When Avraham was told that his children will be like the stars of the sky, he believed it. Similarly, Avraham's descendants, the Jewish people, believed Moshe when he told them that Hashem was coming to redeem them (Shemos 4:31). The Jews were on the brink of total assimilation. If Hashem wouldn’t intervene soon, Jewish identity would simply vanish from the earth. Like their father Avraham before them, the Jews appreciated their uniqueness as a nation and they were confident that Hashem would save them from oblivion. (We should note that Hashem took Moshe to task for doubting the faith of the Jews on this point, cf. Shemos 4:1).

However, when Avraham was told about the conquest of Israel, he balked and asked for a sign. Similarly, when Moshe told the Jews that after the Exodus they would march on Israel, they did not listen (Shemos 6:8-9). (The earlier divine message about going to Israel was only for the elders, cf. Shemos 3:16-17.)

The Jews were willing to accept that Hashem would preserve them, but that He would destroy the Canaanite armies and give them the Land of Canaan – that was another story. The plagues indicated nothing on that front. However, when they witnessed the splitting of the Red Sea – which served solely to drown the Egyptian Army – the Jews saw that Hashem was not only in the business of punishing their oppressors but was also willing to destroy the army of their enemy. As they sang afterwards in the song by the Sea, “Hashem is a Man of War!” (Shemos 15:3). This realization educated the Jews about the true nature of their relationship with the Creator. He isn't just the God of the forefathers. He is the King and Commander-in-Chief of the Jewish Nation!

It wasn’t only the Jews who appreciated the implications of the split sea. “Nations will hear and tremble; terror seized the inhabitants of Philistia. Then the chiefs of Edom panicked, trembling took hold of the heroes of Moav, all the inhabitants of Canaan melted…” (Shemos 15:14-15). As the Jews sang these stanzas, their fear of the Canaanites melted and their faith in Hashem hardened.

This explains why Hashem drowned the Egyptian Army, but it raises a new problem. If the splitting of the sea was designed to rectify weakness in faith, how then could the Jews fall? How could a nation that witnessed God’s infinite prowess and love ever put their faith in a man-made idol? The answer is that a Jew named Micha took an idol with him across the sea (Sanhedrin 103b). This treasonous act undermined the very faith that the sea was meant to fix. The idolatry of Micha found its way to Dan in Northern Israel and, unsurprisingly, it was the worship of his idol that ultimately led to the exile of the Jews from their land (cf. Shoftim 18:30; see this post).

Paganism is a resilient virus and its tragic consequences haunt our people throughout all of our long history. Its modern-day forms may take on a more sophisticated guise, but fundamentally, it’s all the same. To be blunt, humans have to believe in something. If that something isn’t Hashem, you’re pagan.

II

Apparently, the land grant of Israel is in some way more incredible than the miracle of Jewish survival. Avraham asked for a sign, the Jews of Egypt wouldn’t listen, and even as they were preparing to invade Canaan, the princes of Israel still didn’t believe it (cf. Bamidbar 13:31-33). (Sadly, to this day, our rights to our homeland continue to be questioned by many of our own people.)

Why is it so hard to believe that the Land of Israel is the Land for Israel?

Rashi, in his very first comment on the Torah, addresses a most basic question: Why did Hashem include the creation story in the Torah? It should suffice for us to know our obligations, the mitzvos. Why spend so many verses describing a creation that we can’t fathom anyway? Rashi explains that if the nations of the world would ever accuse the Jews of stealing the land from the Canaanites, if the UN or the EU dare describe it as the "occupation of Palestine," Parshas Bereishis will come to our defense. Hashem created the universe, ergo the earth is the Lord’s. He can grant the land of Israel to whomever He wishes, and He can take it away from them and give it to the Jews. (It goes without saying that the King of kings is perfectly just. Hashem told Avraham explicitly that the Jews will not be able to defeat the Canaanites until the Canaanites themselves deserve to defeated due to their own sins, cf. Bereishis 15:16.)

