Ouestions for the Shabbos Table: THE LAST DAY OF PASSOVER

THE LAST DAY OF PASSOVER

This is a two-part essay: An excerpt from an article in the Jerusalem Post followed by reflections on who and what we are.

Follows is a word by word excerpt from an excellent article in the Jerusalem Post, by Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, dated April 9, 2020

https://www.jpost.com/judaism/parsha-shevii-shel-pesach-last-day-of-passover-624129

Parsha Shevi’i shel Pesach: Last day of Passover

The last day of Passover, called “Shevi’i shel Pesach”, the Seventh Day of Passover, is a yom tov (outside of Israel, the following day is a yom tov as well). This means that all the laws of yom tov apply, such as the prohibition of doing “melacha” (prohibited activities) other than those relating directly to food preparation.

What is special about the last day of Passover? On 15 Nissan, the Children of Israel left Egypt. Actually, the moment of liberation was the night before. While the Children of Israel were in their homes in the middle of the night, God struck the Egyptians with “the plague of the firstborn” – all the Egyptians’ firstborn died. This plague drove the Egyptian king, Pharaoh, to tell the Israelites – “Get up and get out from among my people!”

The nation left Egypt the next morning, and for six days it wandered through the Sinai desert until it reached the shores of the Red Sea. Meanwhile, the Egyptian king had a change of heart and led his army of chariots as it chased after the liberated nation. As the Israelite nation stood on the banks of the sea, the Egyptian army came up behind it. The nation was caught between the sea and the pursuing army, with no reasonable chance of salvation.

During this confusing and despairing time, there were those who turned to prayer and cried out to God for salvation; others attacked Moses and accused him of leading them into this dangerous adventure; there were those who despaired and wanted to surrender; and those who preferred to jump into the sea and commit suicide, just not to return to the horrific slavery in Egypt.

Then the surprising Divine directive was given:

The Lord said to Moses, Why do you cry out to Me? Speak to the Children of Israel and let them travel. And you raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and split it, and the Children of Israel shall come in the midst of the sea on dry land. (Exodus 14, 15-16)

This is the initial description of the event known as the Parting of the Red Sea. If we look carefully, from the order of things, it seems that the Children of Israel were commanded to walk into the sea even before it split. They were told to enter the sea and only then the sea split. The Children of Israel were being asked to partner in a Divine act.

Indeed, God is omnipotent, but He demands that man be an active partner, taking part in progress. When the Children of Israel stood on the banks of the sea, the active role they were asked to take was entering the sea with faith that God had not abandoned them, and He who had taken them out of Egypt would save them from the current adversity as well.

We commemorate the Parting of the Red Sea when celebrating the last day of Passover. We remember these great moments when the nation had the courage to confidently enter the sea. And then the wondrous event occurred: the sea split into two and the Children of Israel passed through it.

We note that after the Parting of the Red Sea, they sang the Song of the Sea, something they had not done when they were liberated from Egypt. The song stemmed from a sense of partnership. The Children of Israel felt they had a part in the victory over the Egyptians, and so they saw themselves as worthy of expressing their feelings in a lofty and transcendent song.

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In order to be truly free, there is a time to stand up and take that first step:

Trapped at the Sea of Reeds, with the Egyptian cavalry breathing down our necks, Hashem orders us to stand up for ourselves, and go forward. This is a lesson for Jews for all time and all places.

At 14:15 “Hashem says to Moshe: Why do you cry out to Me? Speak to the children of Israel and let them journey”.

וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה אֶל-מֹשֶׁה, מַה-תִּצְעַק אֵלָי; דַּבֵּר אֶל-בְּנֵי-יִשְׂרָאֵל, וְיִסָּעוּ.

And so we took the plunge!

וְיִסָּעוּ is translated as “journey”, meaning traveling from one place to another. But since the journey turned out to be a long arduous one, and largely on foot, “trek” would have been a better choice.

In the Parshah at 15:20-21 we find Miriam, leading all the Jewish women:

וַתִּקַּח מִרְיָם הַנְּבִיאָה אֲחוֹת אַהֲרֹן, אֶת-הַתֹּף--בְּיָדָהּ; וַתֵּצֶאןָ כָל-הַנָּשִׁים אַחֲרֶיהָ, בְּתֻפִּים וּבִמְחֹלֹת.

"And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbral in her hand; and all the women went out flocked to her with timbrals and with dances."

Is there some significance to the verse “and all the women went out flocked to her…” in the sense of emphasizing that all the Jewish women were valiant in going out from Egypt...that is leaving idolatry behind, but maybe not all the men doing so?

Indulge me a little bit, take a hard look at “with dances”, בִמְחֹלֹת.

חֹלֹ has a military connection as in army or force or maybe bastion. These Jewish women were a mighty force to contend with, and it is still so today.

Not that the men were are are chopped liver:

Witness David's warriors: