Chasidut su Esodo 15:1

Exodus 14,21. “Moses inclined his hand ‎above the sea, etc;” there is a statement in ‎‎Sh’mot Rabbah 21,6 according to which Moses ‎commanded the sea in the name of G’d to divide itself ‎so as to let the Israelites march through; the sea ‎demurred, saying to him: “son of Amram, I am greater ‎than you, etc.,’”‎
Naturally, the Midrash is an allegory, but ‎we must understand what the author of the ‎‎Midrash is trying to convey to us. G’d has ‎assigned nature its tasks in broad outlines, and one of ‎the rules by which the sea is governed is to perform its ‎task loyally. In the course of the thousands of years ‎that nature performs its task, which is mostly to act as ‎an agent of G’d’s largesse for the benefit of mankind, ‎nature tends to forget that what it does is no more ‎than to carry out the will of the Creator, and it begins ‎to think of itself as an independent, sovereign force. ‎When the Creator becomes aware of this, He decides to ‎remind nature that He is the “boss,” and that had it not ‎been for Him, nature would be completely impotent. If ‎at the time when Moses addressed the sea in the name ‎of G’d, the sea would have responded immediately, it ‎would not have had to humble itself beyond a ‎minimum and have to be turned into dry land, as it did ‎after having insisted that seeing it had been created on ‎the third day of creation whereas man was only created ‎on the sixth day, man had no authority to issue orders ‎to it even in the name of the Creator.
‎[This commentary is presumably inspired ‎by G’d having told Moses already in verse 16 to ‎perform this miracle, whereas only in verse 22 does it ‎begin to occur, and G’d Himself is involved, in addition ‎to Moses‘ “hand.” Ed.]‎
According to the midrash, (Sh’mot ‎Rabbah 23,14) the opening line in Moses’ ‎שירת הים‎, ‎Song of thanksgiving after the crossing of the sea, ‎‎(Exodus 15,1) which contains the words: ‎כי גאה גאה‎, “For ‎He is highly exalted,” was inspired by the haughty ‎response the sea had used to deny Moses’ initial ‎command to divide its waters to permit the Israelites to ‎cross. This is also alluded to in Exodus 14,21 ‎ויולך ה' את ‏הים ברוח קדים עזה כל הלילה וגו'‏‎, “Hashem made the ‎sea travel all night long driven by a strong easterly ‎wind, etc;” this was the punishment for the sea that ‎had boasted to Moses that it considered itself as ‎greater than he. The expression ‎עזה‎ instead of ‎חזק‎ ‎which would be the customary word used for a “strong” ‎wind, suggests that the sea was being repaid measure ‎for measure for its arrogance. Due to G’d making use ‎of this strong easterly wind, the sea was forced not ‎only to split, but to turn its bed into dry land. G’d ‎wished to prove to the sea how quickly it could be ‎turned into its very opposite. The “greater” something ‎in this material world of ours, the easier and the more ‎utterly can it be destroyed with one fell swoop.‎

