Exodus · Chapter 15

Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song of praise before Hashem, and they said, saying: Let us sing praise and give thanks before Hashem, for He is exalted above the proud, and the exaltation is His own — horse and its rider He cast into the sea.

אז ישיר משה THEN SANG MOSES — with regard to the usage of the future ישיר, the meaning is: THEN — i. e. when he saw the miracle it entered his mind that HE WOULD SING a song. Similar is, (Joshua 10:12) “Then Joshua would speak (אז ידבר)”; and similar, (1 Kings 7:8) “and a house he would make (יעשה) for Pharaoh’s daughter”, which signifies “he purposed in his heart that he would make it for her”. So, also, ישיר here signifies: his heart told him that he should sing, and thus did he actually do, as it states, “and they (Moses and Israel) spake as follows, ‘I will sing unto the Lord’”. And in the same way, in the case of Joshua, it means: then (או) — when he saw the miracle mentioned in that narrative — his heart told him (prompted him) to speak, and thus did he actually do, as it is stated, “and he spake before the eyes of all Israel”. The same applies to the Song of the Well (Numbers 21:17) which begins with the words: אז ישיר ישראל, “then would Israel sing”; it expresses the intention quite plainly in the following words, “Come up, O Well — sing ye unto it” (i. e. these words are a call to the people to sing to it after Israel had expressed their intention so to do and are not part of the song itself which begins with the words that follow). With regard to (1 Kings 11:7) אז יבנה שלמה במה our Rabbis explained that He proposed to build a high place for Chemosh but actually did not build it (Sanhedrin 91b). This, too, teaches us that the י as a prefix of the imperfect is used in reference to intention to do a thing. This explanation serves to settle the literal meaning of the text. But so far as its Midrashic explanation is concerned our Rabbis, of blessed memory, said: from here (i. e. from the fact that the future tense is used) we may derive an intimation that the tenet of the Resurrection of the Dead is from the Torah (is alluded to, although only by inference, in the Torah) (Sanhedrin 91b). And thus, also, do they explain in the case of all them (all of the examples quoted) except in the case of that referring to Solomon which they explained in the sense that he purposed to build a high place but did not build it. — One cannot say that this can be appropriately explained in the same way as one explains other passages which are written in the future tense, but which really refer to an immediate action (i. e. to a then present time); for example, (Job. 1:5) “Thus was Job doing (יעשה)”; (Numbers 9:18) “At the command of the Lord were they encamping (יחנו)”; (Numbers 9:20) “And there were occasions when the cloud was (יהיה) upon the tabernacle”, because these were each of them something that was continuously happening, and there is proper to it either the future tense or the past tense (cf. Rashi on Genesis 29:3). But this (אז ישיר and other passages quoted) which happened only at the particular moment mentioned (once and once only), one cannot fittingly explain in this sense (i. e. of continuous action). כי גאה גאה FOR HE IS GLORIOUSLY SUBLIME ...

AZ YASHIR MOSHEH'(THEN MOSES WILL SING). Rashi comments: “[Then], when Moses saw the miracle, the thought came to his heart that he would sing a song, and thus he actually did, [as it is said], and they spoke, saying. Similarly, az yedabeir Yehoshua means that when he saw the miracle [mentioned there], his heart prompted him to speak, and thus he actually did, [as it is said], and he said in the sight of Israel. The same interpretation applies to the Song of the Well, which begins with the words, az yashir Yisrael, and Scripture explains after that, Spring up, O well, sing ye unto it. Likewise: az yivneh Shlomoh, which the Sages of Israel explained it as meaning that he proposed to build but did not build it. This explanation serves to clarify the literal meaning of the text.”But what will the Rabbi [Rashi] say concerning these verses: ‘Ya’asu’ [literally: “They will make”] a calf in Horeb; How oft ‘yamruhu’ [literally: “will they rebel”] against Him in the wilderness, and ‘ya’atzivuhu’ [literally: “they will grieve Him”] in the desert! The entire psalm is so written [in the future tense]: yaharog [literally: “He will destroy”] their vines with hail; y’shalach [literally: “He will send”] among them swarms of flies — [when all of these verbs refer to past events]! Similarly: And from whence ‘yavo’u’ [literally: “shall they come”] unto thee? Of the wounds which the Arameans ‘yakuhu’ [literally: “shall smite him”]. Likewise, Now Moses ‘yikach’ [literally: “will take”] the tent does not denote a continuous event, since he took it only once. Instead, [we must conclude that] it is the way of Scripture to use the future tense in place of the past form, and in many places the reverse is quite usual. The reason for this is that it is a distinctive way of language for a narrator of an event to place himself at a certain point of time which he desires, and he then alludes to the event. At times, he places himself at the moment of the action, and he speaks of it in the present tense as if he is watching it from its very beginning. He would say, “Israel is singing,” as if they were singing right before him, and so also in other cases. However, at times the narrator places himself after the event and says, “This has already been done.” It is all a matter of conveying an event realistically. It is for this reason that this interchangeable use of the tenses occurs in matters of prophecy. KI GA’OH GA’AH’ (FOR HE IS HIGHLY EXALTED). “[He is exalted] high above songs, and however much I may praise Him, there still remain additional [splendor and praiseworthiness] in Him to be expressed.” Thus the language of Rashi. [The Rabbi] thus interpreted ga’oh ga’ah as an expression of exaltation and supreme power. Perhaps this is so, such usage [of the word ga’oh] being found in the verses: And here shall thy high (‘big’on’) waves be stayed; For the waters were risen (‘ga’u’); And if it exalt itself (‘v’yigeh’), Thou huntest me as a lion — all of which are expressions of ...

"Then Moses sang" — it is a rule of the Holy Language to use the future tense in place of the past together with the word 'then': "Then Solomon built" (I Kings 11:7); "Then Joshua spoke" (Joshua 10:12); "Then Moses set apart" (Deuteronomy 4:41). And so it is in the Arabic language. Moses alone composed the song, and Israel learned it and each person sang it, saying, "I will sing to Hashem." Similarly: "And Moses and the elders of Israel commanded" (Deuteronomy 27:1) — for the commandment, Moses alone stated it, and the elders of Israel repeated it to all the people. "And they said, saying" — each and every one [said it thus], or [it means it was to be repeated] in every generation. "For He is most exalted" — He displayed His majesty, in that the horse, which possesses pride and strength, and the rider, who is a warrior — He cast both of them into the sea as one casts an arrow. For 'He hurled [ramah] into the sea' is like 'those who handle [romei] the bow' (Psalm 78:9).

אז ישיר, he agreed to sing this song. כי גאה גאה, He alone is entitled to feel this sense of superiority seeing He is the source of all goodness in the universe. This is in contrast to Pharaoh who boasts about having created the Nile as the source of Egypt’s affluence, (Ezekiel 29.3) a totally spurious claim. סוס ורוכבו רמה בים, a reference to Pharaoh and his horse. Compare Psalms 136,15 ונער פרעה וחילו בים, “He tossed Pharaoh and his armed might into the Sea.”

אז ישיר משה, Then Moses began to sing, etc. It would have sufficed for the Torah to write וישר משה, "Moses sang," without the introduction אז, "then." However, the Torah wanted to tell us of the preparation which resulted in that song of jubilation. After Israel acquired the fear of G'd's Majesty, which in turn resulted in a profound measure of faith both in G'd and in Moses, they were divinely inspired to sing this song of thanksgiving. The reason the Torah writes ישיר "will sing," instead of שר, sang, something that would be so much more appropriate with the word אז is, that to this day we sing this song daily in our morning prayers. Had the Torah written אז שר משה, we would have assumed that the song was appropriate only for the people who had been present when the sea was split. ויאמרו לאמור, אשירה, they said saying: "I will sing, etc." This means that the Israelites said this to one another. The idea was that they wanted to coordinate their song; they did not want each one to use his own formulation. The fact that they succeeded in this is reflected in the singular "I will sing!" כי גאה גאה, for He has triumphed gloriously, etc. As a rule songs of praise should commence with mention of the collapse of G'd's enemies similar to what Solomon said in Proverbs 11,10: ובאבוד רשעים רנה "when the wicked perish there is jubilation." Accordingly, we understand the words גאה גאה as referring to Pharaoh who was so boastful that his very name was "the boastful one." Normally, boastful people consider themselves superior to their peers. Inasmuch as their peers do not amount to much, neither does their own pride. Pharaoh was more presumptious than the average braggart, however, as he thought himself superior even to G'd. This is why Moses wrote גאה גאה, the braggart of all braggarts. We may also understand the expression as analogous to Psalms 93,1 "The Lord is king, He is robed in splendour." As long as G'd had not disposed of Pharaoh He was known simply as גאה, glorious; after G'd disposed of the braggart Pharaoh He assumed an additional dimension of glory, hence גאה גאה. The repetition of the expression גאה may also reflect that G'd is glorious both in the celestial and in the terrestrial spheres. This would explain why no additional subject is appended after the word ורכבו. We may also understand the verse as follows: "I will sing to the Lord because He has proven so glorious; the words כי גאה גאה may also be read together with the rest of the verse, i.e. "He has flung into the sea both the horse and its boastful rider."

ויאמרו לאמור, literally: “they said to say;” a somewhat unusual construction, meaning that the Israelites singing this song meant for future generations to recite it on appropriate occasions. [as we still do in our daily morning prayers. Ed.]

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 אז when 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.”

Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to the Lord. The reason Moses did not sing immediately upon leaving Egypt was because Moses knew that the Israelites were still uncertain in their faith until he saw at the sea that they believed in the Lord and in Moses His servant, then he sang. He began with az [then], which is alef [the numerical equivalent of which is one] riding on zayin [the numerical equivalent of which is seven], hinting at crowning the Blessed One over the seven planets, as it says for He is highly exalted — that He is exalted above all who are exalted. And concerning why this song is expressed in feminine form, our Sages said (Exodus Rabbah 23:11) that all songs of this world are expressed in feminine form because they are followed by pain, like females who experience the pain of childbirth. Furthermore, females only take a tenth portion of the inheritance in this world, just as the Lord gave Israel seven nations out of 70. But regarding the future, it says Sing to the Lord a new song [in masculine form], because then they will be like males who do not give birth, and then they will inherit all 70 nations like a male who inherits everything. Perhaps for this reason he began with az — alef riding on zayin — to hint that in this world Israel is “one nation on earth” whom the Lord will cause to ride on the heights of the earth of only seven nations, like females. In order to resolve the redundancy of “this song,” for it should have said “Then Moses and the children of Israel sang to the Lord,” I say that there is a hint here to what our Sages said (Mechilta Beshalach 3) that a maidservant saw at the sea what Ezekiel did not see. And regarding this wonder it says this song, meaning the song of this [which is] feminine, because even the females said This is my God and I will glorify Him, and this was a wonder in their eyes that a female would circle around a male, similar to what will be in the future. And perhaps this is why our Sages said (Sanhedrin 91b) “it does not say ‘sang’ but will sing” from here we learn the resurrection of the dead from the Torah. And what is the connection between this song and the resurrection of the dead? It is because just as in the World to Come everyone will be detached from materiality and then males and females will be equal, so too at the sea even the maidservant saw the radiance of His glory, blessed be He, similar to what will be in the future, as it is said A woman will circle around a man (Jeremiah 31:22). Therefore it says in this song will sing which implies the future, because just as they all said This is my God and I will glorify Him, so too in the future they will all say Behold, this is our God, as our Sages said (Shemot Rabbah 23:15) that the righteous will point to Him with their finger, etc. And regarding this wonder it says this song. And therefore it says And Miriam answered them, etc. as if speaking to males, as will be explained shortly. In the Midrash (Tanchuma Beshalach 12), it states that the sea was split in the merit of circumcision. It is possible that this is what is referred to in this song, alluding to circumcision, as it says (Genesis 17:10), This is My covenant, etc. And since circumcision will also save from Gehenna in the World to Come, therefore it says will sing in the future tense, and from here is a hint to the resurrection of the dead. I will sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted. He exalts Himself over the proud but not over the humble, for the Lord dwells with the contrite and shows His humility to them. This is immediately followed by Horse and rider He has thrown into the sea, because the rider exalts himself over the horse, therefore He cast both of them into the sea. To explain the grammatical form of ga’oh ga’ah [has become exalted/proud, exalted/proud], I suggest it contains a hint to what is explained in He makes nations great, and destroys them (Job 12:23). As it is written When the wicked spring up like grass, and when all the workers of iniquity flourish, it is that they shall be destroyed forever (Psalms 92:8). For one who is already proud, the Holy One, blessed be He, adds to his pride and gives him additional elevation in order to magnify his fall from a high roof to a deep pit, as will be explained shortly in the verse The enemy said, “I will pursue” (see there). This is the meaning of I will sing to the Lord, for He has become exalted/proud, exalted/proud — meaning that person who is proud, the Holy One, blessed be He, likewise exalts, adding to his pride and setting him upon the heights of the earth, but ultimately Horse and rider He has thrown into the sea — meaning to magnify the fall of the rider, for he falls from a high place and his fall is greater than the fall of the one being ridden.

אז ישיר, “Then Moses sang, etc.” According to Bereshit Rabbah the Torah introduced the subject of man committing idolatry (Enosh) with the word אז (Genesis 4,26) and according to tradition G’d reacted with flooding one third of the surface of the earth. Moses, as an act of restoring G’d’s glory therefore commenced his song with the word אז, seeing this time the drowning of part of mankind had worked for the benefit of the Jewish people. Another reason why he may have commenced his song with the word אז is because he himself had challenged G’d’s masterminding the history of His people by claiming that מאז באתי אל פרעה, “ever since I came to Pharaoh (in Your name to lighten the burden of the Jewish people) he has made their burden harsher, etc”. (Exodus 5,23) It was Moses’ way of apologizing for having been too rash in criticizing G’d’s ways. כי גאה גאה, “for He is exalted above the arrogant.” He is higher than the horse which deems itself to be above all those around it as well as its rider, who has a feeling of superiority, arrogance.

גאה גאה, victory in war is called גאות on several occasions. For instance, Moses says in Psalms 94,2 השב גמול על גאים, “give the victors their just deserts.” We find the expression בית גרים יסח ה' in Proverbs 15,25 where it means: “G’d will tear down the house of the victors.” [The author quotes a few more such examples, but I have not been able to find proof in this that the verses speak of “victors in war,” rather than arrogant people in whatever vocation. Ed.] רמה בים, another way of saying השליך, “He flung (into the sea).” Psalms 78,9 speaking of רומי קשת, also uses the root רמה as “throwing, flinging.”

אז ישיר משה, “this is when Moses broke out with a song, etc.;” Moses now apologised for when in frustration he had said to G–d, also using the word מאז, “from then,” that since he had assumed his position the fortunes of the Jewish people had worsened (Exodus 5,23). He therefore used the same word when now singing G–d’s praises. An alternate interpretation: the numerical value of the word אז is 8. He hinted that the Jewish people had merited this miraculous salvation on account of the circumcision which is performed on the eighth day of the infant’s life. The verse לגוזר ים סוף לגזרים, “Who splits apart the Sea of reeds into separate sections,” (Psalms 136,13) is used as a Scriptural reference to this. The Hebrew word וימל, “he circumcised,” describing Avraham performing circumcision in Genesis 17,23, is translated by the Targum as וגזר.

My strength and my song of praise is the Awesome One, Hashem; He spoke through His Word and He was to me a Redeemer. This is my God, and I will build Him a sanctuary; the God of my fathers, and I will worship before Him.

עזי וזמרת יה — Onkelos translated this by “my might and my praise”, taking עָזִּי the same as עֻזִּי, and וְזִמְרָת the same as וְזִמְרָתִי. But I wonder at the wording of the text if this translation is correct, for you will find no similar example of its punctuation (i. e. of עָזִּי) in the Scriptures except in three passages where it is, in each case, followed by וזמרת. In all other passages it is punctuated with שורק (i. e. our Kibbutz); e. g., (Jeremiah 16:19) ה' עֻזִּי ומעזי (Psalms 59:10) עֻזּו אליך אשמרה So, too, every word of two letters that is punctuated with a Melopum (our חולם) when it is lengthened by the addition of a third letter (i. e. when it has a pronominal suffix as in the examples given below), and the second has not a Sheva (חטף), the first is punctuated with a שורק (Kibbuts) — as, for instance, עֹז and עֻזִּי; רֹק and רֻקִי ; חֹק and חֻקִי ; עֹל and עֻלִי as in (Isaiah 14:25) “then shall his yoke (עֻלּוֹ, from עֹל) depart from him”; — כֹּל and כֻּלּוֹ, as in (Exodus 14:7) “and captains over each of them (כֻּלּוֹ) — from כֹּל. But these three examples of עָזִּי וְזִּמְרָת, viz., that occuring here and that in Isaiah (12:2) and that in Psalms (118:14), are punctuated with short Kametz, whereas the translation of Onkelos would require עֻזִּי and not עָזִּי. Then further, in not one of them (these three passages) is it written וזמרתי, as Onkelos translates, but וזמרת and remarkably enough all of them are immediately followed by ויהי לי לישועה. — Therefore I say in explanation of the wording of the text that עָזִּי is not the same as עֻזִּי and וְזִמְרָת is not the same as וְזִמְרָתִי, but עָזִּי is a noun without a suffix of any kind, as we find in (Psalms 123:1) “The one who sits (הַיֹּשְׁבִי) in heaven”; (Obadiah 3:3) “The one who dwells (שֹׁכְנִי) in the cleft of the rock”; (Deuteronomy 33:16) “He that dwelleth (שֹׁכְנִי) in the bush” (where the syllable at the end of the word is part of the noun and is not the pronominal suffix denoting “my”). The praise, therefore, proclaimed in these words is this: The עז and the זִמְרָת of God, this was to me as a help. The word וזמרת is a noun in the construct state to the word which expressess the Divine Name (יָהּ), in the same sense as (Judges 5:23) “to the help of (לעזרַת — const.) the Lord”; (Isaiah 9:18) “through the wrath of (בעברת — constr.) the Lord”; (Ecc. 3:18) “because of (דברַת — const.) the sons of man”. The expression וזמרת has the meaning of the root which we find in (Leviticus 25:4) “thou shalt not prune (תזמר)” and in (Isaiah 25:5) “the cutting down (זמיר) of the terrible ones”, both of which have the meaning “lopping off” and “cutting down”. Thus the verse signifies: “The strength and vengeance of our God has become to us a help”. Do not be puzzled by the expression ויהי — that it does not state היה — for we have other verses also that use this idiom, and the following is an example of such a construction: (1 Kings 6:5) “round about the wall of the house, bot...

THE ETERNAL IS MY STRENGTH AND SONG. Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra explained that the word ozi (my strength) is connected with the following word [v’zimrath — and song], thus rendering its sense: “my strength and the song of my strength is the Eternal.” This is my G-d ‘v’anveihu': I will make Him a habitation, [from the root naveh (habitation)]. This is my father’s G-d, and I will exalt Him, i.e., by recounting His greatness. Now this is surely the plain meaning of the verse. But [it should be noted that] Moses does not mention here the full Divine Name, [i.e., the Tetragrammaton, which consists of four letters], but instead mentions only the first two letters. In the entire Torah, it is the manner of Moses our teacher to mention the entire Great Name which He communicated to him, as it is said, This is My Name for ever, and this is My memorial unto all generations. And the Rabbis have already explained the verse, The hand is upon the throne of Y-ah, to mean that “the Holy One, blessed be He, swore that His throne will not be perfect nor will His Name be complete until the seed of Amalek will be entirely blotted out.” [The question then arises: why is the full Divine Name not written here?]By way of the Truth, [that is, the mystic lore of the Cabala], the whole deliverance at the sea came through the angel of G-d — the one of whom it is written, for My Name is in him — just as it is said, and Israel saw the great hand. The “hand” alludes to the attribute of justice, which is the great hand that executes the vengeance. It is by this attribute that the sea was divided, as the prophet explained, Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Eternal… Art thou not it that dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep? and as I have written above. It is for this reason that Moses said that his strength and his song are this Name, [i.e., the first two letters of the Tetragrammaton, which allude to the attribute of justice], For in Y-ah the Eternal is an everlasting Rock. And so did [the psalmist] explain: What aileth thee, O thou sea, that thou fleest?… At the presence of the G-d of Jacob. And so the Rabbis have said in the Mechilta: “When Israel went into the sea, the Shechinah (Divine presence) was with them, as it is said, And the angel of G-d journeyed.” And in Eileh Shemoth Rabbah, it is said: “The word oz (strength) [or ozi, “my strength,” as is mentioned in this verse], alludes only to judgment, as it is said, ‘v’oz’ (And the strength) of a king is he who loveth justice.”This is My G-d ‘v’anveihu.’ “I will elevate [the Great Name, i.e., the Tetragrammaton], to the G-d of the most high naveh (abode), this being the G-d of my fathers, to whom He had appeared as E-il Sha-dai. And now I shall exalt Him by the complete Name, for henceforth the Name will be ish milchamah, [literally, “man of war,” but here alluding to the attribute of justice]. And His Name will be the Eternal, [meaning that the Name comprises justice with mercy], similar in meaning to the ...

"My strength" — Our teacher Rabbi Solomon [Rashi], of blessed memory, said there is a difference between 'ozzi' with a hataf-qamatz and 'uzzi' with a qibbutz, and therefore he said that the yod of 'ozzi' and 'zimrat Yah' is a suffix and not the construct form — yet he showed us no other example like it. He also said that 'u-zimrat Yah' is in construct, as though it read: 'oz u-zimrat Yah hayah li li-yeshu'ah' — and he thought it comparable to "And it came to pass on the third day, and Abraham lifted his eyes" (Genesis 22:4). But one who understands the Arabic language will know the difference between them, for to say 'ozzi u-zimrat Yah va-yehi li li-yeshu'ah' is not the idiom of the Holy Language nor of Arabic. And there is no difference between 'ozzi' with a hataf-qamatz and 'ozzi' with a qibbutz, for 'huqqiy' [my statute] (Proverbs 30:5) is said in the same form as 'hok-kha u-vein banekha' (Leviticus 10:13). And behold, in this very song: 'be-'oz-kha' (v. 13) is with a hataf-qamatz; and likewise 'Hashem be-'oz-kha yismah melekh' (Psalm 21:2). Now Rabbi Moses ha-Kohen said: the yod is the marker of the speaker, on account of the resh of 'u-zimrat' being qamatz, making it 'u-zimrati Yah' — just as 'im etten shenat le-'einai' (Psalm 132:4) is qamatz, meaning 'shenati.' And 'nahlat shefarai 'alai' (Psalm 16:6) is qamatz, meaning 'nahalati'; and 'Hashem menat helqi ve-khosi' (Psalm 16:5) is qamatz, meaning 'menati.' But then what does one do with 'u-menat ha-melekh' (II Chronicles 31:3), which is qamatz yet is construct? And likewise 'Yam ha-Melah' (Numbers 34:3) and 'Yam Kinneret' (Numbers 34:11), where yam is qamatz — and whoever objects that these are anomalies, we will say to him: place them together with 'ozzi u-zimrat Yah.' In my own view, the word 'ozzi' draws both itself and the following word together, as is the idiom of the Holy Language, as though written: 'ozzi u-zimrat 'ozzi Yah' — meaning: 'my strength and the song of my strength is Yah.' The intent is: since he had just mentioned 'the horse and its rider He hurled into the sea,' he acknowledges that this was not through his own pride and power; rather, my strength and my strength's glory is Hashem alone, who is Yah — and this is one of three proper names which I have explained, all three derived from the same root. Because the word 'Ehyeh' is already familiar in the language, it was necessary to exchange the yod for a vav in the Glorious Name; and the word Yah is known, and because of the guttural letter the yod is voweled with a patah; and the hidden yod was removed, for it has another significance through the way of number. And we find the Name joined together with the Glorious Name, as in 'ozzi u-zimrat Yah Hashem.' I have already explained that the Name is sometimes a proper noun and sometimes an adjectival noun. "This is my God" — my Mighty One. "And I will glorify Him" — I will cause Him to dwell in a habitation ['naveh']. And this [next phrase] serves the one that follows: "This is my father's God" — meaning: the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. "And I will exalt Him" — that I will recount His mighty deeds.

עזי וזמרת י-ה, It is G’d’s glory that He flung Pharaoh’s might into the Sea. By doing this He demonstrated that He is the King of kings, and that it is appropriate that those who have been saved by Him praise Him in poem and song. They should demonstrate their joy at having been elevated to being servants of the true master, the King of the universe. ויהי לי לישועה, my salvation consisted in the fact that He flung the enemy into the Sea. (compare Isaiah 66,14 “The power of the Lord will be revealed on behalf of His servants; but He shall rage against His foes.”) זה א-לי, He is the eternal original Being as far as I am concerned. He invented or called into existence all perishable phenomena. Any and all phenomena which will endure have been enabled to do so only by His will. ואנוהו, I will erect a suitable residence for Him in our midst. Within that residence I shall pray to Him exclusively and I will serve Him as is befitting to the One Who bestows both goodness and punishes the derelict. (compare Isaiah 44,17. ויתפלל אליו ויאמר הצילני נא כי א-לי אתה, “He prayed to Him, saying: ‘save me for You are my G’d.’”) Both prayer and service (sacrifices, etc.) have as their purpose to find favour in the eyes of the Lord. אלוקי אבי, a reference to the “G’d of Yaakov” who had spoken of א-ל אלוקי ישראל, in Genesis 33,20. Yaakov had meant that G’d is great in His awesomeness, His supervision of the individual fates of His creatures. He had named G’d thus to indicate that G’d combines within Himself both the attribute of love and the attribute of Justice. וארוממנהו, I elevate Him by my prostrating myself and humbling myself before Him, as well as by making it known that the purpose of everyone of my endeavours in this life to carry out His will to the best of my ability, consistent with the intellectual faculties granted to me. I acknowledge that His will is always superior and ultimately of the most benefit to His creatures. This is why in the final analysis He is beyond even our best efforts to praise Him and exalt Him. (Nechemyah 9,6).

עזי וזמרת כה, "The Lord is my strength and song." The normal procedure when one composes a song for G'd, praises Him or prays to Him, is to mention first how G'd relates to oneself before mentioning how G'd related to one's ancestors. Thus we find that the men of the Great Assembly who edited our major prayers began the עמידה by first referring to G'd as "our G'd," i.e. the G'd of the petitioner and only afterwards did they define G'd as also the G'd of the patriarchs. The Israelites were similarly motivated when they first referred to what G'd meant to them (each individual Jew), how G'd had proven a Saviour for them in their present situation acting as the merciful G'd (tetragram). They concluded the statement referring to their personal relationship with G'd by saying זה אלי ואנוהו, "this is my G'd and I will glorify Him," and only afterwards did they describe the same G'd in His capacity as the G'd of their fathers. Our sages copied this pattern when they formulated our prayers where we say אלוקינו ואלוקי אבותינו, "our G'd who was already the G'd of our ancestors." I have already explained why the Israelites in this instance chose to describe G'd in the singular as "my G'd" instead of as "our G'd."

עזי וזמרת יה, “my victory and my song is G-d;” (Onkelos) according to Rashi, the vocalisation of the word ozzi here is most unusual as it should have been uzzi. Rashi examined this song grammatically in great detail; [seeing that it is poetry and you my readers are mostly not experts in classical Hebrew grammar (neither is this editor), I omit most of these comments. Ed.] ויהי לי לישועה, “He became my salvation.” Rashi explains that the expression ויהי should not raise any questions although we might have expected the word היה here for the past tense. He points out that we find similar constructions in Chronicles II 10,17, where we read about the kingdom of Yehudah having “appointed” Solomon’s son Rechavam as their king, and the word: וימלוך is used by the author, although the meaning is that Rechavam would continue to rule over the tribes of Yehudah and Binyamin as he had already been doing since his father Solomon had died and the country had not been split through the revolution which brought Jerovam to the throne of the ten remaining tribes. An almost identical verse is also found in Kings I 12,17. זה אלי, “this is my G-d.” Moses refers to G-d with the word, “זה,” “this,” although G-d, is, of course, invisible, This maybe the reason why we find Moses described on occasion as "זה משה האיש,” [even though after an absence on Mount Sinai of 40 days he had still not become visible again, not yet returned to the Israelite camp. (Compare Exodus 32,1)]

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.”

“My strength and song is God, and He has become my salvation.” He teaches in these verses that the righteous transform the attribute of judgment into mercy, while the wicked transform the attribute of mercy into judgment. This is what is meant by my strength — strength refers to the power and intensity of the attribute of judgment, as it is said O Lord, in Your strength the king rejoices (Psalms 21:2), meaning that even in the attribute of judgment, which is called strength, nevertheless the righteous rejoice in it, for “it is joy for the righteous to do the true judgments of God.” And in Your salvation, referring to the attribute of mercy, “how greatly he exults.”And song [zimrat] is related to cutting, as in you shall not prune [tizmor] your vineyard, which also indicates the attribute of judgment. Also, the name Yah indicates the attribute of judgment, as explained by Rabbeinu Bachya on the verse For the hand is on the throne of Yah, God will be at war with Amalek (Exodus 17:16). Yet all these elements associated with the attribute of judgment nevertheless became for me salvation — they were transformed for me into mercy and salvation. This is precisely indicated by the addition of the letter vav in vayehi [and He became]. In judgment, the Holy One, blessed be He, shows me kindness — this is measure for measure, because I also bless God for the bad just as I bless Him for the good. And although the Egyptians harmed us and our ancestors, nevertheless I exalt His blessed name above all. This is what is meant by This is my God and I will glorify Him; the God of my father, and I will exalt Him. My God [Eli] and “God [El]” hint at the attribute of judgment, for “El” is a term of strength and power. Although Rashi explained in Parashat Ki Tisa (34:6) that “El” refers to the attribute of mercy, citing as evidence the verse My God, my God, why have You forsaken me (Psalms 22:2), this proof is not conclusive, for the righteous transform judgment into mercy, therefore he asked that even “El” not forsake him. The primary meaning of the term is one of capability, as in and the mighty [eilei] of the land he took away (Ezekiel 17:13). This is why it says, This is my God — even though He conducts Himself with me according to the attribute of judgment, nevertheless I will glorify Him — I will tell of His beauty and praise. And similarly, the God of my father — though the Egyptians also harmed our ancestors, nevertheless I will exalt Him for this. And if you wish to reconcile this according to Rashi’s interpretation, that my God is the attribute of mercy, you should interpret it this way: This is my God, etc. as it is said I found trouble and sorrow, but I called upon the name of the Lord; I will lift up the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord (Psalms 116:3). That is to say, there is no difference for me between trouble and sorrow and the cup of salvation, for in both cases I call upon the name of the Lord to bless Him equally for both. So he said, if this is my God and He treats me with the attribute of mercy, then I will glorify Him, and if He is the God of my father and treats me with the attribute of judgment, as indicated by the name Elohim, then I will exalt Him, because everything is equal to me, whether judgment or mercy. Therefore, the Holy One, blessed be He, measures me with this measure to transform judgment into mercy for me. Not so the wicked, for on the contrary, they transform the attribute of mercy into judgment. This is what is meant by The Lord is a man of war, the Lord is His name — His name is the Lord, which indicates pure mercy, and nevertheless He wages war against them until they fall, as it is written, And the angel of God moved — he is the messenger of the attribute of judgment, yet he moved to save Israel. And it is written, And the Lord looked down upon the camp of Egypt through the pillar of fire — the Lord is the attribute of mercy, yet He looked down upon them to confuse and destroy them. All this is because they always protest against the Lord, but I sing of kindness and justice (Psalms 101:1) — whether kindness or justice, I sing. And this is what is meant by Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power, Your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy. Rashi explained that when Israel does the will of God, the left becomes the right, meaning the transformation of judgment into mercy. And it is fitting to interpret Your right hand, O Lord as the right hand of the Lord that acts with mercy toward Israel, which has already become glorious in power — meaning it was previously left-handed and the attribute of harsh judgment acting with power and might, but became right-handed for Israel. But for the nations it is not so; rather, Your right hand, O Lord, which was always right-handed, nevertheless shatters the enemy, for it became left-handed for Pharaoh and his army.

עזי וזמרת י-ה, “My might and His cutting down.” Ibn Ezra says that the word עזי is part of what precedes it, as well as part of what follows it, as if the Torah had written עזי וזמרת עזי י-ה וגו', so that its meaning would be “my power, and my glory with which I sing a song of praise to Him is directed exclusively in His praise. It is only He Who has been my salvation.” זה א-לי ואנוהו, “this is my G’d and I will erect a residence for Him (on earth).” He is my strength and I will enthrone Him in an appropriate residence.” This has also been the G’d of my father and I will aggrandize Him by telling of His exploits. Our sages say that the visions revealed to a simple kitchen maid at the crossing of the sea of Reeds exceeded by far the revelations that the prophet Ezekiel and other prophets were granted. [our author adds of his own that the visions granted to these other prophets compared to what the kitchen maid saw, compare to someone seeing the finger of a person as opposed to someone who sees the whole person. Ed.] According to the plain meaning of the text it is perfectly in order to use the descriptive word זה for something inherently invisible, just as the people who demanded from Aaron that he make them a visible image for “this man Moses, etc.” when Moses was presumed to have died on Mount Sinai and was quite invisible. (Exodus 32,1)

עזי וזמרת י-ה; the power, the glory and the fame of the Jewish people are only G’d. It was He Who became our ישועה, salvation. The chataf kametz followed by the letter י which is not part of the word is similar to a similar construction in Lamentations 1,1 רבתי בגוים as well as in Psalms 123,1 הישבי בשמים, and in Jeremiah 49,16 שוכני בחגוי סלע. On the other hand, when we encounter the construction עוזי as in Psalms 59,10 uzzi eleycha eshmorah, the meaning of עוזי is: “”My strength.” וזמרת, the letter ת at the end of this word is similar to the letter ת at the end of the word שכורת instead of שכורה in Isaiah 51,21 or the letter ת at the end of the word שערות in תסמר שערות בשרי in Job 4,15. It is part of a repetition of the beginning of the verse i.e. the words ורוח על פני יחלוף, “a wind passed me by.” This is also how Rav Yoseph translated it. The word וזמרת is spelled defectively just as are the words שכורת and שערות in the verses quoted. [the author means that the letter ו, indicating a sound, is only read for the vowel cholem but not spelled out in the text. Ed.] זה א-לי, even though G’d remained, of course, invisible to the human eye, it is order to describe the experience witnessed with the word זה, “this,” just as we find the word זה “this,” used by the Torah (describing an utterance by the people about to make the golden calf) in the line כי זה האיש משה, “for this man Moses, etc.” (Exodus 32,1) It is clear that they did not “see” Moses at the time, as the reason for what they were about to do was precisely Moses’ “invisibility,” i.e. he had not returned from the Mountain as promised. ואנוהו, “I will describe His beauty in poetical terms.” We find something parallel to this in Jeremiah 6,2 הנוה והמעגנה, “the lovely and delicate one.” (a description of בת ציון, the concept of “Daughter of Zion.”) It is not to be compared to Isaiah 27,10 כי עיר בצורה בדד נוה משלח, “for the fortified city lies desolate, a homestead deserted, etc.” The proof lies in the repetition of the prophet’s theme at the end of his verse. [had he introduced a new thought, instead of the repetition of the same thought in different words, we could have erred in understanding his meaning. Ed.] In our context both the words ארומממנה and אנוהו are clearly expressions of glorifying G’d.

Hashem is the Master of victories in battle; Hashem is His name.

ה' איש מלחמה means The Lord is a Master of war; just as, (Ruth 1:3) “the איש (i. e. the master) of Naomi”. (Cf. Rashi on that verse). Wherever the words איש and אישך occur they must be translated by בעל; so, too, (1 Kings 2:2) “Be thou strong and show thyself an איש” — a mighty person. ה' שמו THE LORD IS HIS NAME — His wars are not waged with martial weapons but He fights by means of His Name, just as David said, (I Samuel 17:45) “But I come against thee in the name of the Lord of Hosts”. Another explanation of ה׳ שמו — He is a man of war, but His Name is the Lord (the God of Mercy): even at the time when He battles against and avenges Himself upon His enemies He retains His attribute (that expressed by His name ה׳) showing pity to His creatures and feeding all the inhabitants of the world; not as is the nature of the kings of the world each one of whom when he is engaged in war turns aside from all other engagements, and has not the power to do both this and that (cf. Mekhilta).

"Hashem is a man of war" — for He sustains those who love Him and cleave to Him, and He is a warrior against their enemies. The word 'ish' means the very essence of a thing: regarding the stars, "not one is missing" (Isaiah 40:26); regarding the living creatures, "each one went straight forward" (Ezekiel 1:9); regarding the angels, "the man Gabriel" (Daniel 9:21). So 'ish milhamah' means 'master of war,' just as 'ish emunim' (Proverbs 20:6) means 'one in whom faithfulness abides.' "Hashem is His name" — now His name is made known, as in "Who calls the waters of the sea — Hashem is His name" (Amos 8:5) — He alone is the one who does such things.

ה' איש מלחמה, ה' שמו, even though He at times appears as the איש מלחמה, the “Man” of war who destroys His foes by invoking the attribute of Justice, He is yet predominantly Hashem, the G’d Who practices mercy. It is this attribute of His which is responsible for the continued existence of all His creatures. When He destroys His foes, He is in effect removing weeds from the garden in order to enable the useful plants to survive and develop. The wicked are like the thorns and thistles in a vineyard.

ה׳ איש מלחמה, "The Lord is a man of war," etc. This means that even when G'd operates with the attribute of Mercy He is still "a man of war." The fact that He conducts war does not imply that He abandons the attribute of Mercy. His name remains י־ה־ו־ה and all that this implies just as we find in Maleachi 3,6: כי אני ה׳ לא שניתי, "for I the merciful G'd have not changed, etc." G'd has made this plain also at the beginning of פרשת וארא where He told Moses אני השם, I am the attribute of Mercy.

איש מלחמה, “a Man of war.” He acquired that title after having drowned His adversaries, the chariots of Pharaoh and their derivers, in the sea.

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.”

ה' שמו, compare Psalms 9,17 נודע ה' משפט עשה, “He is known as Hashem because of the justice He worked.”

The chariots of Pharaoh and his army He hurled into the sea, and the choicest of his warriors were drowned in the Sea of Reeds.

ירה בים Onkelos translates this by שדי בימא: HE HATH CAST IN THE SEA. The word שדי is an expression for “casting”. And thus, also, it says, (Exodus 19:13) או ירה יירה which Onkelos renders by או אשתדאה ישתדי “or he shall certainly be thrown down” where the ת is used in both these words in place of (as marking) the Ithpael form, so that in these Targum words the root is שדי. ומבחר AND THE CHOICEST — This word is a noun of similar form to מֶרְכָּב and מִשְׁכָּב and מִקְרָא [קדש]. טבעו ARE SUNK — The root טבע always denotes sinking in slimy matter, as may be seen from (Psalms 69:3) “I am sunk (טבעתי) in deep mire”, and from (Jeremiah 38:6) “And Jeremiah sank (ויטבע) in the mire”. The fact that this expression is used teaches, therefore, that the sea became slime (cf. Rashi on 14:24) to requite them according to their own measure — because that they had made the Israelites work as slaves with slime and with bricks (Mekhilta).

"Pharaoh's chariots" — they were heavy, and together with them was his army; yet He hurled them as though they were a light arrow. Because he had mentioned 'his army,' he then mentioned his select officers who were in command of it all. Yefet said that 'Yam Suf' [Sea of Reeds] derives from 'kaneh va-suf qamelu' (Isaiah 19:6) and 'va-tasem ba-suf' (above, 2:3) — that Yam Suf has reed and bulrush ['suf'] around it, unlike other seas. And Rabbi Yeshu'ah said it is a place-name, like 'Yam Kinneret' (Joshua 13:27).

מרכבות פרעה וחילו, after giving thanks to G’d for the destruction of Pharaoh and his horse, Moses refers to G’d’s fight against the army and his elite corps of officers which constituted the backbone of his army.

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).

“And Pharaoh’s chariots and his army He cast into the sea.” This requires explanation: Why regarding Pharaoh and his army who were close to him, does it say cast into the sea, while regarding his chosen officers it says they sank in the Sea of Reeds? It seems appropriate to explain that Pharaoh put himself ahead and proceeded before all his troops. According to this, when Pharaoh was with his army who were close to his chariot, inside the actual sea — meaning in its middle where there are no reeds or rushes — his servants and his chosen officers were still near the seashore, a place where reeds and rushes grow, and where mud and mire are also found. There they sank in the clay-like mud found in the place where reeds grow, because the waters are not so deep there. At that same time, Pharaoh was in the sea itself, where the term “sinking” isn’t applicable because there’s no mud or mire there. Evidence for this is what Rashi explained: one verse says thrown into the sea and another says cast into the sea, teaching that they were going up to the heights and down to the depths, etc. This could only occur in a place where the waters are deep, and there is no place for reeds and rushes there, as is known.

ירה בים, the verb is a variation of זרק or השליך, meaning: “he threw, flung with force.” It is used as such an alternate in Samuel II 11,24.

The depths covered over them; they descended to the depths like a stone.

יכסימו THEY COVER THEM — this is the same as יְכַסּוּם and the middle י is redundant. This is quite usual in Scripture–verses (in Biblical Hebrew), just as in (Deuteronomy 8:13) וצאנך ירביון, and (Psalms 36:9) ירויון מדשן ביתך, and the force of the first י which expresses the future tense you must explain as follows: they have been sunk in the Red Sea in order that the waters should return and should cover them. The word יכסימו has no similar example in Scripture so far as its punctuation is concerned; ordinarily it would be יְכַסְיֻמוּ with Melopum (חולם). כמו אבן AS A STONE — But in another passage (v. 10) it states, “they dropped like lead”, and in yet another passage (v. 7) “it consumes them as stubble”! The wicked amongst the Egyptians were as stubble, being continually dashed about, and tossed up and down; those of average worth sank as a stone, suffering less agony, whilst the best amongst them sank as lead so that they came to their rest at once (cf. Mekhilta).

"The depths" — the depths of the earth, as in 'tibla'emo erets' (v. 12). And 'yekhasyumu' is voweled with a shureq instead of a holam, like 'lo ta'avori mizzeh' (Ruth 2:5). "In the deep" — the deep waters; and likewise 'va-tashlikheni metzulah' (Jonah 2:4) — into the depths of the waves.

תהומות יכסיומו, the deeps covered them, etc. The reason the Torah speaks of תהום in the plural must be viewed in light of my comment on 14,21 that half the sea was frozen whereas the other half was split. Each part was originally part of what is called תהום. Read what I have written on 15,8: "the deeps were congealed, etc." ירדו במצולות, they descended into the depths, etc. This is an allusion to all those champion swimmers who made strenuous efforts to escape from the depths as I have discussed in connection with 14,27.

תהומות יכסיומו, “the deeps covered them;” the letter מ in the word יכסיומו should have had the vowel cholem as have similar formulations of a verse, instead of the shuruk which our sages decided. The reason they did so was that there was already a vowel shuruk immediately in front of it. We find a similar example of this dilemma in Ezekiel 43,11, in the word: ומבואיו.

יכסיומו, we would have expected the vowel cholem on the letter ו at the end of this word, i.e. “covered it” (the Egyptian army). However on account of the vowel kubutz under the letter י in the same word the vowel shuruk was chosen for poetical considerations. We find a similar anomaly in Ezekiel 43,11 מוצאיו ומובואיו, where there appears to be no justification at all for the letter ו after the letter מ in the word ומובאיו. The letter was added to maintain a certain poetical meter. [I am far too ignorant of Hebrew poetry either classical or modern, to offer any opinion on this. I do know, however, that the root בא from a grammatical aspect does not require the additional letter ו. Ed.]

Your right hand, Hashem, is mighty in strength; Your right hand, Hashem, shattered the enemy.

ימינך ... ימינך THY RIGHT HAND — twice! — When Israel performs the will of the Omnipresent the left hand (intended for punishment) becomes a right hand (bestowing reward, so that God has two right hands as it were) (Mekhilta). ימינך ה' נאדרי בכח THY RIGHT HAND, O LORD, IS GLORIOUS IN POWER to deliver Israel, and thy second right hand dashes the enemy in pieces. But it seems to me that if we have to take it in the sense: Thy right hand is glorious to save, thy right hand dashes in pieces etc. the explanation is that the self-same right hand itself dashes the enemy in pieces, something which it is impossible for a human being — to do two actions with one hand. But the literal sense of the text is: “Thy right hand, that is glorious in power — what does it do?” — “Thy right hand, O Lord, dashes the enemy in pieces”. There are many Scriptural verses exactly in this poetical form, e. g., (Psalms 92:10) “For, behold, thine enemies, O Lord, for behold, thine enemies shall perish” and others similar. נאדרי The י is redundant as in (Lamentations 1:1) “full of (רבתי) people . . . princess (שרתי) amongst the provinces”; (Genesis 31:39) “stolen (גנבתי) by day”. תרעץ אויב means, it always crushes and shatters the enemy; similar in meaning to it is, “And they crushed (וירעצו) and broke the children of Israel”, in the Book of Judges (Judges 10:8). [Another explanation is: Thy right hand that is glorious in power shatters and punishes the enemy, and these words must be connected with the following:

THY RIGHT HAND, O ETERNAL, GLORIOUS IN POWER, THY RIGHT HAND, O ETERNAL, DASHETH IN PIECES THE ENEMY. Rashi commented: “The literal sense of the text is as follows: ‘Thy right hand that is glorious in power — what does it do? Thy right hand, O Eternal, dasheth in pieces the enemy.’ There are many Scriptural verses that follow this form. For lo Thine enemies, O Eternal, for lo Thine enemies shall perish; Eternal, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked exult? The floods have lifted up, O Eternal, the floods have lifted up their voice.” In my opinion, however, this is not correct. Verses repeat words in order to indicate that such will always be the case, without identifying what they refer to until they mention it the second time. Had Scripture said here, “Thy right hand, thy right hand, dasheth in pieces the enemy” it would have been exactly like the other verses Rashi mentions. [But instead it says here, Thy right hand, O Eternal, ‘glorious in power,’ Thy right hand, O Eternal, dasheth… and consequently it is unlike the other verses mentioned.] Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra said that the verse means: “Thy right hand, O Eternal, Thou Who art glorious in power, may Thy right hand dash in pieces the enemy.” In that case, the verse here is similar in form to the verses mentioned [by Rashi].A more correct interpretation would be to explain it thus: “Thy right hand, O Eternal, is glorious in power to humble all proud and lofty; Thy right hand, O Eternal, dashes in pieces the enemy with great power.” It mentions the right hand both in the masculine and feminine forms, just as in the verse, Behold, a hand was put forth unto me; and lo, a roll of a book was therein, and is repeated as is customary in prophecies. The student learned [in the mystic lore of the Cabala] will understand the way of the Truth in this verse from the first verses I have explained. And so did the Rabbis say it: “With the very same hand with which He sank the Egyptians, He delivered Israel,” for it is “the power” that saves, as it is said, And now, I pray Thee, let the power of the Eternal be great.

"Majestic" ['ne'dari'] — the yod is a suffix, as with 'akhzari' in Proverbs 11:17. He mentions 'Your right hand, Hashem' twice, in the manner of "For behold Your enemies, Hashem" (Psalm 92:10) and "The rivers have lifted up" (Psalm 93:3) — the meaning being: time after time, times without number, will You do so. That Your right hand, Hashem, shatters the enemy. And 'ne'dari in power' refers to the Glorious Name; but some say it refers back to 'the right hand.'

ימינך ה' נאדרי בכח, Moses emphasises that it is not the mighty military machine of Pharaoh which glorifies in power but the right hand of the Lord; (this was already the second “war” against the Egyptians G’d conducted, i.e. a separate war against part of the power of Egypt). The first time Moses mentioned G’d’s ימין this is a grateful acknowledgment of G’d’s war against Pharaoh; the repetition of the words 'ימינך ה are a prayer for G’d to manifest this power against evil again at the time of the final redemption, may it come about soon in our days. We find a similar repetition in Devorah’s song of thanksgiving for Barak’s victory against Siserah in Judges 5,31.

ימינך ה׳ נאדרי בכח, "Your right hand O Lord is glorious in power," The Israelites marvelled at the power displayed by G'd even when operating as the attribute of Mercy. Even that attribute "dashed the enemy to pieces." Alternatively, one may read this verse "backwards." "When is Your right hand visibly powerful? When it dashes the enemy to pieces." Then the fear of You overcomes people as described in verse 16.

נאדרי, “glorious;” this adjective refers to G-d, the letter י at the end is superfluous, just as the letter י in Psalms 123,1 is superfluous in the word: היושבי. We therefore understand the whole sentence as if the Torah had written: ימינך ה' הנאדר בכח היא תרעץ אויב, “Your right hand o Lord, is the one that shatters the foe.”

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.

ימינך ה' נאדרי בכח, “Your right hand Hashem is glorified with strength.” According to Rashi [who offers three explanations of this phrase, the one he calls the plain meaning, Ed.] is that the same right hand that is exalted by beautiful strength, is also the very hand which smashes the enemy when the need arises.

ימינך ה', Your “right” which is glorious with might, was the one that shattered the enemy. The word ימין actually is of the feminine gender, as are all parts of the body which appear in multiples, and moreover the same word appears in the feminine gender in Psalms 118,16 ימין ה' רוממה. Why then does it appear in the masculine gender here? [the implied question is not answered, but it seems clear that when we describe the “power” of G’d as represented by His hand, we cannot at the same time use a grammatical mode applicable to the “weak” gender. In the verse quoted from Psalms, G’d is not described as active at the time. Ed.] Our verse has to be compared to such verses as Psalms 93,3 נשאו נהרות ה' נשאו נהרות קולם, “the mighty river raised their voices; the mighty rivers made thundering sound.” Or look at Psalms 94,3 עד מתי רשעים ה' עד מתי רשעים יעלוזו, “how long shall the wicked, O Lord, how long shall the wicked exult?” In these various verses (all poetry, of course) the first sentence has not even been completed before the composer begins with the verse following. However, he mentions the subject of whom he speaks in the first half of the verse.

ימינך ה' נאדרי בכח, “Your right hand, O Lord, is glorious in power;” Rashi explains the grammatical inconsistency of using the masculine adjective for the word “Your hand,” which is a feminine noun, and should have been נאדרת, as having a counterpart in Lamentations, 1,1, when the prophet Jeremiah said איכה רבתי עם, instead of the masculine adjective, seeing that the noun עם is masculine. An alternate explanation of the words נאדרי בכח, is that it is linked to the name of the Lord, as for instance in Psalms 123,1: היושבי בשמים, “He Who resides in heaven.”

And in the greatness of Your power You broke those who rose up against Your people; You sent forth Your wrath — it consumed them like fire consuming stubble.

וברב גאנך AND THROUGH THE GREATNESS OF THINE EXCELLENCY: if the hand alone crushes the spirit of the enemy, then when He raises it aloft IN THE GREATNESS OF HIS EXCELLENCY surely then HE WILL OVERTHROW THEM THAT RISE UP AGAINST HIM; and if through the greatness of His excellency alone His enemies are overthrown, how much more sure is it that when HE SENDETH FORTH THE FIERCENESS OF HIS WRATH against them IT WILL CONSUME THEM]. תהרס means, Thou always overthrowest קמיך i. e. those that rise up against thee. And who are those who rise up against Him? They are those who rise up against Israel; and similarly it says, (Psalms 83:3, 4) “For, lo, thine enemies are in an uproar!” And what is this uproar? “against thy people they take crafty counsel”, and on this account — because they are Israel's enemies — it calls them the enemies of the Omnipresent (Mekhilta).

"And in the abundance of Your majesty" — since You are exalted above all that is proud, You are able to overthrow all who rise against You, and You have no need of iron weapons to destroy them; You need only send forth Your fury, and it consumes them like straw before fire — for fury is heat, like fire.

וברב גאונך תהרוס קמיך, "And in the greatness of Your glory You destroy those who rise up against You." The verse tells us that G'd performs miracles to underline that it is He who destroys His opponents. In order that we should not think that G'd has to extend Himself in order to accomplish this, the Israelites added: "even when You merely send forth Your wrath they already turn to straw."

תהרוס קמיך, “You break Your opponents.” This verb describes some kind of motion, stampeding, as in Exodus 19,21: פן יהרסו אל ה' לראות “lest they come stampeding in order to get a glimpse of G-d.” Compare also Isaiah 22,19: ויהרסו ממצבך, “and He will destroy you by crushing you.”

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 .

וברוב גאונך, “and in Your abundant grandeur, etc.” a grandeur superior to anything known on earth, You are able to destroy anyone and anything that might want to offer opposition to You.”

תהרס קמיך, the word תהרס describes the “removal,” הסרה of something, lowering or moving something sideways from where it used to be. One example of the use of the word in this sense is found in Exodus 19,21 פן יהרסו אל ה', “so that they should not move closer to Hashem, etc.” In that instance, the purpose would have been to draw close in order to see better. Psalms 52,7 also employs the word in this sense.

And by the word of Your mouth the waters grew firm; the flowing waters stood up like a wall; the depths congealed in the heart of the sea.

וברוח אפיך AND WITH THE BREATH OF THY NOSTRILS — the breath that issues from both nostrils. Scripture speaks — if this were at all possible (i. e. if one may be permitted to speak so of God) of the Shechina (God) in the same manner as it does of a human monarch, in order to make peoples’ ears hear the facts in accordance with what usually happens to that they may understand the matter: when a man is angry the breath issues from his nostrils (and Scripture attributes this to God, also, when He is in anger). A similar idea is: (Psalms 18:9) “Smoke rose up in His nostril”, and also, (Job. 4:9) “By the breath of his nostril they are consumed”. And this is the meaning of what He said, (Isaiah 48:9) “For My name’s sake אאריך I will make long My אף”: when one’s anger subsides his breathing becomes long, whilst when one is in anger his breathing is short (consequently אאריך אפי signifies “I will not be angry”). The text continues ותהלתי אחטם לך which means “for the sake of My praise I will place a nose-ring in My nose to close up the nostrils against the anger and the breath so that they should not issue forth”. The word לך, for thee, in this text, means “for thy sake”, אחטם has the same meaning and root as in “a wild camel with a nose-ring (חֹטֶם)” which occurs in Mishna Treatise Sabbath (Mishnah Shabbat 5:1). Thus does the explanation appear to me. And wherever אף and חרון (i. e. where אף and words formed from the same root as חרון) occur in the Scriptures I say that it has the following sense: In the phrase חרה אף the first word is the same as (Job 30:30) “My bone is חרה with heat”, where חרה denotes burning and glowing, and this metaphor is used because the nostrils become hot and burning in a time of anger. The noun חרון is a derivation of חרה, just as רצון is a derivation of רצה, and therefore signifies “burning”. In the same way, חַמה which also signifies wrath really denotes heat (from a root יחם, not חמם, since the מ of חַמָה has no Dagesh. חַמָה is formed from יחם as עֵדָה, congregation, from יעד). That is why Scripture says, (Esther 1:12) וחמתו בערה בו “his wrath burned in him”, and when one’s wrath subsides one says, “his mind has become cooled” (נתקררה from קר cold). נערמו מים THE WATERS WERE HEAPED UP — Onkelos translated this in the sense of ערמימות, subtlety (the waters showed themselves clever); (cf. ערום Genesis 3:1); but it is more in accordance with the elegance of Biblical style to take it as the noun of the same root as in (Song 7:3) “a stack of (ערמת) wheat”, and the following words, “the floods placed themselves like a mound”, prove that this is so (cf. Mekhilta). נערמו — Through the burning heat of the breath that issued from thy nostrils (וברוח אפיך) the waters were dried up and they became like heaps and piles of gain-stacks (ערמה) which are high. כמו נד — Render this as the Targum does: like a שור, i. e. a wall. נד is an expression for anything heaped up and gathered together, as, (Isaiah 17:11) “a heap (נד) of boughs in th...

"And with the breath of Your nostrils" — as in "and by the breath of His nostrils they perish" (Job 4:9) — You rebuked the waters and they congealed. "The waters piled up" — like 'arémat hittim' (a heap of wheat, Song of Songs 7:3). "Like a heap, the flowing waters" — the waters, whose nature is to flow and descend, stood like a heap ['ned'], as in "stood in a single heap" (Joshua 3:16), like a wall. "The depths congealed" — froze, like 've-qafaon' (Zechariah 14:6). "In the heart of the sea" — in the middle of its body, corresponding to the width of the body.

וברוח אפיך נערמו מים, now Moses speaks of the third war G’d conducted against the multitudes of Egypt; (not the elite) Moses recapitulates the phenomena faced by the Egyptian hordes when the waters which had previously been normal became like towers of frozen water in the midst of the sea.

נערמו מים, גצבו כמו נר, "the waters were piled up, stood upright like a wall." This verse describes three distinct activities performed by G'd when He split the sea. 1) The waters split and remained in one place as a heap so as to make a path available for the Israelites to cross. 2) The waters which would normally replace the newly created vacuum in the centre of the sea did not spill into that vacuum but piled up along the sides forming a veritable wall. 3) As already mentioned in my comments on 14,21 it was not the entire depth of the sea which was split, but the deeper layers of water were frozen so as to enable the Israelites to march through relatively high ground and not to have to descend to what had been the bottom of the sea. The expression קפאו, "were frozen already," reflects what we have said earlier that the freeze of the lower waters in the sea preceded the splitting of the upper levels of the sea. The expression לב ים refers to the lower level of the sea which froze. The reason that the Israelites again used the word תהומות in the plural was that G'd made them travel along twelve separate lanes, each tribe having a lane to itself as we know from Shemot Rabbah 24,1.

נערמו מים, “the waters rose up (like wall);” Onkelos translates these words as “חכימו מים,” the waters acted wisely, etc;” We understand this as the waters cooperating with G-d’s plan to pour the Egyptians into the water. This would conform with what we have read in Deuteronomy 11,4: אשר הציף ה' את מי ים סוף על פניהם ברדפם אחריכם, “how the Lord rolled back upon them the waters of the sea of reeds when they were pursuing you; i.e. the waters were pursuing the Egyptians.”

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.].

וברוח אפיך, by means of the east wind which You made blow all night long. (14,21) נערמו, they moved upwards. We know the word as a “pile” from ערימת חטים, “a high heap of wheat.” נד, another word describing height. We find it in connection with the waters of the Jordan river backing up when the Israelites crossed (Joshua 3,16). קפאו, similar to the hardening of cheese described in Job 10,10 as וכגבינה תקפיאני, “You congealed me like cheese.”

Wind emanating from the nose is basically hot, as opposed to wind emanating from arctic regions. Here the phenomena were reversed, the wind emanating from G–d’s nostrils resulting in the waters congealing, as a result of which the waters piled up upon layer after layer; the wind emanating from natural causes covered the Egyptian soldiers and their chariots so that they drowned. In accurate versions of the Torah scrolls the word באלם, is spelled without the letter י, so that it does not refer to deities, but refers to אלמים, the dumb, describing how very often G–d, even though He had good reason to raise His voice in protest, remained silent. (Talmud tractate Gittin, folio 56) נערמו, “they had become cunning;” the waters had become crafty, so that they too recited G–d’s praises. This is also how Onkelos translates this line when he wrote: “the waters became smart;” קפאו תהומות בלב ים, “the deeps were congealed in the heart of the sea.” The lower two thirds of the sea had become congealed, whereas the upper third had been split. If all three thirds of the water had been split, the Israelites would not have been able to climb out of it on the opposite bank. This is why the Torah chose the expression בלב ים, “in the heart of the sea,” as the heart of a human being is located at the junction of the upper third of torso and the two lower thirds.

The enemy was saying: I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my soul will be satisfied from them; I will draw my sword — my hand will destroy them.

אמר אויב THE ENEMY SAID to his people, when he was persuading them with words (cf. Rashi on 14:6), I WILL PURSUE and I WILL OVERTAKE them and I WILL DIVIDE THE SPOIL with my captains and my subjects. תמלאמו means SHALL BE FILLED WITH THEM (not it shall fill them). נפשי MY SOUL — my spirit, my desire. Do not be puzzled at a word, that expresses an idea usually expressed by two, viz., תמלאמו for תִּמָּלֵא מֵהֶם, for there are many examples of this way of speaking; e. g., (Judges 1:15) “the south country נְתַתָּנִי”, which is the same as נָתַתָּ לִי, “thou hast given to me”; (Genesis 37:4) “And they were not able דַּבְּרוֹ peaceably”, which is the same as דַּבֵּר עִמּוֹ “to speak with him”; (Jeremiah 10:20) “My children יְצָאוּנִי which is the same as יָצְאוּ מִמֶּנִי “have gone away from me”; (Job. 31:37) “the number of my steps אַגִידֶנּוּ which is the same as אַגִּיד לוֹ “I would declare unto him”. Similarly here: תמלאמו means תִּמָּלֵא נַפְשִׁי מֵהֶם “my soul shall be filled with them”. אריק חרבי Translate this as the Targum: I WILL DRAW [MY SWORD]. Because one empties the scabbard when one draws out the sword and it (the scabbard) then remains empty (ריק), the, expression “emptying” is appropriate to it (to the act of drawing the sword), as in (Genesis 42:35) “emptying (מריקים) their sacks”; (Jeremiah 48:12) “And they shall empty (יריקו) his vessels (of wine)”. Now do not say that the expression “emptiness” in these examples does not apply to the thing which comes out, but that it applies to the scabbard and the sack and the vessels from which these things come out and not to the sword and to the wine (it is the scabbard, the sack and the vessels which are empty not the sword, the corn and the wine), — and consequently give a forced explanation of אריק חרבי in the sense of the verb in (Genesis 14:14) “He armed (וירק) his trained servants”, saying that it means, “I will arm myself with my sword”, for we do, indeed, find the expression “empty” applied also to the thing which, comes out of a receptacle; e. g., (Song 1:3) “oil which is emptied (תורק)”; (Jeremiah 48:11) “it (the wine) hath not been emptied (הורק) from vessel to vessel”. It does not say here “the vessel hath not been emptied”, but “the wine has not been emptied (הורק) from vessel to vessel”; consequently this expression is applied to the wine. Exactly like the phrase in this verse, is (Ezekiel 28:7) “And they shall draw their swords (והריקו חרבותם) against the beauty of thy wisdom”, in the chapter about Hiram. תורישמו This is an expression for poverty and need, (meaning “my hand shall make them poor”), just as, (I Samuel 2:27) “He maketh poor (מוריש) and maketh rich.”

THE ENEMY SAID. “I.e., to his people, when he [Pharaoh] was persuading them with words: ‘I will pursue them and I will overtake them, and I will divide the spoil with my captains and my servants.’” Thus the language of Rashi. Now I have seen in the Midrash Chazita: “Thus did Rabbi Yishmael teach: ‘The enemy said: I will pursue, I will overtake. This should fittingly have been at the beginning of the Song, and why was it not written there? It is because there is no strict chronological order in the narrative of the Torah.’” Now Onkelos is of that opinion, for he translated, “the enemy had said,” referring to the beginning of his plan to pursue after them. In my opinion, by way of the plain meaning of Scripture, this is to be understood in connection with the preceding verses, [all of them together explaining how the destruction of the enemy came about.] First, Scripture said that they sank in the sea and that they went down into the depths. This happened when the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen. After that, Scripture reverts to tell how this came about. With the blast of Thy nostrils, which is a reference to the strong east wind, the waters were piled up, and the deeps were congealed from the beginning. It was because of this that the enemy thought that he would pursue and overtake them in the sea and divide their spoil, and that his lust would be satisfied upon them. But Thou didst blow upon them with Thy wind, and the sea covered them. Now Moses mentioned this for in this thought of Pharaoh too were discernible the wonderful causation of G-d, Who strengthened the hearts of the Egyptians and turned their counsel into foolishness to come after the Israelites into the sea, as I have explained above. It is for this reason that following that verse, Moses said, Who is like unto Thee, O Eternal, among the mighty, doing great and wondrous things in ways mutually opposed to each other, [such as was done here: with the same hand, He sank the Egyptians and delivered Israel, as mentioned above].

"The enemy said" — this refers to Pharaoh. The word 'temale'amo' is difficult. Rabbi Marinus said it means: 'my soul will be filled from them' — taking all their possessions, in the manner of 'banai yetza'uni' (Jeremiah 10:20); and the sense is connected to 'I will divide the spoil.' Others say it derives from the root in 'asher mille'o libbo' (Esther 7:5). And thereafter: "I will dispossess them." "My hand will drive them out" — will annihilate them; and so too "but if you do not drive them out" (Numbers 33:55).

אמר אויב ארדף אשיג, The enemy had said to himself: "I will pursue, I will overtake, etc." The reason that the Israelites repeated what we knew already about the Egyptians pursuing the Israelites was to extol the manner in which G'd performed the miracle at the sea. G'd had succeeded in lulling the Egyptians into a sense of false security so that they did not consider the pursuit into the sea as hazardous. אחלק שלל, "I will divide the spoils." The wicked Pharaoh intended to accomplish three things. 1) Something in which all would share equally, i.e. division of the spoils. 2) He wanted to take the Jews back as slaves as they had been before. He said: "my lust shall be satisfied upon them." He referred to the sense of accomplishment he would feel once he captured the Israelites to make them slaves again. He also hinted that he would treat them at will and oppress them more harshly than previously. 3) He planned to kill Moses and Aaron as well as the elders and leaders of the people. This is what he referred to when he said (in the words of the Israelites) "I will draw my sword and my hand will destroy them." We have an example of the previous Pharaoh attempting to kill Moses by the sword (Exodus 2,15) where Shemot Rabbah 1,31 describes Pharaoh as unsuccessfully attempting to kill Moses by the sword.

אמר אויב וגו, “the enemy had said, etc.; ”when he saw that the sea had had turned into a dry surface through the waves having frozen in the heart of it, the enemy considered this as an opportunity to catch up faster with the Israelites. אריק חרבי, “I will bare My sword;” our author feels that the letter ב before the word חרבי is missing here, and he quotes similar instances, so that as a result, the line would mean that by using His sword G-d separates body from soul; and blood from breathing; [personally I had no problem with the word חרבי as is. Ed.] תורישמו ידי, “My hand shall destroy them;” the root of the word is ירש, so that the meaning in our verse is “Will disinherit them in favour of My people”

The enemy said, “I will pursue, etc.” Pharaoh intended to do to Israel in the manner described in He makes nations great, and destroys them (Job 12:23), and as it says A brutish man does not know, and a fool does not understand this: when the wicked spring up like grass, and all the workers of iniquity flourish, it is so they may be destroyed forever (Psalms 92:7). For it is common practice in the world that one who wants to cast his fellow down to the ground, the higher he elevates him, the greater will be his fall, as one who falls from a high place cannot be compared to one who falls from a low place. As it says He has cast down from heaven to earth the glory of Israel (Lamentations 2:1). From a high roof to a deep pit. This is like the parable of a king against whom a poor and despised villager rebelled. What did the king do? He enriched and elevated him until he became very great, which astonished his servants. After he had remained in his elevated position for several years, the king took revenge on him, killing him and all his household, and took all that he had, leaving him no survivor or remnant. For then the revenge was more evident and publicized than if he had killed him while he was still lowly and unknown. Thus said Pharaoh, “What kind of revenge is this that I should take against slaves who were busy with mortar and bricks when Israel was very poor? Rather, on the contrary, I will share with them spoils from myself and from my people by having them borrow silver and gold vessels and garments, and through this they will become treasured and important.” This is what is meant by The enemy said, “I will pursue, I will overtake them because their day will come,” but not now immediately. Instead, first I will divide the spoils from my own possessions. And when my soul is satisfied — meaning when my soul fills him with all good things, that he be quiet and peaceful in his palace — then I will draw my sword, my hand will dispossess them, so that the revenge I take against them for rebelling against me and bringing 10 plagues upon Egypt will be revealed and publicized. This explains precisely the language of temla’emo [fill them] and torishemo [dispossess them], which all refers to Israel. But Rashi’s interpretation that temla’emo means “my soul will be filled with [revenge against] them” is distant from the grammar of the language. Following our approach, we can also explain what our Sages said (Gittin 56b) that “whoever oppresses Israel becomes poor,” which is in order to later magnify his downfall. In this way, I also believe that what is written one time as cast into the sea and another time as thrown into the sea — and Rashi explained that they first rose up and then descended — alludes to all these points we have made. Similarly, Rashi brings the verse He makes nations great and destroys them in the verse, “before Baal Zephon, and this is a precious interpretation. Regarding what it says “I will draw my sword,” it means even if there won’t be a sword in my hand, nonetheless my hand will dispossess them, because with my hand alone, without a sword, I will dispossess them since they are weak. And there are those who say will fill them [means] “will dispossess them” — his mouth caused him to stumble by saying this, because in the end he would leave all his possessions to them in the plunder of the sea, and he would fill Israel with his spoils.