The potential accusation of theft against his descendants undoubtedly concerned Avraham. Avraham’s life mission was educating society about the infinite compassion of the Creator and his greatest fear was that the people would misunderstand the true nature of God. (This is why Avraham consulted with Mamre before performing circumcision, cf. Rashi Bereishis 18:1; Bereishis Rabba 46:3, and this was also undoubtedly part of the challenge of the Akeida.) The truth is, Hashem is also deeply concerned about what the gentiles think of Him. When there is a mistaken impression that God is malicious or weak, or that His Chosen People are corrupt, it is a “Chillul Hashem,” a desecration of Hashem’s reputation. This reverses the spiritual progress of humanity and nothing upsets Hashem more than that. Twice Moshe saved the nation by leveraging Hashem’s distain for it (Shemos 32:11-12; Bamidbar 14:13-16) and no other sin is less forgivable (Yoma 86a). The evil of Chillul Hashem can never be overestimated.

So when Hashem told Avraham that He would give the land of the Canaanites to the Jews, Avraham immediately feared the inevitable Chillul Hashem. Unaware that the Torah would include the creation story as a response, Avraham asked for a sign. A clear divine sign would prove to all the world that God designated the Land of Israel for His Chosen People, and no one could ever accuse the Jews of being thieves.

III

There is another way to interpret Avraham's fateful request; one rooted in its historical context.

The story begins with a war (cf. Bereishis 14:1-16). Four kings battled against five in central Israel, and when the dust cleared, Avraham’s nephew Lot was held captive. Avraham mustered his men and handily, or better said, miraculously, routed the enemy and conquered almost the entire country. I say almost because his advance stopped at Dan in the north. Avraham was weakened at Dan because he foresaw that his descendants would worship an idol there (Rashi to 14:14).

It was after his conquest of Israel that Avraham received the prophecy about Egypt and this is what makes Avraham’s request for a sign so difficult to comprehend.

Was Avraham unaware of the basic principle of מעשה אבות סימן לבנים, the actions of the forefathers are a sign for their children? Was it just a coincidence that Hashem waited until after Avraham’s victory before promising that his children would inherit the land? Is it not obvious that Hashem orchestrated Avraham’s conquest of Israel in order to forge the path for the future? (Hashem’s initial promise to give the land to his children also only came after Avraham’s arrival in Israel, cf. 12:1,7.) In short, Avraham is himself the very sign he is asking for!

The answer is that Avraham was acutely aware that his own life story foreshadowed the future history of the Jewish people – and this is exactly what made him nervous. Avraham was worried about what happened in Northern Israel, at Dan. If his own conquest of Israel was incomplete, what does that portend for his descendants? 

(There is a cause and effect problem here. Was Avraham's failure to capture Dan a sign of future exile, or was the idolatry of the Jews the cause of Avraham's failure to capture Dan? The answer, of course, is both.)

Avraham's question was this: if the Jews will worship idols, how will they remain secure in their land? The Land of Israel has no tolerance for paganism. The Torah states in no uncertain terms that if and when the Jews turn to paganism, they can expect famine and exile (Devarim 11:16). Avraham’s glorious precedent of conquest includes the seeds of its own undoing!

This thought was followed by an even more disturbing realization. If my descendants will worship idols, wondered Avraham, doesn’t that imply that there is a flaw in me? מעשה אבות סימן לבנים. If my children turn away from God, I must be lacking in my faith! Give me a sign, Avraham begged Hashem, give me a sign that will strengthen my faith so that my descendants won’t turn pagan! This is the meaning of Avraham’s request.

Hashem’s response was this: Signs and miracles are not the way for you, Avraham. If you want to strengthen your faith then we will have to take a different approach. “Know that your children will be enslaved…”

Hashem presented Avraham’s faith with the ultimate challenge: the predetermined suffering of unborn children. As Avraham surrendered before the unknowable mystery of God’s ways, his faith hardened. And as Avraham’s faith hardened, it became an ever stronger foundation and an ever deeper fount of inspiration for his progeny, the Jewish Nation of the future.

There is an elegant symmetry here. The foreknowledge of the Egyptian exile and exodus functioned to strengthen the faith of our father Avraham and the experience of it functioned to rebuild the faith of his descendants, the Jewish People. 

The power of the Exodus has not faded. To this day, more than any other mitzvah, Jews turn to Pesach as both the expression of and the source for their faith in Hashem.