The tzaddikim, thanks to their service of the Creator ‎with all their hearts, enable G’d to “clothe Himself” in an ‎attribute reflecting a certain degree of “pride,” i.e. satisfaction ‎that free willed creatures whom He has created have turned to ‎Him, although they had options that appeared to them as an ‎easier way of coping with life on earth. [Some of these ‎words are mine, Ed.] Once G’d has clothed Himself in that ‎attribute, He looks at the wicked with disdain, withholding His ‎largesse from them. In due course, this process results in the ‎wicked on earth suffering a total defeat and this is what Moses ‎referred to in Exodus 15,1 when he described G’d as ‎אשירה לה' כי ‏גאה גאה סוס ורוכבו רמה בים‎, “let me raise my voice in song to ‎‎Hashem, Who has taken ‘pride’ in triumphing, hurling both ‎horse and its rider into the sea.” The downfall of the gentiles ‎occurs simply because G’d no longer supervises their fates.‎
It follows that it can be said of the tzaddikim that by ‎means of their good deeds they are directly responsible for how, ‎to whom, and in what quantities G’d’s largesse is dispensed. The ‎vessels, i.e. instruments, used by the tzaddikim, are the ‎musical instruments with which the Levites accompany the ‎sacrificial offerings presented by the priests. The Levites would ‎raise or lower their voices on occasion when singing, in ‎accordance with the norms used by musicians. Raising their ‎voices meant that they wished G’d’s largesse to be withheld from ‎the wicked, whereas lowering their voices was an invitation to G’d ‎to dispense His largesse to all His creatures in the lower regions, ‎including the wicked, such largesse being the result of G’d’s ‎mercy and love for His creatures.‎
It is a rule, and that is why it is referred to in our sages’ ‎parlance as ‎כלל‎, something inclusive, all-embracing, that while ‎G’d’s largesse is in transit to earth, having commenced in the ‎celestial regions, this largesse does not have a specific colour, i.e. ‎is not addressed to anyone specifically. It is only when this ‎largesse reaches the creatures on earth that it is directed to ‎specific addresses. ‎
When we speak of largesse in general terms, we view this as ‎comprising all the letters in the alphabet, whereas when we speak ‎about specifics, we view this as the respective letters in the ‎alphabet. Different deserving people have different needs, so that ‎if someone is in need of being well received by the prospective ‎employer to whom he applies for a position, he needs to be ‎endowed with ‎חן‎, projecting an outgoing pleasant personality. It ‎is the task of G’d’s largesse in this case to be converted into the ‎letters that spell ‎חן‎, charm, grace. If another tzaddik is in ‎need of immediate parnassah, livelihood, for himself and his ‎family, the means to purchase food, then G’d’s largesse needs to ‎be translated into the letters of the alphabet appropriate for this. ‎This process of the largesse being translated into immediately ‎usable form is known as ‎רוחב‎, “width;” as it alludes to the ability ‎of G’d’s largesse to adapt to the individual needs of different ‎people. The word ‎רוחב‎ is especially appropriate in this ‎connection, as width may be extended in either direction, i.e. the ‎‎tzaddikim are free to direct relatively more of G’d’s largesse ‎in the direction of the righteous or the wicked, as they may see ‎fit.‎

This corresponds to the 4 cups of wine at the Passover Seder. Wine has two parts, as our Rabbis Z"L said, "if a person is worthy it makes him a head and if he is not worthy it makes him a poor person". Yoma 76b. This means that a person's knowledge is elevated by the wine, and being that the essence of knowledge is the revelation of providence, knowledge of providence is enhanced by drinking wine and one becomes a 'head'. But when a person is not worthy, the opposite happens and one becomes poor, for the true pauper is he who lacks knowledge, which is the main cause of material poverty. When a person lacks knowledge of providence, which is the essence of knowledge, this causes poverty, as in, "you shall eat it with despair" (Genesis 3:17), representing oppression and poverty that come on account of the blemish of eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, which corresponds to natural sciences. Furthermore, nature corresponds to darkness and night, corresponding to the blemish of the moon, which is the root source of poverty, as is known. Wine is therefore comprised of both elements: it brings on sleep, which corresponds to nature, which corresponds to night and sleep, and when one is worthy, it arouses from sleep, as in, "your pallet is like good wine which makes the lips of the sleeping speak". Song of songs 7:10. Good wine, which comes from the realm of holiness, arouses a person from sleep, represented by speech. During sleep, speech disappears, while good wine arouses from sleep and evokes speech, which comes from knowledge, as in 'makes the lips of the sleeping speak', which corresponds to providence, corresponding to the arousal from sleep. And since wine is comprised of both elements, when a person is worthy it represents knowledge, Providence, as in, "wine that makes glad", corresponding to the world of the future, as in "wine makes glad" (Psalms 104:15). And when one is not worthy it is an intoxicating wine, which confuses knowledge and errs with natural sciences, which corresponds to sleep. Therefore wine must be carefully guarded from the touch of a non-Jew, more than anything else. Nothing else in the world besides wine becomes forbidden by the touch of a non-Jew. As soon as a non-Jew touches wine, and touch is with the hands, the wine is drawn into the realm of nature, which corresponds to the non-Jew, since the wine itself is comprised of both aspects. Therefore a non-Jew, who corresponds to nature, makes the wine impure with the touch of his hand, for the wine is immediately drawn into the realm of nature, and is therefore unsuitable for a Jew, who is above nature, and whose food and drink should be holy, since the knowledge of providence is drawn through food and drink. Therefore, the blemish of the wine is specifically by their touch with the hands, for the blemish of the knowledge of providence is mainly through a blemish of the hands, of the 28 phalanges of the hands, which correspond to the 28 letters of creation. The hands of the non-Jews though, are the opposite of this, and are in the category of "the hands are the hands of Esau" (Genesis 27:22), corresponding to the mistaken belief in nature, corresponding to "my power and the might of my hand", and therefore wine is blemished by the hand of a non-Jew. This forbidden wine is then in the category of the mistaken belief in natural sciences, which corresponds to sleep. This is alluded to in the word Nesekh, נֶסֶךְ, the term for forbidden wine, as in, "For G-d Nasakh נָסַךְ (poured) a spirit of slumber" (Isaiah 29:10), which refers to stargazers who have a mistaken belief in the constellations. Therefore at the time of the Exodus from Egypt, when Providence was revealed, it is a commandment to drink 4 cups of wine, for wine is then in the category of 'if one is worthy the one becomes a head', for now at the Passover Seder, knowledge is elevated and providence is greatly revealed through the wine, for G-d drew Providence and broke the night, the sleep, as in "around midnight I will go out within Egypt". Wine is then in the category of 'wine makes glad' and a person is able to speak and tell the story of the Exodus from Egypt on this night, by means of the wine as in 'wine makes the lips of the sleeping speak'. This corresponds to "song is only recited on wine". Berachot 35b. For all songs are drawn from the world of the future, when song will be aroused in the world, as stated in the holy Zohar III 286b, as in, "Then Moses will sing". Exodus 15:1. It does not say 'sang', in the past tense, but 'will sing' in the future, teaching us that he will sing in the world of the future. Sanhedrin 91b. This is because the essence of song comes from the world of the future, when Moses will sing, for song will then be aroused in the world. This is the source of all songs - song in this world over miracles, for all miracles come about by G-d drawing providence from the end of the world, from the world of the future, into this world. And when a miracle takes place, we draw song from the world of the future into this world, which is all the songs for the miracles that we sing. Therefore, song is only recited over wine, for wine will then be absorbed into holiness, corresponding to knowledge of providence, for the essence of song is drawing providence, which is the song for the miracle, into this world, which is why song should be over wine. This is represented by the 4 cups of wine at the Passover Seder, corresponding to the Four Kingdoms. When wine is absorbed into holiness, corresponding to Providence, all exiles of the Four Kingdoms are subdued, for their main power is through nature, and by means of the Providence that is revealed by the knowledge that is drawn by the 4 cups of wine, they are all eliminated.