אמר אויב ארדוף אשיג, “the enemy had said: “I will pursue and catch up, etc.” Rashi says that Moses quoted the words used by Pharaoh to encourage his people to join him in pursuit of the Israelites. This is also the understanding of our verse by Onkelos who translates אשיג as סגאה, progressing, marching. Nachmanides writes that it seems to him that the verse, basically, is a repetition of the theme of the beginning previous verse and does not refer to the decision made in Egypt to pursue the Israelites, but to the decision made at the sea to enter into the sea that had been split and stood like walls of ice. Pharaoh ignored or misinterpreted G’d’s having worked this miracle and that it was reversible and that these very waters would spell their doom. The end of verse 8 had explained that the whole phenomenon was an outgrowth and demonstration of G’d’s anger at the Egyptians.

אמר אויב, when they saw the sea turn into dry ground אריק חרבי, I will empty my sheath by drawing forth my sword. This round about description of someone drawing his sword is not unique. We find something similar in connection with bows and arrows. In Psalms 38,3 כי חציך נחתו בי, literally: “for Your arrows have landed on me,” the meaning is, obviously, “Your arrows have struck me.” David, using poetic language, describes that when the bow has been placed flat on a solid surface in preparation for the arrow to be shot after the bow has been tensed sufficiently, it is aimed and shot so that its arrival at the target represents a “landing.” Psalms 18,35 uses similar language to describe the action of a bow and arrow.

You spoke through Your Word — the sea covered over them; they sank like lead in the mighty waters.

נשפת — an expression for “blowing”. Similar is (Isaiah 40:24) “He bloweth (נשף) upon them”. צללו means THEY SANK, they went deep, — an expression of the same root as (Psalms 69:3) מצולה “the depths”. כעופרת LIKE LEAD: old French plomb.

NASHAPHTA’ WITH THY WIND. Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra said that nashaphta is derived from the root nesheph (twilight), for it was at twilight that He brought the wind which caused the water to return and drown the pursuers. Rashi explained it “as an expression for ‘blowing,’ similar in usage to the verse, When ‘nashaph’ (He bloweth) upon them, they wither.” Rashi has explained it well. My opinion, furthermore, is that the purport of nashaphta, [written with the letter phei], is like [that written] with a beth: Thou ‘nashavta’ (didst blow) with Thy wind. The usage of the word is similar to: Because the breath of the Eternal ‘nashva’ (bloweth) upon it; ‘yasheiv’ (He bloweth) His wind, and the waters flow. These two letters — [the phei or pei and the beth] — are of similar usage, just as in the verses: ‘al gapei’ (Upon) the highest places of the city, which is like al gabei; ‘im b’gapo’ (if by himself), which is like im b’gabo. Similarly: And substance ‘yivzor’ (he shall scatter) among them; ‘bizar’ (He hath scattered) the peoples. These are expressions of pizur (scattering), [with the letter beth serving here as phei] In proper names, these letters also interchange, e.g., Shovach, and Shophach. And our Rabbis say in the Mishnah: “[If produce is proclaimed] hevkeir (ownerless) for the benefit of the poor [only], it is deemed hevkeir (ownerless).” [The word hevkeir] is like hephkeir (ownerless). From the expression, The grains ‘avshu’ (shrivel) comes the word ipush (musty). The term ben p’kua, [an animal taken alive out of the slaughtered mother’s womb], is used in place of ben b’kua, because the mother was “ripped open” and there was found in it a living offspring of nine months. In my opinion also, ‘hichpishani’ in ashes is like ‘hichbishani’ (He presses me) [or “He made me cower”] in ashes, the usage of the word being similar to: And replenish the earth, ‘v’chivshuha’ (and subdue it); ‘yichbosh’ (He will subdue) our iniquities. In the language of the Rabbis we also find: “a measure which is k’phushah,” meaning k’vushah, [a measure into which the contents have been “compressed”, and which therefore contains more than its normal measure].The purport of the verse is thus: “with Your strong and mighty wind, the waters of the sea were piled up, and when You blew the wind with which You control the sea, the sea covered them.” This is the intent of the verse, And the sea returned to its strength when the morning appeared, for He caused the wind to blow on it as He does at His strength when He ruleth the proud swelling of the sea. TZALALU’ AS LEAD. They went down into “the depths” (m’tzoloth) of the sea as lead. Now Moses mentioned this in the Song twice: They went down into the sea like a stone, and as lead, [mentioned in the verse here], in order to emphasize that this too came upon them from the hand of G-d. There were many persons among the Egyptians who knew how to swim, and they were near dry land, and surely all those who rode on the horses could be ...

"You blew with Your wind" — from the root 'neshef,' for in the wind of the night You brought a wind that drowned them. "They sank" — from the root 'metzulot' (the depths), as in "at the sound of it my lips quivered" [tzillu, Habakkuk 3:16]. "In the mighty waters" — this connects with 'they sank,' as though it said: they sank in the mighty waters like lead. Lead derives from 'afar' (earth/dust), for of the six kinds of metal, if any of them is placed under the earth, each one loses a known quantity in a known number of years — but lead increases forever.

נשפת ברוחך, You used the very same wind You had used to dry out the sea bed after splitting it to now turn against the pursuers and to turned into overwhelming and turbulent waters. אדירים, not a reference to the waters but to the men who had been considered mighty, invincible, etc. [I suppose the unusual exegesis is based on the dividing tone sign tipcha under the word במים, which indicates that it belongs to the preceding words. Ed.] The people to whom Moses refers are the ones who had been described in 14,7 as שלישים על כולו.

נשפת ברוחך, "You blew with Your wind, etc." This verse enumerates three disasters corresponding to three of Pharaoh's intentions. The reason that Pharaoh (and the Egyptians) were covered by the sea was because he had said: "I will divide the spoils." Even though under normal conditions the horses could have saved themselves by swimming, he was made to lose his own most treasured property, his horses. He and the Egyptians died a slow death as retribution for their declared intention to oppress the Jews even more harshly and to kill their leaders. This is why the Israelites referred to צללו. The Mechilta describes the words כעופרת like lead, as describing how the individual Egyptians were tossed up and down repeatedly by the waves. In their song the Israelites spoke about במים אדירים, powerful waters, to describe two features. A) the descent, i.e. צללו כעופרת; B) their inability to die at once; this is alluded to in the words במים אדירים, the powerful waves which kept tossing the Egyptians up into the air. Israel praised the Lord in recognition of all these phenomena.

כעופרת, “like lead.” The word is a derivative of עפר “earth.” Whereas the other six types of metal, if buried in the earth will gradually diminish in weight and substance, lead retains its composition and does not deteriorate.

נשפת ברוחך, “You blew with Your wind.” Ibn Ezra, pointing out that the meaning of the root נשף is used to describe the evening, claims that G’d’s making the walls of frozen waters collapse was caused by a wind blowing in the evening. My sainted father, the רא'ש, said that the reason that the Torah wrote the line וברוח אפיך נערמו מים before, while here the Torah writes נשפת ברוחך, [two phrases describing activities of רוח, Ed.] is intended to make the miracle appear as even greater than meets the eye at first glance. אף and רוח אף always suggests something hot. Anger is the result of a person becoming “heated.” When the result is that water turns to ice, as was the case here, this is an even greater anomaly. On the other hand, the רוח הפה, [the רוח associated with נשף without the word אף nose, is the exhaling which is an integral part of speech. Ed.] dissolved these ice-cubes. צללו כעופרת, “they sank like lead.” They descended into the depths as if they had been lumps of lead. The reason Moses makes mention of this is to tell us that this was a deliberate act of G’d. Although many of the Egyptians did know how to swim, this did not help them at all. No doubt many of them were quite near the shore when all this happened, and yet, not a single one of them managed to escape. Most horsemen would normally be able to save themselves in such conditions, as horses float on the surface of the water, but on this occasion not a single one did. This is the meaning of the line וינער ה' את מצרים בתוך הים, “the Lord poured the Egyptians into the middle of the sea.” (14,28)

צללו כעופרת במים, they sank quickly like lead although the waters were so turbulent [which usually delays the sinking even of objects of heavy specific weight such a lead. Ed.]

There is none besides You, for You alone are God, Hashem; there is none besides You, O God. You are mighty in holiness, revered in praises, performing wonders.

באלם means AMONGST THE MIGHTY, just as (Ezekiel 17:13) “and the mighty of (אילי) the land he took away”; (Psalms 22:20) “O, thou my strength (אילותי) hasten to my help”. נורא תהלות means Thou art an object of dread so that people do not recount thy praises fearing lest these may be enumerated less then they really are, just as it is written (Psalms 65:2) “To Thee, silence is praise”.

WHO IS LIKE UNTO THEE, O ETERNAL, ‘BA’EILIM’. “I.e., among the mighty ones, just as in the verses: And ‘eilei’ (the mighty) of the land he took away; ‘eyaluthi’ (O Thou my strength), hasten to help me.” Thus the language of Rashi. Now it is true that the word eilim is an expression of power and strength, but Who is like unto Thee ‘ba’eilim’ is a reference to the angels who are called eilim, the usage of the word being similar to that in the verse, This is ‘E-ili’ (my G-d), and I will glorify Him, and the Holy One, blessed be He, is called E-il Elyon (G-d the Most High) above all powers. Similarly, And he shall speak strange things against the G-d of ‘eilim’ is like the expression, He is G-d of gods. Also, Ascribe unto the Eternal, O ye ‘b’nei eilim’ (sons of might) is like the expression b’nei ha’elohim, since they are at times called eilim or b’nei eilim, and sometimes also ha’elohim or b’nei elohim. Thus: For the Eternal is greater than all ‘ha’elohim;’ And the ‘b’nei ha’elohim’ came to present themselves before the Eternal. Some scholars say that the word b’nei is not in the construct state, nor are these expressions: b’nei shileishim, ‘anshei’ (men) portrayed upon the wall. And this is the meaning of Who is like Thee, ‘ne’edar’ (majestic) in holiness? since there is no adir (lofty one) like Him in the celestial holy abode. And so we find in the Mechilta: “Who is like unto Thee among those who serve before Thee in heaven, as it is said, For who in the skies can be compared unto the Eternal, who among the sons of might can be likened unto the Eternal, a G-d to be feared in the great council of the holy ones?” NORA TH’HILOTH’ (FEARFUL IN PRAISES). “He is feared by those who recount His praises lest they enumerate fewer than there really are, [and thus fail to praise Him adequately], just as it is written, To thee silence is praise.” Thus Rashi’s language. Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra also explained “that all who praise Him are fearful when praising His Name, for Who can make all His praise to be heard? And they are duty-bound to praise His Name, for He alone does wonders.”In my opinion, nora th’hiloth means: “fearful with praises, for He does fearful things and He is praised for them, as when He wreaks vengeance on those who transgress His will and thereby helps those who serve Him. Thus He is [both] feared and highly praised.” And because earthly kings are feared because of their oppression and perverseness, Moses said that G-d is feared through the very things for which He is praised. Similarly, To Thee ‘dumiyah’ is praise means, by way of the plain meaning of Scripture, “that hoping to Thee is praise, for all who hope to Thee obtain their wish, and they praise Thy Name in Zion and there they perform their vows which they have vowed in the time of their trouble.” The usage [of the word dumiyah as “hope”] is similar to that found in these verses: Only to G-d ‘dumi’ (wait) thou, my soul, for from Him cometh my hope; ‘vayidom hashemesh’ and the moon...

"Among the mighty ['elim], Hashem" — these are the holy angels on high; the 'sons of elim' are the stars — I will explain this further in the portion Ki Tissa. "Majestic in holiness" — this refers to the Throne of Glory. "Awesome in praises" — for all who offer praise stand in awe when praising His name, for who can proclaim all His praise? Yet they are obligated to praise His name, for He alone works wonders.

מי כמוכה בא-לים; Moses praised the Lord for His third war, the one against the Egyptian cavalry of the second quality. G’d’s incomparable stature consists in His ability to change the nature of phenomena in the universe which had previously been considered as indestructible, inviolate, impervious to any attempt by man to influence their nature in any way. נאדר בקודש, that which is קודש, holy, is by definition something indestructible. This is what our sages meant (Sanhedrin 92) when they stated that the righteous people who will be resurrected in the future will never again return to their dust. They based this on Isaiah 4,3 הנשאר בציון והנותר בירושלים........ קרוש יאמר להם, “and those who remain in Zion and are left in Jerusalem, all who are inscribed for life in Jerusalem, shall be called holy.” The Talmud concludes: “what is the meaning of the word נאדר used here by Moses? There is none such as the Lord Who is known to be eternal, King over even all other holy beings, the ones that are also of an enduring nature, not mortal or subject to decay. This is the reason why there is no one else who is entitled to be worshipped, exalted, obeyed, etc. Anything that is infinite had its origin in the Lord, Who is not only infinite but also eternal. נורא תהלות, anyone aware of the marvelous attributes of His cannot fail but recite these praises in awe, not because he is afraid of being punished but because the very nature of G’d inspires awe and reverence. עושה פלא. He accomplishes marvelous, supernatural results, such as the type of pillar of cloud and pillar of fire which were tailored to fit the needs of the Jewish people at that time.

מי כמוך באלים השם, "Who is comparable to You amongst the deities O Lord?" Israel describes that they had seen the guardian angel of Egypt die; hence they could say that absolutely no celestial force compares to the Lord our G'd. Another dimension of this verse is based on an observation in Chagigah 16 where our sages draw a comparison between G'd and terrestrial kings. The latter is unrecognisable when he chooses to hide amongst his people (soldiers). G'd is never unrecognisable when He is surrounded by His armies. The word באלים means that even when G'd is amongst celestial forces, He is immediately recognised as such. According to the Mechilta there is still another meaning to this comparison between G'd and other powers; whereas a king of flesh and blood inspires greater fear amongst his distant subjects than amongst those near at home, the reverse is true of G'd as we know from Leviticus 10,3: בקרובי אקדש. The composer of this song bemoans the fact that in the "distance," i.e. in the celestial regions, G'd is revered at all times, whereas here on earth He is revered only when He displays such miracles as the splitting of the sea, i.e. when He is נאדר בקדש. Still another meaning of the comparison drawn by the composer of this song is based on Daniel 7,10 where the waters of the mythical river Dinor are described as the product of the sweat of the Chayot [permanent kind of angels Ed.] which proclaim the holiness of G'd and to whom this is an awe-inspiring experience, i.e. נאדר בקודש (compare Chagigah 13). נורא תהלות עשה פלא, "fearful in praises doing wonders?" Everyone ought to be afraid to tell His praises seeing His deeds are so wonderful that no one is able to acknowledge them adequately. How dare one even express an appreciation of G'd's wonderful works knowing one's own inadequacy?

מי כמוכה באלם, “Who is like you among deities?” the letter י is missing in the word אלים. It is a hint of the inability of any so-called deities to even use the power of speech that ordinary human beings possess. They are totally dumb. Moses uses it here slightly differently by hinting that only our G-d can remain absolutely silent even when provoked. This degree of self-control is found nowhere else. נורא תהלות, “awesome in splendour.” It is the multiplicity of praises that make the Lord so awesome. We find the expression נורא applied to objects which possess more than the virtues or qualities required for them to live up to their reputations. For instance: המדבר הגדול והנורא הוא, “that great and awesome desert.” (Deuteronomy 1 19.) Or, Maleachi 3,23: לפני בא יום ה' הגדול והנורא, before the arrival of that great and awesome day.”: [The author quotes more examples. Ed.] עושה פלא, “working wonders.!” It is well known that air exhaled through the nose is warm or even hot. It could even be hot enough to cause substances with a low melting point to melt. On the other hand, air that is blown from the mouth is very cold and can even freeze something hot. But when G-d was described as exhaling hot air from angry nostrils, the result was that the waters of the sea piled up as blocks of ice instead. On the other hand, when G-d blew forth air from the mouth, these blocks of ice melted instead.

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.