IV

There is yet another way to interpret the conversation between Hashem and Avraham, one rooted in the chronology of events at the ברית בין הבתרים, the “Covenant Between the Halves.” Our discussion thus far has focused on the verbal dialogue and we have ignored the central element of the ברית, the element from which it takes its name. The cutting of animals in half.

Hashem said [to Avraham], “Take for Me three calves, three goats, three rams, a turtledove and a young dove.” He took all these [animals] for Him, split them down the middle and placed each piece facing its counterpart...

And behold! A smoking furnace and a torch of fire passed between the parts. On that day Hashem established a ברית, a covenant, with Avram, saying, “I have given this land to your descendants…” (15:9,17,18)

Rashi (15:10) explains:

The verse does not depart from its straightforward meaning. [The reason for this strange ritual] is because Hashem was establishing a covenant with Avraham to keep His promise to grant the land of Israel to his descendants, as the verse states, “On that day Hashem established a ברית with Avram, saying…”

It was the custom of those entering into a ברית to split an animal and walk between its halves, as we find later in Yermiyah (34:19)… Here too, the smoking oven and flaming fire which passed between the parts was the agent of the Shechina, which is fire.  

Timing is significant. Hashem told Avraham to split the animals immediately after Avraham asked, “How will I know,” and immediately before Hashem tells him about the future enslavement of the Jews. It is for this reason that Rashi (15:6) offers an alternate reading of the dialogue between Hashem and Avraham.

When Avraham asked, “How will I know that I will inherit Israel,” he wasn’t asking for a sign. He was asking what merit will enable the Jewish People to maintain their hold on their land. Hashem responds by telling Avraham to collect all the animals that are used for offerings. The meaning is clear. Hashem is saying that the Jews will survive in Israel in the merit of animal sacrifice.

Why animal sacrifice? How does animal sacrifice secure our homeland? The answer can be found in a Rambam.

The Rambam proposes an interesting theory to explain the meaning and purpose of animal offerings. In ancient societies, pagans deified the cow, the goat and the ram. To this day, pagans still consider it a severe sin to slaughter their sacred animals. The Torah therefore commands us to slaughter these very animals as offerings to the One God. By violating the animals pagans deem sacred, we reject idolatry and internalize the truth: Hashem is the only power on earth. (cf. Moreh Nevuchim 3:46).

In light of this teaching, we can understand Hashem’s answer to Avraham’s question. Avraham wanted to know what merit the Jews could rely on to secure their home in Israel. Avraham had good reason to be concerned. As we have learned, Avraham foresaw the idolatry of his descendants and he knew that idolatry means exile. Hashem’s answer was animal sacrifice. As the Rambam wrote, animal sacrifice is the antidote to paganism. If the Jews offer these “sacred” animals to God, it will heal their minds and restore their hearts to monotheism. 

Hashem always provides the cure before the disease.

V

There is a mysterious and manifest parallel between the ברית בין הבתרים and קריאת ים סוף. 

At the ברית בין הבתרים Avraham split the animals in half and Avraham and the Shechina walked between the halves, the Shechina represented by smoke and fire. At קריאת ים סוף, Hashem split the Red Sea in half and the Jewish People and the Shechina walked between the halves, the Shechina represented by a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire (Shemos 13:22). The similarities are undeniable. It is no coincidence that the same word גזרים, “torn parts,” is used to describe both the animals (Bereishis 15:17) and the sea (Tehillim 136:14).

Clearly, Hashem wished to evoke His covenant with Avraham at the Red Sea. In light of all we have learned, this makes perfect sense. The Alter of Slabodka taught us that the splitting of the sea fixed Avraham’s failure of faith, and we explained how: at the sea the Jewish People saw firsthand that Hashem was prepared to annihilate armies for them. So here at the sea, with the Jews filled with perfect faith, Hashem revisits and reaffirms the ברית, His age-old promise to deliver them to their homeland.