Exodus 15,1.“then Moses and the ‎Children of Israel sang this song and they said: ‎saying;” first we must understand that the ‎essence of joy is what a person feels in his heart; ‎seeing that this is so, what need is there to express ‎these feelings in speech and song or poetry at the time ‎of his joy?
The reason is that joy in one’s heart, ‎unless formulated in word and song is bound to ‎subside and cease altogether in short order. By giving ‎verbal expression to one’s joy and composing a song ‎and writing poetry one prolongs and intensifies this ‎feeling of joy. The Israelites were aware of this ‎psychological axiom, and this is why they yearned to ‎give proper expression to their joy. They yearned to ‎share their joy with the Creator, Who had been the ‎architect enabling them to harbour such joyous ‎feelings in their breasts. This is the reason why the ‎Torah adds the words: ‎ויאמרו לאמור‎ “they said, saying;” ‎the word ‎לאמור‎ presumably refers to extraneous words, ‎not included in the actual song that follows; if this ‎were not so, who was there that they could have ‎spoken to about this other than their peers who had all ‎experienced the same salvation?‎

Exodus 15:1 ‎“let me raise my voice in song to the ‎Lord, Who is most triumphant, He has flung ‎horse and rider into the sea.” According to ‎Onkelos, the words ‎גאה גאה‎ mean that Hashem ‎is more exalted than any exalted creature anywhere. ‎The very concept of exaltation is His. Moses attempts ‎to rationalize why The Creator, Who is so far above any ‎of His creatures that in a confrontation between Him ‎and His adversaries the onlookers would think that the ‎combatants are so unevenly matched that the Creator ‎would not have to resort to deeds that impress, as He ‎could blow away His opponent with the mere breath of ‎his mouth. When we read the “song,” it sounds like an ‎accolade for the victor who had exerted himself in ‎order to overcome a powerful opponent, something ‎that is simply not so. Having heard the prophet Isaiah ‎‎40,17 proclaim a basic truth, that ‎כל הגוים כאין נגדו‎, “all ‎the nations of the world (combined) are as nothing ‎when arraigned against Him,” why does Moses portray ‎G’d’s victory of the Egyptians as such a heroic deed? ‎The rhetorical question just posed has already been ‎voiced by the liturgist in one of his poems on the ‎eighth day of Passover. The answer given there is that ‎G’d appeared to exert Himself, taking with Him ‎myriads of angels in order to show the Israelites how ‎much He loved them. Had He blown the Egyptians away ‎with the mere breath of His mouth, the Israelites would ‎not have been impressed. While the Israelites would ‎not have been impressed, the gentiles, instead of being ‎profoundly impressed with the power of our G’d, would ‎have denied that the disappearance without a trace of ‎the armed might of Egypt had been due to the ‎interference in history by an Eternal Creator ‎altogether. Moses expresses his thanks to ‎‎Hashem for having gone to so much trouble ‎to accomplish what He could have accomplished in the ‎fraction of a second without ”grandstanding.” ‎Grandstanding when it is intended for the benefit of ‎the spectator, as opposed to when it is meant to show ‎off the party setting it in motion, is a valuable tool in ‎the hands of the Creator, and not to be denigrated as it ‎should be when displayed by one of G’d’s creatures.‎