“Who is like You among the mighty, O Lord.” In the Talmud (Gittin 56b), they interpreted Who is like You among the mighty [elim] as “Who is like You among the mute [ilemim].” This interpretation seems far-fetched, as it adds the letter mem to change “elim” to “ilemim.” However, it appears that our Sages did not intend to add a mem, but rather elim means “the strong ones,” as Rashi explained. Thus, the interpretation is that anyone who hears insults directed at them and restrains themselves, remaining silent and suppressing their anger, is strong and mighty, for “Who is mighty? One who conquers his impulse.” Similarly, when the Holy One, blessed be He, hears and remains silent, making Himself as if mute, so to speak, this is due to His mighty hand, as He suppresses His anger and remains silent toward those who provoke Him, just as He remained silent toward Pharaoh who said, Who is the Lord? and likewise remained silent toward Titus despite his blasphemy and insults. Therefore, they interpreted Who is like You among the mighty as “among the mute.” Moses said this regarding Pharaoh’s blasphemy, and from this they brought this verse as evidence regarding Titus. So the meaning of elim is indeed “the mighty ones” as mentioned. And if you wish to say [it refers to] actual mutes, we can interpret that Moses said that God’s praise is so great that even the mutes who have no mouth to speak, nevertheless, His praise rises from them as if they said with a full mouth Who is like You, O Lord, in the way it is said The heavens declare the glory of God, etc. There is no speech, nor are there words, without their voice being heard, etc. (Psalms 19:2). So how do they declare the glory of God? Rather, certainly through people seeing the movements of the heavens and all their hosts, they declare the glory of God. And through people declaring the glory of God by means of the movements of the heavens, it is as if the heavens themselves are declaring, even though they are truly mute and have no speech or words. Therefore it is said here, Who is like You among the gods [elim] — [read as] among the mutes [alemim]. Even through the mouth of the mute Your praise is great, as if they said “Who is like You, O Lord,” and all the more so through the mouth of those who can speak. And he said this also about the water, in the manner explained in Bereshit Rabbah (5:1) Let the waters be gathered — This is comparable to a king who built a palace and settled mute inhabitants in it, and they would rise early and inquire about the king’s welfare. Afterward, he settled speaking inhabitants in it, and they stood up and rebelled against the king, etc. The king said, “Let the palace return to how it was.” Similarly, from the beginning of the world’s creation, the praise of the Holy One, Blessed be He, came from the waters, as it is said Above the voices of many waters, the mighty waves of the sea, mighty on high is the Lord, etc. (Psalms 93:4). According to this midrash, the waters are called “mute” yet the praise of the Holy One, Blessed be He, rises from them, either through their doing the will of their Creator against their nature, or through people telling of God’s glory when they see the actions of the waters during the generation of the flood and the splitting of the Red Sea. It seems as though the waters are telling of God’s glory even though they are mute. Therefore, Moses said, “Who is like You among the mute [elim], O Lord” — even the mute say Who is like You. And he said this about what the mute waters did during the splitting of the Red Sea. And what is written ba’elim [among the mighty] is missing the letter mem [which would make it “ba’alemim” — among the mute ones] in order to also interpret ba’elim as meaning “among the strong ones,” alluding to the mighty waters. For “adirim” [mighty] is a term of strength, like “elim” which is a term of strength, and as it is written, they sank like lead in mighty waters. And this is a precious interpretation. And this is also interpreted regarding Titus, because a wave of the sea rose against him to drown him, as is concluded there in the Gemara. And with this suggestion, the meaning of all the midrashim is the same — to interpret elim as both “strong ones” and “mute ones” simultaneously. Another interpretation: According to the view that whoever elaborates extensively in praise of the Blessed One is considered as diminishing His glory, as Rashi explained on the verse awesome in praises (Exodus 15:11), therefore it states Who is like You among the mighty [eilim]? This refers to the strong ones who restrain themselves from recounting Your praise out of fear lest they diminish Your praise. Therefore, they make themselves as if mute [ilemim], and among these groups, who is like You, O Lord, for to You, silence is praise (Psalms 65:2) — silence is Your praise. According to this interpretation, eilim can also be understood as “the strong ones” and “the mute ones,” because by making themselves as if mute, through this silence it is as if they are saying, “Who is like You, O Lord?” And the reason they make themselves mute is because You are awesome in praises — they fear declaring Your praise lest they diminish it. Therefore, they make themselves as mute, and with strong resolve they restrain their mouths to place a hand over the mouth. This too is a precious interpretation.

מי כמוך באלים, “who is comparable to You among the celestial powers?” Rashi simply explains the word אלים as חזקים, powerful terrestrial forces. Nachmanides writes that while it is true that this is generally the meaning of the word חזקים, in this verse, seeing that the comparison has been made to the Lord, there would be no point if the Torah would only describe the Lord as mightier than terrestrial forces; ordinary celestial forces are known as אלים as opposed to the Lord Who is described as אל עליון, the supreme celestial force. Rather, Moses compares G’d as superior to the mightiest angels. מי כמוך נאדר בקודש, “who is comparable to You, mighty in holiness.” In the domain of holiness there is no one who can compare to You. נורא תהלות, “too awesome for praise.” Rashi explains that G’d is too awesome for us to begin praising him, lest we omit some praises and become guilty of belittling Him. Nachmanides explains that being awesome in praise means being praised for having performed awesome deeds. The reason why Moses chooses these comparisons is because this is the way Kings of flesh and blood are praised. We do not possess the yardsticks to praise G’d in terms of celestial norms, seeing we have no access to that region. What is described is that G’d is praised by people who observe how He pays back people who have oppressed others and treated them violently.

מי כמוך בא-לים ה' מי כמוך נאדר בקודש!; this is another example of the poetic repetitions we have been remarking on previously in connection with the line ימינך ה' וגו. The meaning of the verse therefore is: “who among the divine powers which are exalted can compare to You in this respect?” נורא תהלות, the praises that have been heaped upon You by them are based on the reverence and awe of the people extending them. (compare 14,31 וייראו העם את ה', “the people were in awe and reverence of the Lord”).

מי כמכה, “who is comparable to You?” The reason this question has been repeated is that it refers to two different verses. The first one is verse 8, where the wind, ברוח אפיך, the wind issuing forth from G–d’s nostrils, is described as making the waves assume an upright posture; the second wind in verse 10 describes a natural wind at work but blowing constantly in the same direction.

You raised Your right hand — the earth swallowed them.

נטית ימינך THOU INCLINEST THY RIGHT HAND — When the Holy One, blessed be He, inclines His hand the wicked cease to be and fall — because everything is held in His hand and consequently falls when He inclines it. Similarly it states, (Isaiah 31:3) “When the Lord inclineth His hand, he that helpeth shall stumble and he that is helped shall fall”. A parable: it may be compared to glass vessels held in a man’s hand: if he inclines his hand a little they fall and are shattered to pieces (cf. Mekhilta). תבלעמו ארץ THE EARTH SWALLOWED THEM — From this it may be gathered that they received the privilege of burial as a reward for having said, (Exodus 9:27) “The Lord is righteous” (Mekhilta).

THOU STRETCHEDST OUT THY RIGHT HAND — THE EARTH ‘TIVLA’EIMO’ (SWALLOWED THEM). The meaning is that “after you blew with Your wind and the sea covered them, You stretched out Your right hand and Your arm, and the earth swallowed them.” The purport thereof is that after they drowned, the sea cast them out as is the custom of the seas, and so Scripture says, And Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea-shore. There, [on the sea-shore], their bodies decomposed and they returned to the dust upon the earth as they were, and thus they were swallowed up and destroyed [by the earth]. The usage of the word tivla’eimo is similar to the expressions: Together round about, ‘vativla’eini’ (Thou dost destroy me); The Eternal ‘bila’ (hath swallowed up) unsparingly; And the way of thy paths ‘bileiu,’ which means “they destroyed.” Our Rabbis have said that the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them, for they were privileged to be buried by virtue of having said, The Eternal is righteous. [Thus, according to this Midrash of the Rabbis, the bodies of the Egyptians were not totally destroyed, for they even merited a place for burial.] But the expression of G-d’s “outstretched right hand or arm,” [as stated here, Thou stretchedst out Thy right hand], is used in Scripture only as indicating vengeance and destruction! Perhaps the Rabbis [of the above-mentioned interpretation] will explain the verse as follows: “Thou stretchedst out Thy right hand to slay them in the sea, and the earth swallowed them up after that,” this being the burial which they merited.

"You stretched out Your right hand" — what is the wonder? That Your name is supreme among those on high, and from there You stretched forth Your right hand, and the earth — which is below all that is low — swallowed the enemy. This is by way of metaphor: for in a single instant Your right hand, which is above the highest heavens, reached down beneath the sea. The meaning of "Your right hand" is: Your power.

נטית ימינך תבלעימו ארץ, "when You inclined Your right hand the earth swallowed them." Mechilta describes the sea as tossing the Egyptians onto the dry land and the earth as tossing them right back into the sea. The dry land argued with the sea saying: "considering that I was cursed by G'd for having merely absorbed a single human being's blood, i.e. Abel's, at the time, what will G'd do to me if I will accept an entire population of human beings unless G'd swears an oath to me not to demand an accounting from me? [this is based on the meaning of "right hand" often being equated with an oath. Ed.] Targum Yonathan also explains our verse in this sense. We learn from here that the sea did not want to accept the Egyptians and tossed them out. This contradicts something we have learned in Pessachim 118. G'd is quoted as saying to the guardian angel of the sea: "spit them out onto the dry land." The guardian angel of the sea retorted: "Lord of the universe, is there then a servant who has been given a gift by his master (food for the fish according to Rashi) and the master subsequently demands the gift back?" To this argument G'd replied: "I will give you a gift worth one and a half times the original gift if you give Me back the original gift." The sea replied: "can a servant take a master to court?" G'd answered: "I will guarantee My promise by giving you the river Kishon as a pledge." Upon hearing this the sea immediately disgorged the bodies of the Egyptians onto the dry land and the Israelites were able to see that they were dead. It is clear from that story in the Talmud that the sea was quite unwilling to toss the Egyptians onto the dry land. Why then was the sea not overjoyed when the dry land refused the bodies of the Egyptians and tossed them back into the sea? Besides, why did G'd have to repay the sea from the camp of Siserah (900 chariots versus the Egyptians' 600 chariots, compare Judges 4,13)? Why did He not repay the sea personally so that He did not have to give the sea the river Kishon as a pledge? Another difficulty is the fact that generally speaking the sea does not retain either people or animals but tosses them on to the beaches either on the day they drown or a few days later. According to the view of our sages the sea would prefer to retain these bodies; Rashi and Rashbam suggest that the sea needs these bodies in order to provide food for the fish. If all this is true we must try and understand why, in the case of the Egyptians, the sea made strenuous efforts to get rid of these bodies instead of retaining them as food for the fish? Perhaps the bodies which the earth tossed back had already begun to decompose and would not only have polluted the sea but had also become unfit as food for the fish. This does not seem a satisfactory answer seeing that G'd would not have prevented the earth from providing a burial for the dead Egyptians if only in order to satisfy the commandment in Deut. 21,23 not to allow a person who has bee...

נטית ימינך, “You inclined Your right hand;” a reference to chapter 14,26 when G-d instructed Moses to extend his arm so that the waters would return to normal.

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.’”

You stretched out Your right hand, the earth swallowed them. This contains a hint to what our Sages said (Sotah 11b): When the Egyptians discovered [the Israelite babies], they sought to kill them, but a miracle occurred and they were swallowed into the ground, and afterward they emerged and came to their homes in groups. And at the sea, they [the Israelites who had been babies] recognized Him first and said, This is my God. Regarding this it says, who works wonders. And what is the wonder? You stretched out Your right hand, the earth swallowed them — referring to the Israelites who were mentioned in the verse Who is like You among the mighty, O Lord. And afterward, You led forth in kindness this people whom You redeemed, for they went to their homes in groups. And then, You guided them in Your strength to Your holy abode, for they recognized Him first and saw the Divine Presence in His holy abode, blessed be He. And some say that this was spoken in the manner of a question and answer, “Why did You, God, bring the Egyptians to the Red Sea to drown them there? If You had wanted to extend Your hand against them, then the earth could have swallowed them alive in their place like Sheol.” And he gave an answer to this matter: You led in Your kindness this people whom You redeemed; You guided them with Your strength — as a shepherd leads his flock to a wide, lush pasture without the distress of war, because when they left Egypt they were not trained in warfare. Therefore, He brought them to the Red Sea, whose sound roared from one end of the world to the other. And through this, peoples heard and trembled, and they did not need to engage in great battles, as it is written (Joshua 2:9): And all the inhabitants of the land melted away before you, for we have heard how the Lord dried up the waters of the Red Sea before you. But if [the Egyptians] had been swallowed in the ground in their place, the sound would not have been heard from afar, and all the kings of Canaan would not have trembled and been terrified, and Israel would have needed to fight great battles.

נטית ימינך תבלעמו ארץ, “as soon as You stretched out Your right hand, the earth swallowed them.” Our sages deduce from this that all the people drowned in the sea did enjoy the privilege of being brought to burial. Nachmanides writes that according to the plain meaning the words “hand” and “right” being stretched, do not imply that these organs are necessarily being used in the execution of vengeance. Therefore, it appears that we need to understand what happened as the Egyptians first being drowned and their bodies then being tossed on to the shore as is customary in cases of bodies drowning in the sea. The earth of the dry land, not the bottom of the sea, then swallowed these corpses so that in the end “dust returned to dust.” Although no grave diggers were involved, the surface of the earth after the dissolution of the bodies of these drowned Egyptians could not be told apart from the way it had looked before this had occurred.

נטית ימינך, a reference to when G’d said to Moses: נטה, “extend your hand over the sea and the waters will return, etc.” (14,26).

You led this people whom You redeemed in Your goodness; You guided them in Your strength to the dwelling of Your holiness.

נהלת is of the same root, conjugation and meaning as מנהל a leader; Onkelos translated it in the sense of bearing and carrying, but he was not particular to translate according to the Hebrew expression (i. e., to translate literally)

THOU IN THY LOVE HAST LED THE PEOPLE THAT THOU HAST REDEEMED; THOU HAST GUIDED THEM IN THY STRENGTH TO THY HOLY HABITATION. Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra explained that this is a past tense in place of the future, as is customary in prophecies. In my opinion, Moses is saying: “Thou stretchedst out Thy right hand upon the enemy, and the earth swallowed them, but Thou in Thy love hast led — in a pillar of cloud, to lead them the way — the people that Thou hast redeemed, and Thou hast guided them in the strength of Thy hands to Thy holy habitation,” for it is to that holy habitation that they were going, and so also, And all nations shall flow unto it. Thy holy habitation is a reference to the Sanctuary [in Jerusalem], as Moses says again, The Sanctuary, O Lord, which Thy hands have established. And so the Rabbis have said in the Mechilta: “Habitation is but a designation for the Sanctuary, as it is said, Look upon Zion, the city of our solemn gatherings; thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a peaceful habitation.”.

"You led" ['nahita'] — he uses the past tense in place of the future, as is the manner of prophecy. "In Your kindness" — this refers to the pillar of cloud and fire, for it is the One who guides them; or else it alludes to that by which He guided them until this point. "You have guided" ['nahalta'] — as in 'etnahala le-itti' (I will proceed gently, Genesis 33:14). "In Your strength" — and not in their strength. "To Your holy abode" — this is Mount Sinai, where the Divine Presence dwelled, as it is written: "And I brought you to Me" (below, 19:4).

נחית בחסדך עם זו גאלת, ever since You redeemed them and took over their leadership at the boundary of Egypt at Sukkot, as we know from 13,20-21. נהלת בעזך, You guided them across the dry seabed in a leisurely fashion. (compare Isaiah 63,13 “Who led them through the depths so that they did not stumble-- as a horse in a desert.”) אל נוה קדשך, on the proper way in order to arrive at a place where they will sanctify Your holy Name.

עם זו, “this nation;” Whenever the expression זו is used it means the same as אשר, “that one,” or “which;” compare Isaiah 42,24. It follows that in our verse, the words עם זו גאלת, mean: “You have redeemed a nation.” אל נוה קדשך, the entire land of Israel is called: “G-d’s holy residence.” As an example of this statement our author cites: Psalms 78,54.ויביאם אל גבול קדשו הר זה קנתה ימינה, “He brought them to the land of His holiness His right hand acquired this mountain.” נחית, “you guided;” both this word and the word נהלת, are to be understood as in the future tense, as Moses is predicting something that had not happened yet. This is very common use of language when prophecies or poems are involved.

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.

נחית בחסדך עם זו גאלת, “In Your kindness You have guided this nation whom You have redeemed.” Ibn Ezra mentions that the past mode employed by Moses here about events that have not yet happened, is typical of the usage of future events that are being described by prophets, as they consider the future as real as the past.

נהלת בעזך, You are guiding the Israelites now in order to bring them into the Holy Land to give it to them as an ancestral possession. The land of Canaan will then be called נוה קדשך, “residence of Your Holiness.”

Peoples heard and trembled; dread seized those who were dwelling in Philistia.