On a deeper level, the splitting of the sea can be seen as Hashem’s long-delayed answer to Avraham. At the ברית בין הבתרים, when Hashem promised to grant the Land of Israel to his descendants, Avraham asked “How will I know?” Avraham wanted a miraculous sign, a divine guarantee that the Jews would conquer and live securely in their land. Centuries later, Hashem reenacts the ברית and splits the sea. That act revealed God to be a “Man of War,” prepared to defeat the armies of the Canaanites, and it also fortified the faith of the Jews, a necessary prerequisite for their security in Israel. “The Children of Israel saw... and they believed in Hashem.” קריאת ים סוף is the sign Avraham was asking for and it affirmed the ברית בין הבתרים for all the world to see.

The Tur taught us that Pesach corresponds to Avraham. Said differently, the Exodus was Hashem’s way of picking up on an ancient conversation – and the delay was an essential part of the message. 

When speaking to God you have to deal with the divine clock, but that shouldn't be a problem. If you have faith, you have patience.

Out of Egypt: Lot, Michah & the Ten Lost Tribes

This is the final installation of a three-part series on the Biblical roots of Jewish assimilation in exile - and the long-term consequences thereof. Begin the series here. 

In the previous post we cited the Talmudic tradition that the Jews brought "Michah's Idol" with them across the Red Sea (Sanhedrin 103b). Who was Michah?

The Book of Judges tells the story. Generations after the Exodus, a man named Michah established a pagan temple in Northern Israel after his mother commissioned a silversmith to forge an idol (Shoftim 17:1-5). Although Michah's idol obviously did not literally cross the Red Sea, nonetheless, the Vilna Gaon believes that the Talmud is referring to this very same idol. When the Talmud says that Michah's idol crossed the sea, it means the pagan theology of Egypt crossed the sea. And many years later, this imported Egyptian paganism found expression in Michah's idol. 

This, says the Vilna Gaon, is what Moshe was referring to when he questioned the nation just before they entered Israel. 

"You know how we lived in the Land of Egypt and how we passed through the midst of the nations that you crossed. You saw their disgusting things, their idols of wood, stone, silver and gold that they had. Perhaps there is a man, a woman, a family or a tribe amongst you whose heart is turning away from Hashem our God today to go and serve the gods of those nations? Perhaps there is amongst you a root growing gall and wormwood?"  (Devarim 29:15-17) 

Moshe's concerns were well-founded. A poisonous root was growing among the Jews - the idolatry of Michah (Aderes Eliyahu ad loc.).

The temple founded around Michah's idol was located in the territory of the tribe of Dan and it stood there for centuries. It was a pagan house of worship until גלות הארץ, "the exile of the land" (Shoftim 18:30), when the Assyrian king Sancheriv invaded Northern Israel and exiled the Ten Tribes (Rashi ad loc.). 

The implication is clear. The exile and ultimate disappearance of the Ten Lost Tribes was due to paganism. But not just any paganism. This paganism was foreign and ancient. The Jews picked it up during their long stay in Egypt and then they transported it from Egypt to Israel. "Michah's Idol crossed the Sea." Unwilling to cleanse themselves of Egyptian culture, the Jewish return to Israel was flawed from the get-go, and the seeds of a future exile were planted even before they returned to their homeland.

All of this tragic history was foreshadowed by the character of Lot. Like Yaakov and his sons, Lot was forced by famine to leave Israel and move to Egypt. As we saw in part-one, Lot was seduced there by Egyptian materialism and he carried his new-found desires back with him to Israel. His longing for the Egyptian lifestyle draws him to Sodom and ultimately proves to be his undoing. Despite Avraham's best efforts to save his nephew, Lot is lost forever. Such was the cost of Lot's visit to Egypt and such was the cost of the Ten Tribes' visit to Egypt. This gives us a new appreciation for the prophets' comparison of the Jews to the people of Sodom (cf. Yeshaya 1:9-10; Yechezkel 16:48-49).

This parallel between Lot and the Ten Tribes is all the more compelling in light of the fact that Lot was in the running to be one of the forefathers of the Chosen Nation. It wasn't just Lot's shepherds who thought so (cf. Rashi to 13:7). Lot's descendants, the nation of Moab, thought the same. That is why they, more than other nations, were so frustrated with the selection of the Jews as the Chosen Nation at the Exodus. אילי מואב יאחזמו רעד - "Moab's heroes were seized with trembling" (Shemos 15:15; Gur Aryeh ad loc.). The truth of this notion is further indicated by Lot's granddaughter Ruth who converted to Judaism and became the matriarch of King David. (For more on Moab's claim, see this post.) Lot was supposed to be part of our people, just like the Ten Tribes. But he, like they, was lost.