‎Exodus 16:1 “He flung horse and its rider high into ‎the sea.” We need to understand why Moses ‎described the “tossing” of the Egyptian cavalry into the ‎sea by using a word referring to an upward motion of ‎G’d’s arm, instead of simply writing ‎הפיל בים‎, “He ‎dropped them into the sea.” Besides, seeing that in ‎verse 4 Moses describes Hashem as ‎מרכבות פרעה ‏וחילו ירה בים‎, “G’d threw (same word as “he shot,”) the ‎chariots of Pharaoh and his army into the sea,” why did ‎Moses choose the word ‎רמה‎ in verse 1? Since the only ‎kind of shooting in those days was the shooting of ‎arrows, it was mandatory that the trajectory first ‎involve the rising of the arrow before it could descend ‎and hit its target, so that there was no reason for ‎Moses not to have used the customary word for ‎‎“shooting.”‎
Our sages in the Mishnah Sanhedrin 6,4 ‎describe the platform or the “house,” ‎בית הסקילה‎, from ‎which the penalty of stoning to death was carried out ‎as being two stories (the height of two average sized ‎persons) high. From that platform the criminal or ‎sinner convicted to death by stoning would be pushed ‎down. The “stoning” would commence after the fall if ‎it had not been fatal. The wording in the Torah is: ‎סקול ‏יסקל או ירה יירה‎, “he will surely be stoned or shot,” ‎‎(Exodus 19,13). The word ‎ירה‎ alone therefore might ‎have been misleading.‎
Another expression which poses a difficulty in our ‎verse is: ‎ומבחר שלישיו טבעו בים‎, “and the choicest of his ‎officers drowned in the sea.” It would have sufficed to ‎state that “his officers drowned;” that would have ‎included both the junior and the senior officers.‎
The answer to these questions may be gleaned from ‎the words of the Midrash (Yalkut Reuveni, ‎B’shalach) where the protective angel, ‎שר‎, of the ‎Egyptians is quoted as having complained that seeing ‎that both the Israelites and the Egyptians had been idol ‎worshippers, why would the Egyptians be singled out ‎for such harsh punishment. ‎
We further need to understand why G’d resorted to ‎the stratagem of encouraging the Egyptians to pursue ‎the Israelites through commanding the Israelites to ‎turn back at Baal Tzefon (Exodus 14,2), after they had ‎already left Egypt and both politically and ‎economically, the Super Power Egypt had suffered a ‎lethal blow. Had G’d not found an excuse that misled ‎the Egyptians to believe that their deity had frightened ‎the Israelites, the entire pursuit of the Israelites and ‎the resultant drowning of the Egyptian army would ‎never have taken place. We must therefore conclude ‎that G’d paid heed to the complaint of the protective ‎angel of the Egyptians, and had to show him that his ‎protégées were totally wicked, having reneged on their ‎not only having released the Israelites but having ‎expelled them. (Exodus 12,33 and 39). The words ‎רמה ‏בים‎, may be understood as a reference to the illusion ‎that the Egyptians harboured that they might succeed ‎due to favourable astrological constellations at the sea ‎where they had failed on land. Secondly, the word ‎מבחר‎, ‎instead of being a reference to the choicest of the ‎Egyptian officers, is an allusion to the freedom of ‎choice, ‎בחירה‎, that G’d gave the Egyptians at that time, ‎i.e. they had brought their death upon themselves by ‎having made the wrong choice in pursuing the ‎Israelites, even after witnessing that the G’d of the ‎Israelites had split the sea for them. After having seen ‎this, even the protective angel of the Egyptians no ‎longer had any complaint against G’d.‎

Shiras Ha-Yam: The Song of the Sea (Exod. 15:1-19), which the Jews sang after God miraculously split the Red Sea to enable Jews to cross on dry land.