ירגזון means THEY TREMBLE (not they will tremble). ישבי פלשת [REIGS SEIZED] THE INHABITANTS OF PALESTINE, because they slew the children of Ephraim who anticipated the end fixed for the period of slavery and left Egypt forcibly, as is explained in Chronicles (1 7:21) “[The sons of Ephraim…] whom the men of Gath slew” (Mekhilta).

THE PEOPLES HAVE HEARD, THEY TREMBLE. The purport thereof is: “when the people will hear [of Thy visitation upon the Egyptians], they will tremble from the blow of Thy hands, and pangs will take hold of the inhabitants of Philistia when they will hear [of those deeds].” It is possible that Moses is saying that the peoples have already heard all that G-d has done in the land of Egypt, and that they will always tremble from the disease He has put upon them. Thus Moses continues to pray that He should let fall upon them terror and dread so that they should not go out to war against Israel. Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra explained that the verse, Horror and dread shall fall upon them, refers only to Philistia, [mentioned in Verse 14] and Edom and Moab, [mentioned in Verse 15], but not to the inhabitants of Canaan, [who are also mentioned at the end of Verse 15]. This is because Moses said afterward, [i.e., at the end of Verse 16 before us], till Thy people pass over, O Eternal. It was over them [Philistia, Edom and Moab] that the Israelites passed before they came into the land of Canaan, and these peoples really did not war against them. Even when Edom came out against him with much people, and a strong hand, it was only so that the Israelites should not pass over his land, but he did not war against them. But were it not for the terror and dread that fell upon them, they would have wanted to battle against them out of their hatred of them. Now Moses did not mention Ammon, because Ammon and Moab are as one nation. It is possible that the dread of the Israelites fell on the Canaanite too, and he did not war against them until they had passed over [the Jordan], for the Canaanite, the king of Arad, who dwelt in the south [and who warred against Israel when they were still in the wilderness], was not a Canaanite by descent, according to the opinion of our Rabbis.

"The peoples heard" — these are the nations surrounding them, who will also be crossed over by Israel. "Anguish gripped the inhabitants of Philistia" — the inhabitants of the land of Philistia; the word 'yoshvei' is an indicator of this.

חיל אחז יושבי פלשת, “fear gripped the inhabitants of Palestine.” They were afraid that retribution for their having killed tens of thousands of the members of the tribe of Ephrayim was at hand. Those members of the tribe of Ephrayim had been trying to leapfrog the appointed time of the end of Jewish slavery. They had been killed by the inhabitants of Gat, who had been born in the land of the Philistines. (Compare Chronicles I 7,21.)

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.

יושבי פלשת, אלופי אדום, אילי מואב, all the aforementioned are neighbours of the land of Israel.

Then the chiefs of Edom were dismayed; trembling seized the mighty ones of Moab; all who were dwelling in Canaan were broken.

אלופי אדום אילי מואב [THEN WERE PERTURBED] THE CHIEFTAINS OF EDOM, THE MIGHTY MEN OF MOAB — But surely they had no cause to fear anything because they (the Israelites) were not marching against them! But the explanation is, that they were perturbed by annoyance, because they were annoyed and distressed by the glory that Israel had achieved (cf. Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 251:11). נמגו means THEY MELTED — just as, (Psalms 65:11) “Thou makest it soft (תמגגנה) with showers”. They said, “They are marching against us to destroy us and to take possession of our land” (therefore they melted away from fear, and were not merely perturbed in mind) (Mekhilta).

"The chiefs ['eilei] of Edom" — with a yod, like 'kvasim' (lambs), for chieftains resemble them in their likeness to the flock. Now Philistia, Edom, and Moab did not actually fight with Israel in the wilderness — "all the inhabitants of Canaan melted away" — on account of the reports they heard, in the manner of "and we heard it, and our hearts melted" (Joshua 2:11) — and so too the inhabitants of Canaan, the land of Canaan.

אז נבהלו אלופי אדום, אילי מואב, when they saw all these miracles; even though they knew that Israel would not make war against them. They were still frightened by the mere spectacle even if it was not directed at them. יאחזמו רעד, they were gripped by fear praying that the Israelites would never rise to attack them. נמוגו כל יושבי כנען, there can be no question that the hearts of all the inhabitants of the land of Canaan melted at the manifestation of these miracles as they knew that the Israelites were marching in order to drive them out of their land. Rachav testifies even 40 years later when their worst fears had not yet been realised, that the population of Canaan had completely lost confidence in the outcome of a confrontation with Israel (Joshua 2,11).

אז נבהלו אלופי אדום, Then the chiefs of Edom were frightened. The word אז refers does not refer to what happened at this time, but to what will happen when the final redemption of the Jewish people is at hand. The same is true of the prophecy of Bileam concerning Edom being laid waste (Numbers 24,18). The same applies to the feelings of Moab and Ammon whose lands will be appropriated by Israel in that future. The reason that Ammon is not mentioned separately in the song the Israelites sang after crossing the sea, although it too was the product of Lot's daughter sleeping with him is, that it will share the general fate of the land of the Canaanites which Israel had not captured up to that time. The Torah therefore speaks of the ישבי כנען, people living in Canaan at the time though they might not have a legitimate claim on that land. The reason the Torah uses the past tense is to assure us that this future is as assured as if it had already happened.

אז נבהלו אלופי אדום, “then the chieftains of Edom were frightened.” They thought that they would now be punished for their founder Esau’s wrongful hatred of his twin brother Yaakov. נמוגו כל יושבי כנען, “all the inhabitants of Canaan’s hearts melted away.” They were certain that the time when the Israelites would drive them out of their homes was at hand. They were aware of the prophecy recorded in Exodus 3,8 that the Jewish G-d would descend from heaven in order to redeem His people, and drive out the Canaanites from their land.

Terror and dread fell upon them; by the greatness of Your power they were still as stone — until Your people, Hashem, crossed the Arnon; until this people whom You redeemed crossed the Jordan.

תפל עליהם אימתה THERE SHALL FALL UPON THEM DREAD — upon those of them who are far away (Mekhilta), ופחד AND HORROR — shall fall upon those of them who are near by; and all this really happened just as the matter is stated, (Joshua 2:10) “For we have heard how the Lord dried up [the waters of the Red Sea]” (Mekhilta). עד יעבר ... עד יעבר TILL THY PEOPLE PASS … TILL THE PEOPLE PASS — The repetition must be explained as the Targum takes it (until they pass over the Arnon, until they pass over the Jordan). קנית denotes [THE PEOPLE] WHICH THOU HOLDEST DEAR above all peoples — like an article purchased (קנוי) at a high price and which is therefore held in affection by the man who bought it.

"Terror and dread fall upon them" — this refers back to Edom and Moab, even though Canaan was mentioned just above. It is like "He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud" (Psalm 99:7), as I have explained regarding "and put the blood of war upon the belt of peace" (I Kings 2:5) — which refers to Abner alone — and "he healed Avimelech and his wife and his female servants and they bore children" (Genesis 20:17), which refers back to his wife and female servants. All of this is because of "until Your people cross over, Hashem" — for they passed through these territories before entering the land of Canaan. He says "until they cross over" twice, because they circled Mount Seir for many days. "You acquired" — [the meaning is] that they were slaves to Egypt, and You acquired them to be Your servants.

תפול עליהם אימתה ופחד בגדול זרועך, may it be Your will that fear will overcome them in a manner which will make them flee because they are afraid of Your arm. Moses refers to what the Torah described in 14,25 when the Egyptians announced that they would flee as they realised that G’d was fighting on behalf of Israel. ידמו כאבן עד יעבור עמך הן, may it also be Your will that they will not launch an attack against us until we have crossed the rivers still in front of us, i.e. the Arnon and the Jordan, seeing that the battles are always more difficult at river crossings, and we would need greater miracles in order to become victorious. We might not be deserving of such miracles.

הפול עליהם אימתה ופחד, "Terror and dread will fall upon them, etc." Both this verse and the one following it refer to two separate conquests of the Holy Land, one during the period of Moses/Joshua and the other at the time when the Messiah will arrive. This is the reason the author of the song appears to repeat what he says.

תפול עליהם אימה ופחד, “may fear and terror descend upon them;” this is a prayer by Moses. He prays that they should continue to remain in this state of terror. The root נפל is used here in the same sense as when the Torah described the death of Yishmael in Genesis 25,18 with the words: על פני כל אחיו נפל, “he had fallen in the presence of all his brothers.” [If I understand our author correctly, he interprets Yishmael’s death as not that of a mighty hunter or hero, but as a person who was desperately afraid of death at the time. Ed.] בגדול זרועך, “through the might of Your arm;” this means the same as if the Torah had written: בזרוע גדלך, “with the arm of Your greatness.” We find a similar inverted expression of adjective and noun in Psalms 65,5: קדוש היכלך, which normally would be expressed as היכלך הקדוש, “Your holy Temple.” עד יעבור עם זו קנית, “until this people which You acquired as Your own through having taken them out of bondage from Egypt,” in order to bring them and implant them firmly in the mountain of Your heritage.”

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.

תפול עליהם אימתה ופחד, “fear and trembling gripped hold of them.” According to Ibn Ezra the words תפול עליהם do no refer to the Canaanites, even though they were relatively close to the Israelites, but they refer to the Edomites. Ibn Ezra’s argument is supported from the verse following where the leaders of the Kingdom of Edom are described as confused, frightened. Moses tells us this so that we should know that when the Israelites did not engage in battle with Edom when that kingdom refused the Israelites passage trough its territory, the reason was not that the Israelites were afraid, they knew well that the Edomites’. posture was only for show. The reason the Israelites detoured around the territory of Edom was that G’d had commanded them to. (Numbers Numbers 20,14-21) The Edomites had legitimate reason to fear the Israelites, as their land lay squarely on the route the Israelites now set out to travel.

עד יעבור, the reason this is repeated is because it refers not only to the crossing of the Sea of Reeds but also to the crossing of the Jordan. This could also be considered as the reason for the repetition of the words עד יעבור. בגדול זרועך, as if the Torah had written: בזרוע גדלך, “with the arm of Your Greatness.” We encounter a similar formulation in Psalms 65,5 קדוש היכלך where it means the same as היכל קדשך, “the Sanctuary of Your Holiness.”

You will bring them in and settle them on the mountain of Your inheritance, a place prepared for the dwelling of Your Shechinah, which You prepared, Hashem; the sanctuary, Hashem, which Your hands established.

תבאמו THOU WILL BRING THEM IN — Moses foresaw by prophetic inspiration that he would not enter the Holy Land: on this account it is not stated here, “Thou wilt bring us in” (Mekhilta). מכון לשבתך THE PLACE FOR THY RESIDENCE — the Sanctuary here below will be exactly opposite the Divine Throne above which פעלת THOU HAST MADE (Mekhilta). מקדש ה׳ The accent on it (the word מקדש) is a Zakef Gadol (a disjunctive accent) which serves to separate it from the word expressing the Divine Name (ה׳) which follows it, so that the translation is: “The sanctuary which Thy hands have established, O Lord”. The Temple is an object of affection to God because the Universe was created by one hand — as it is stated, (Isaiah 48:13) “Yea, My hand hath laid the foundation of the earth” — whilst the Temple by two hands, as stated here. And when will it be rebuilt by God, with the two hands? At the time when “the Lord shall reign for ever and ever”: at that future period when all the kingdom will be His (Mekhilta).

"You will bring them and plant them" — a prayer that they may dwell there for a long time and not be exiled, in the manner of "upon the high mountain of Israel will I plant it" (Ezekiel 17:23). "In the mountain" — like "this good mountain and Lebanon" (Deuteronomy 3:25); or this is an allusion to Mount Moriah, which is why it is followed by: "the place, Hashem, that You made Your dwelling." The meaning of "which You have made" is: You have established a sanctuary as a dwelling place for Yourself, for the place mentioned corresponds to the honored place on high — since the places of the earth vary in accordance with the star that stands over them, as those versed in astrology understand. The word 'miqdash' [here vocalized miqqodash] is like 'miqdash' — and similarly 'hishbata mittoharo' (Psalm 89:45), where the dagesh in the tet is supplementary, as the dagesh in the qof of 'miqdash.' Because the qof has a sheva na' the dalet is without dagesh, for it is not found anywhere in Scripture that a dagesh follows a sheva na' except in forms derived from 'shtayim.' I have already discussed its precise grammar. "Your hands established" — is the same as "which You have made," for the meaning is doubled.

תביאמו ותטעמו, in a manner that will ensure that they will never be exiled from there. בהר נחלתך, on the Temple Mount, of which it has been said in Genesis 22,14 בהר ה' יראה, “on the Mountain of the Lord He manifests Himself.” 'מכון לשבתך פעלת ה, similar to what David, quoting G’d, said in Psalms 132,14 פה אשב כי אויתיה, “here I shall dwell for I have yearned for it.” מקדש ה' כוננו ידיך, a veiled reference to the sanctuary which G’d would instruct the Jewish people to build for His Presence in Exodus 25,8-9. [G’d’s stating the sizes, furnishings, and materials this Sanctuary would be made of makes it equivalent to He Himself having constructed it. Ed.] Also David, in Chronicles I 28,19 spoke about his having received the details of the blueprint of the Temple to be built by his son Solomon from G’d, proving that G’d Himself considered this as His permanent residence on earth.

תביאמו ותטעמו, “You will bring it and plant it;” these words belong to the words: עם זו קנית, “You have acquired this nation,” from the previous verse. Another example where words in one verse belong to the previous verse is found in Psalms 5,12: וישמחו כל חוסי בך לעולם ירננו ותסך עלימו; “and let all who take refuge in You rejoice; ever jubilant as You shelter them.” That verse too is actually part of the verse preceding it, contrasting it with it. תביאמו ותטעמו; according to Rashi, the fact that Moses spoke only about G-d doing this, is equivalent to a prophecy that he would not live to see his people entering the land of Israel. Otherwise he would have used the first person plural mode of: ”us.” If you were to argue that this is not news as we could have learned this from Exodus 6,1 where G-d had told Moses what he would experience, i.e. “now you will see what I shall do to Pharaoh, which some commentators interpret as Moses being told that he would not experience what G-d would do for the people when He would defeat the Canaanites. Rashi did not understand that verse in that sense, saying that this was our interpretation, but was not what G-d had meant to convey to Moses. Proof that Moses had not understood himself as being excluded is found in Numbers 10,29, when he says to his fatherinlaw Yitro: נוסעים אנחנו אל המקום אשר אמר ה' אותו אתן לכם, “we are about to journey to the place of which G-d has said: ‘I will give it to you.’” ותטעמו, “You will plant it;” the verb נטע meaning to plant, is always used with a plant that will endure for a long period. [Our author quotes Ezekiel 17,23, as proof although there the verb שתל is used? Ed.] מקדש ה, the name for G-d used in the spelling here is the one with the letters אד.

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).

“A sanctuary, O Lord, which Your hands have established.” Since the Tabernacle was made entirely by God’s command [seemingly] by itself, as in all the work of the Tabernacle it says, And you shall set up the Tabernacle according to its proper manner which you were shown on the mountain therefore it says Your hands have established it. And it uses the term Your hands — implying two — as Rashi explains, that the world was created with one hand while the Temple was created with two hands, etc. And in the first chapter of Ketubot (5), they said, “Greater are the works of the righteous than the works of heaven and earth, for heaven and earth were created with one hand, as it is said Indeed, My hand has founded the earth, and My right hand has spread out the heavens (Isaiah 48:13), while regarding the works of the righteous it is written, A sanctuary, O Lord, which Your hands have established.”The reason for this is that the upper realms, due to their superior nature, were created with the right hand, and the lower realms with the left hand. But the Temple, which is the intermediary that joins the upper and lower realms, was created with both hands, because there is the dwelling place of the Divine Presence with the lower beings, as it is said, And I will dwell among them. And from there was also created man, who is intermediary between the upper and lower realms. This is the concept of the ladder that was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven, with its middle portion aligned with the Temple, for it is the intermediary, as mentioned. And regarding why they called the Temple “the work of the righteous” when the verse says Your hands have established it — meaning God’s hands — this is because both have a share in this building. For the Holy One, blessed be He, showed Moses the form of the entire Tabernacle already built, and as it says, thus he made the Menorah — the Holy One, blessed be He, made it, and likewise all the work of the Tabernacle.

מקדש, the letter ק in this word has a dagesh, whereas the letter ד is “weak,” i.e. without a dagesh. We encounter similar construction in Exodus 2,3 hatzfino, (the letter צ has the dagesh, whereas the letter פ following it does not) as well as in Judges 16,28 משתי עיני מפלשתים, where the letter ש has the dagesh, whereas the letter ת immediately afterwards does not have a dagesh. The reason is that the dagesh in the letter converts the vowel beneath it into an abbreviated sound after which the consonants ב,פ,ד,כ,ג,ת are never in a “strong” mode.

Hashem — His kingdom stands forever and to all eternity.

לעלם ועד The word ועד is an expression denoting ETERNITY — The ו in it is a root-letter, and consequently it is vowelled with a Patach; but in the similar word in (Jeremiah 29:23) “I am He that knoweth and am witness (ועד)”, where the ו is a servile letter (a prefix) it is vowelled with a Kametz.