When Sodom is conquered by the armies of the four kings and Lot is taken captive, Avraham goes to war, quickly overrunning the enemy. וירדף עד דן - "He pursued [them] until Dan" (Bereishis 14:14). "There [at Dan] his strength was drained, for he foresaw that in the future his descendants would set up an [idol in the form of a] calf there" (Rashi ad loc.). Here the forces arranged against Lot are related to the future idolatry of Dan! This is no coincidence, for Lot is indeed the predecessor of both Michah and the Ten Tribes. Both were guilty of importing Egyptian ideology to Israel, both were taken captive by invading armies, both could not be saved by their brethren, and both are ultimately doomed to disappear from the pages of Jewish history. 

Lot and those who follow in his footsteps, surrendering to the natural forces of assimilation, are doomed to fall before the natural forces of attrition. Like all peoples and all societies of the earth, it is only natural that they will be erased by the winds of time. But those who follow the footsteps of Avraham and Yosef, transcending nature and maintaining their identity in the face of foreign influence, such people merit the blessing of historical transcendence - membership in the eternal nation of Israel.

Out of Egypt: Yosef's Bones & Michah's Idol

Part-one of this post dealt with the foreshadowing of our story back in Parshas Lech Lecha. Read it here.

When the time comes for the Jews to leave Egypt, the state of their spiritual health is the question of the hour. After so many years of slavery, what remains of their faith and identity? Actually, this is the central question for all the rest of Chumash. How much damage has Egypt inflicted on the soul of the Jew?

The answer is sad. At the Red Sea, the angels of heaven famously questioned God, "Both the Jews and the Egyptians are idolators! Why are You saving the Jews and killing the Egyptians?!" The Jews were so assimilated, even the angels couldn't tell them apart from Egyptians. But in order for the Jews to merit an Exodus from Egypt, they must first get Egypt out of their system. How is this going to be accomplished?

First, they will have to disavow Egyptian culture. Second, they must affirm their Jewish identity. And indeed, Hashem commands them to do these two things before they leave the country. First they were commanded to slaughter a sheep - an animal sacred to the Egyptians - and place its blood on their doorposts (12:6-7). In this way, they rejected Egyptian paganism. And then they were told to circumcise themselves, affirming their identity as Jews (12:48). It was due to the merit of these two mitzvos that the Jews were able leave Egypt (cf. Rashi to 12:6).

As we have seen, this was unfortunately insufficient. At the Red Sea the angels still couldn't tell the difference between the Jew and the Egyptian. For the sea to split, the merit of an even greater rejection of Egyptian culture was needed and this was found in none other than the bones of Yosef.

"The Sea saw and fled" (Psalms 114:3). It saw the coffin of Yosef descending into the sea. Hashem said, "Flee before the one who fled!" As the verse states, "He left his garment with her and fled and went outside" (Bereishis 39:12). (Yalkut Shimoni 873)

Like his forefather Avraham before him, Yosef was a man of steel, uninfluenced by the fleshpot of Egypt. And in the end, it was the bones of Yosef HaTzaddik, the bones which withstood the seductions of exile, that split the sea.

It is perfectly natural to be seduced. But when man refuses to be assimilated into his environment and transcends his nature, then man is truly free - and nature itself will transcend its laws in his service and deliver him to freedom.

But the bones of Yosef was not the only unusual baggage the Jews carried across the sea. The Talmud tells us that the spoils of Egypt included some contraband as well.

"A rival crossed the sea..." (Zechariah 10:11). R. Yochanan said, "This refers to idol of Michah."

Sanhedrin 103b

The Red Sea was not amused.

The administering angels were astounded. "People who worship idols walk on dry land in the midst of the sea?!"

How do we know that even the sea itself was filled with anger? For the verse states והמים להם חמה  - "The water was a wall for them" (Shemos 14:29). Don't read it חומה, "wall," rather read it חימה, "anger." ["The water was angry at them."]

Mechiltah; see Baal HaTurim ad loc. that the anger was due to the presence of Michah's idol.

[The word for wall - חומה - is spelled here in abbreviated form without a ו (as opposed to just a few verses earlier (14:22) where it is spelled with a ו). This allows the word to be vowelized in a way which transforms its meaning from "wall" to "anger."]

We learned that the sea split before the bones of Yosef, for Yosef withstood the seductions of Egypt. The Red Sea is willing to violate the laws of nature in deference of one who transcends human nature, but it is rightly incensed to have to stand as a wall before Jews who succumb to paganism and dare carry the idols of Egypt across its seabed.

Read part-three here.

The Lonely Faith of Man

A belated Beshalach post, by Benjy Ginsberg

I am always a little taken aback at our ancestors' short-term memory. It was only three days after the most miraculous moment in our nation's history, the Splitting of the Sea, before they forgot the notion of divine assistance and began complaining about the lack of food. And it’s always about food. First, there was no water, then they wanted bread, then they complained because there was no meat, and to wash it all down, another complaint for water. It’s a veritable four-course meal of kvetching.

It’s also a slippery slope. When they first complained for water, Moshe warns them not to forget the miracles that just happened, and G-d himself tested the people. By the time they get around to their next complaint for water, the Jewish people have sunk pretty low. Now, they are the ones testing G-d! How did things unravel so quickly?

Before the events in this week's Parsha, the Jewish people handled their tests with remarkable consistency. Aside from the episode where their workload was increased, there were no complaints or lapses in belief. But it’s not really that difficult to believe in G-d when your enemies are getting ten plagues. In fact, witnessing the plagues required no work or show of belief on the part of the Jews. The first active display of faith was sacrificing the Paschal lamb and applying its blood to the doorpost. By that time, they were scared stiff of the consequences of disobeying G-d. No, the first real test of faith for the Jewish people began after they left Egypt:

Pharaoh was approaching and the B’nei Yisrael lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were chasing after them; and they were very afraid, and the B’nei Yisrael cried out to G-d. (Shemos 14: 10)

Surrounded by the sea on one side and a furious Egyptian army on the other, the Jews turn to G-d to help them. G-d’s answer, though is very puzzling:

Why are you crying out to me? Go tell the B’nei Yisrael to move onward. (ibid 14: 15)

What’s wrong with beseeching G-d? Isn’t prayer a big component of dealing with crises? Why is Hashem insisting that the Jews abandon their praying?

The answer, as Rashi explains, is that Hashem was not rejecting this instance of prayer, he was just explaining that prayer was not necessary. G-d was trying to show the Jewish people the power of their own faith. The abundant faith that the Jewish people had displayed throughout all their difficult ordeals was powerful enough to split the sea. The only option, then, was to move forward, because the splitting of the sea was a foregone conclusion.

Having faith in the worthiness of your own faith is a difficult task to undertake. Actually, faith by itself is hard enough, especially for a nation that had been enslaved for over 200 years. Even with an incredible spiritual boost of seeing the Splitting of the Sea, the Jews don’t believe that they are worthy to keep receiving Divine protection. They are still convinced that they will die in the desert, that they are unworthy of the miracles that they had just witnessed.

On a simple level, that is the difference between Emunah, or belief in G-d, and Bitachon, or faith that G-d’s plan is all for the best. The Jews had an abundance of belief. They witnessed all of the miracles from the Ten Plagues to the Splitting of the Sea to the Manna falling from the sky. They knew with spectacular clarity that G-d is real and has the ability to do anything. They had a hard time, however, integrating the concept of Bitachon, that G-d’s plan centered on a miraculous exodus, that they were indeed worthy of Divine salvation.

Chazal famously compare two ideas to the "difficulty" of splitting the sea: finding one's spouse (Sanhedrin 22a), and earning a livelihood (Pesachim 118a). These two endeavors are essential to human existence, but are always accompanied by obstacles. It is easy to become discouraged, to lose faith in the Divine plan. Knowing something can happen is one thing, believing it will happen is another. That was the challenge for our ancestors at the Red Sea, and that remains a challenge for us today.