THE ETERNAL SHALL REIGN FOR EVER AND EVER. Moses is saying that just as He has now shown that He is King and Ruler by having brought deliverance to His servants and destruction upon those that rebel against Him, so may it be His will to do so in all generations forever, that He withdraw not His eyes from the righteous, nor hide them [His eyes] from the wicked ones who inflict evil upon others. There are many verses that are to be interpreted in this way, such as: The Eternal will reign for ever, thy G-d, O Zion, unto all generations. Hallelujah; Blessed be the Name of the Eternal from this time forth and for ever; And the Eternal shall be King over all the earth. Now Onkelos was apprehensive [of translating this verse literally, which is stated in a future tense], since G-d’s sovereignty is [indeed] to all eternity [and no prayer for its continuance is possible]. Therefore he rendered it in the present tense: “The Kingdom of the Eternal endureth for ever and to all eternity,” just as is expressed in the verse, Thy Kingdom is a Kingdom for all ages. But I have not understood Onkelos’ opinion in this matter, for it is written: May the Glory of the Eternal endure for ever; And let the whole earth be filled with His Glory; “Magnified and sanctified shall be [His great Name]”; Yea, let it be established, and let Thy Name be magnified for ever. It is possible that the meaning of these [future tenses] is similar to the secret of the benedictions.

"Hashem will reign" — when the Temple is built in His name, then His kingship will be manifest in the world. "Forever and ever" — this is in the brief form, for the full expression is 'le-'olam va-'ed 'olam.' Do not wonder at the word 'va-'ed' being unattached in construct form, for it is written 'shokhen 'ad ve-qadosh shemo' (Isaiah 57:15). It is a rule of the Holy Language that when a vowel follows the letter after a vav, it is opened [with a patah], as in 'shor va-khasev va-'ez' (Leviticus 7:23) — and on account of this 'va-'ed' is voweled with a patah. Now note that it says 'va-okhal mi-kol' (Genesis 27:33) and at the end of [another] verse: 'ha-nahash hishi'ani va-okhel' (Genesis 3:13) — therefore they said 'le-'olam va-'ed.'

ה' ימלוך לעולם ועד, this too is a prayer by Moses who expresses the hope that G’d, exclusively, will reign forever, and that He will not have to share power with anyone else claiming divine authority on earth.

ה׳ ימלך לעולם ועד, "The Lord will rule for ever and ever." The author implies that the reason he did not speak about the Lord having reigned in the past is because of the challenge to G'd's rule described in verse 19. Inasmuch as G'd has exacted retribution from only one nation which has not recognised His sovereignty in the world it would be inappropriate to extol G'd as having ruled in the past. כי בא סוס פרעה, "For the horses of Pharaoh came, etc." The fact that G'd disposed of the challenge represented by Pharaoh was not yet proof of the impotence of all the powers which compete with G'd on earth and which different nations worship. G'd's true sovereignty will be established only when He deals with all competing deities. Another way of understanding the sequence of the words in these two verses plus the fact that G'd is described as sovereign only in the future is this: "The Lord will rule only in the future because all of Pharaoh's horses and their riders perished as one man. As a result the only ones left to tell about G'd's mighty deeds were the Israelites who were saved in the midst of the sea." Had there been a few Egyptians who had saved themselves and those Egyptians had told the rest of the world of their experiences this would have suitably impressed the world. As it was, only the Israelites who had already recognised G'd's sovereignty were around to tell the tale. This was not enough to convince the pagans.

ה׳ ימלוך לעולם ועדת, ‘the Lord will rule forever;” a prayer, meaning: “may it be Your will that the Lord Who rules over us now will continue to do so forever, and may He continue to do favours for us similar to the ones He just did.” Although at first glance the word: ימלוך may be misunderstood a it is in the future tense, it is used as a present tense. One of many such examples is found in Deuteronomy 32,11: כנשר יעיר קנו ירחף, “as an eagle that stirs up its nest hovering over its young.” The verse continues in the future tense but describes matters that occur all the time. לעולם ועד; this is an abbreviated version of the expression: לעולם ועד עולם, “from one world until the next world.” There is no reason to wonder that the word ועד does not appear in the construct mode, as we find more such examples, such as in Isaiah 57,15: שוכן עד מרום וקדוש שמו, “forever dwells the One Whose name is high and holy;” the meaning of the line is: His name will remain forever exalted and holy.”The author explains that it is a peculiarity of classical Hebrew that the emphasis is placed on the letter following the prefix ו, in other words, on the letter ע in the word ועד. He cites Leviticus 7,23 שור וכשב ועז as an example, as well as Genesis 3,13: הנחש השיאני ואכל, “the serpent seduced me and I ate,” as another example.

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).

(18-19) “The Lord will reign forever and ever. For Pharaoh’s horse came.” The word for [ki] can be explained as “Because”: As Pharaoh was disputing God’s sovereignty and said Who is the Lord? Had the Holy One, blessed be He, not executed judgments against Pharaoh, there would be concern that throughout the generations rebellious children would arise and deny His blessed sovereignty. But now that judgment has been written against Pharaoh, there will no longer be anyone disputing or challenging God’s blessed sovereignty, and the Lord will reign forever and ever, because the entire world will see that Pharaoh’s horse came with his chariots and horsemen into the sea, etc. From then on, fear will come upon their heads about speaking harshly against the Divine.

ה' ימלוך לעולם ועד, “The Lord will rule forever more.” The meaning is that at this time Hashem had demonstrated that He is the true ruler in this universe. He can take care of all those that serve Him, and He can dispose of all those that oppose Him.

ימלוך לעולם ועד. will be king forever.

For the horses of Pharaoh came with his chariots and his horsemen into the sea, and Hashem turned back upon them the waters of the sea; but the children of Israel walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea.

כי בא סוס פרעה means WHEN [THE HORSES] CAME.

FOR THE HORSES OF PHARAOH WENT IN WITH HIS CHARIOTS AND WITH HIS HORSEMEN. Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra said that this verse is also part of the Song, for Moses and the children of Israel were singing and saying: For the horses of Pharaoh went in with his chariots and with his horsemen into the sea, and the Eternal brought back the waters of the sea upon them while the children of Israel were walking on dry land in the midst of the sea, this being a miracle within a miracle. But this verse is not written in the style of the Song, nor is it in the style of prophecies! [Therefore, Ibn Ezra’s interpretation is not correct.] Instead, the verse is to be interpreted [as dating the Song]: Then sang Moses — when the horses of Pharaoh went in. Immediately on that day — not the following day or at some later time — [he sang this Song]. It may be that the sense thereof is as follows: Then Moses sang, when the horses of Pharaoh went into the sea and G-d brought back the waters of the sea upon them while the children of Israel were yet walking on dry land in the midst of it. Thus the verse relates that they said the Song while they were walking in the midst of the sea on dry land. Scripture further tells that it was then that Miriam the prophetess took the timbrel in hand and sang them the first verse of the Song that they, [i.e., the women], should sing after Moses and Israel.

"For the horse of Pharaoh" — in my view, this verse too is part of the song, recalling the miracle within the miracle, as I have explained. The word 'aleihem' refers back to the horse of Pharaoh with his chariots and horsemen — Pharaoh himself being among them, as it is written: "The enemy said" — which refers to Pharaoh — and thereafter "the earth swallowed them." And it is written explicitly: "And He hurled Pharaoh and his army into the Sea of Reeds" (Psalm 136:15).

כי בא סוס פרעה, the opening words of this song,אז ישיר משה had been inspired by the spectacle of Pharaoh with his chariot, his horses and its riders drowning in the sea at the time when the Israelites, by contrast, were taking their time walking through the same sea on dry ground. ביבשה בתוך הים, they began the song of thanksgiving even before all had emerged from the sea to the shore.

כי בא סוס פרעה, “when Pharaoh’s horse entered the sea and G-d brought back the waters of the sea upon them, while the Israelites continued to walk on a completely dry sea bed, Miriam, the prophetess, sister of Aaron, took her drum and began to sing a song of thanksgiving.

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.

כי בא סוס פרעה, “for when Pharaoh’s cavalry came, etc.” Ibn Ezra claims that this verse is still part of Moses’ victory song of praise to the Lord, and that the whole people sang this verse with him also. Nachmanides claims that this is not correct, for it is not styled in the poetic manner the previous verses have been styled, and it does not contain any element of prophesy. He also claims that Moses had composed and sung the Shirah on the same day as the Israelites had emerged from the sea bed, and that he had not waited until the day following. [He seems to imply that according to Ibn Ezra the song was composed on the day after the miracle. Ed.] According to Nachmanides the words:אז ישיר משה לבני ישראל כי בא סוס פרעה וו' need to be understood as one sentence, the poem being inserted between these two halves of one verse. Alternatively, “after Pharaoh and all his army had drowned in the sea while the Israelites were still marching on the bed of the dried out sea, Moses already began this song.” Accordingly, upon hearing this, Miriam immediately took the drum, etc, and continued leading the women in song.

כי בא סוס פרעה, and He tossed them into the sea הלכו בתוך הים ביבשה, after the Israelites had crossed the sea on dry ground.

And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took the timbrel in her hand, and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances.

ותקח מרים הנביאה AND MIRIAM THE PROPHETESS TOOK — But where had she prophesied? When she was THE SISTER OF AARON alone — before Moses was born she said, “My mother will at some time bear a son who will deliver Israel etc.”, as is stated in Treatise Sotah 12b (cf. Megillah 14a). Another explanation of אחות אהרן, the sister of Aaron: because he jeopardised his life for her by entreating on her behalf and so possibly incurring God’s displeasure when she was stricken with leprosy, she is called by his name (Mekhilta; cf. Rashi Genesis 34:25). את התף A TIMBREL — an instrument for a particular kind of music. בתפים ובמחלת WITH TIMBRELS AND WITH DANCES — The righteous women in that generation were confident that God would perform miracles for them and they accordingly had brought timbrels with them from Egypt (Mekhilta).

AND MIRIAM THE PROPHETESS, THE SISTER OF AARON. The correct interpretation appears to me to be that because Moses and Miriam were mentioned in the Song and Aaron was not, Scripture wanted to mention him. It therefore said the sister of Aaron as a mark of honor to him, i.e., that he was her older brother and that his sister the prophetess connected her genealogy to him, since he too was a prophet and a holy man of G-d. It is possible that it is the custom of Scripture to trace the genealogy of a family through the oldest brother. Similarly it is written, And the sons of Caleb the brother of Jerahmeel, because he was the oldest brother, as it is said: The sons also of Hezron… Jerahmeel, and Ram, and Chelubai.

מרים הנביאה, “Miriam the prophetess;” the word “prophetess” is used here to describe Miriam’s extraordinary ability to use words to express her feelings. [According to Rash’bam,] the word is also used as describing someone who preaches to people to behave morally and ethically correctly. Compare when G-d told Moses that his brother Aaron would be נביאך, which can hardly mean: “your prophet,” as Moses outclassed him in that department.

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.

“And Miriam the prophetess took, etc.” Now she became a prophetess, because at this moment the women also merited to see the face of the Divine Presence, to the extent that they all said, “This is my God,” as our Sages of blessed memory said (Mechilta Beshalach, ch. 3), “A maidservant saw at the sea, etc.” Therefore it says, “And all the women went out after her,” because the prophecy began with Miriam and all the women followed in her footsteps at this moment, for they all merited prophecy. And since the Divine Presence only rests through joy, and women experience the pain of childbirth, therefore she took the timbrel in her hand, and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances, so that the holy spirit might rest upon them through joy. And what is written “sister of Aaron.” Because she was equal to him in prophecy but not to Moses, as is implied at the end of the portion of Beha’alotcha in the verse Not so is My servant Moses (Numbers 12:7), for there Aaron and Miriam were equated in prophecy, and so explained Abarbanel. And the term mecholot [dances] is related to the concept of “mechilat avon” [forgiveness of sin], as Rabbeinu Bachya wrote. And perhaps this is what is concluded in the Yalkut on this portion regarding the verse And Moses journeyed, that whoever experiences a miracle and recites a song, it is known that all his sins are forgiven, and from where did he learn to say this if not from the term mecholot that is mentioned in the song of these women. And regarding what is written “and Miriam answered them.” It should have said “to them” [in feminine form], but because at the sea, the women reached the same level as the men in attaining prophecy, therefore it says them [in masculine form], as if speaking to males. And similarly, in the future it is stated A woman will circle around a man (Jeremiah 31:22).

אחות אהרן, “Aaron’s sister.” The reason Miriam is described thus is because both Moses and Miriam had already been mentioned in a “single breath,” as it were in connection with the song, the Torah looked for a way to also have Aaron mentioned in this context. It was a way of giving honour to Aaron, her older brother. After all, Aaron too possessed the rank of being a prophet. It is also possible that it is the norm of Torah verses to relate women to their brothers, as for instance in Genesis 36,22 ואחות לוטן תמנע, “Timna was Lotan’s sister.”

ותקח מרים הנביאה, the author lists a number of verses which appear to commence in the middle and without forming a continuation of what preceded them. Examples given are: Exodus 16,34 commencing with the words כאשר ציוה ה' את משה, “as G’d had commanded Moses.” Another example quoted is Jeremiah 37,16-17. כי בא ירמיהו וגו'. [While these examples make the beginning of verse 19 less unique, they still do not explain the reason for this type of syntax. Ed.] הנביאה, the term נביא or נביאה is accorded to people who either are held in high esteem by their peers for their eloquence or their ability to admonish their peers. אחות אהרן, seeing that he was her older brother the Torah describes her as Aaron’s sister rather than as Moses’ sister. I have explained this in connection with Genesis 28,9 about אחות נביות as well as in connection with אחות לוטן in Genesis 36,22.

And Miriam sang in response to them: Sing praise and give thanks before Hashem, for He is exalted above the proud, and the exaltation is His own — horse and its rider He cast into the sea.

ותען להם מרים AND MIRIAM SANG UNTO THEM — Moses sang the Song to the men — he sang it and they repeated it after him; and Miriam sang the Song to the women and they repeated it after her (Mekhilta).

שירו לה' כי גאה, “raise your voices in song to the Lord, for He has been triumphant;” the women sang the whole of Moses’ song, word by word; seeing that the text had already been recorded, the Torah does not need to repeat all of it and mentions only the beginning.

And Miriam sang to them, Let us give thanks and praise before the Lord, for might and supremacy are His; above the proud He is glorified, and above the lofty He is exalted. When the wicked, Pharoh in his pride followed after the people of the sons of Israel, his horses and his chariots did He cast and drown in the sea of Suph.

And Moses led Israel onward from the Sea of Reeds, and they went out into the wilderness of Chagra, and they traveled three days in the wilderness and found no water.

ויסע משה AND MOSES CAUSED [ISRAEL] TO JOURNEY — He made them journey against their own will, because the Egyptians had adorned their horses with ornaments of gold and silver and with precious stones, and the Israelites were finding these in the sea. Greater, indeed, was the booty they obtained at the Red Sea then the booty they had brought out of Egypt — as it is said (Song 1:11) “Circlets of gold (the booty of the Sea) will we make thee together with the studs of silver” (which we brought forth from Egypt) (Mekhilta). On this account he was compelled to make them journey on against their will.

"And Moses led [Israel]" — in my view, the pillar of cloud that went before them when they left Egypt, and likewise the pillar of fire at night, was there to travel by day and by night (above, 13:21). But after Pharaoh and his army drowned, they had no more fear, and they would not travel at night. You will not find, in the portion Be-Ha'alotekha, that they traveled at night. Moses led them by Hashem's command, and there were only six journeys until Mount Sinai, taking fewer than forty days. The air was pleasant — neither humid nor cold — and one who had no tent could stand in the open air without harm. When they came to the wilderness of Sinai, all of them built booths, for they would stay there until the Tabernacle was made; and it was for this reason that he brought acacia wood from Egypt, as I will explain. And it was in memory of the booths they made there that the Festival of Sukkot was instituted — for Scripture says "for I caused the children of Israel to dwell in booths" (Leviticus 23:43). How could they have dwelled in clouds? Clouds are not like booths. I will explain further why the Festival of Sukkot is in the seventh month. When the Tabernacle was completed, Hashem descended in the pillar of cloud upon it, as it is written: "and fire will be upon it at night" (below, 40:38) — and when the cloud moved, the children of Israel would travel, which is why it is written: "and You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day" (Numbers 14:14). So there were two pillars that alternated above the Tabernacle. And if there is a received tradition that there were seven clouds of glory, we set aside our view and rely upon the tradition. "To the wilderness of Shur" — this is the wilderness of Etham itself; perhaps there were two towns in the wilderness that bore these names, or perhaps the wilderness had two names. The proof is that it says "they traveled three days in the wilderness" — and that is the wilderness of Shur — which is why the letter bet in 'ba-midbar' is voweled with a patah [to indicate specification]. "And they found no water."

ויסע משה את ישראל, Moses made Israel move on, etc. This was the only march which was initiated by Moses. Every subsequent move occurred at G'd's initiative.

שלשת ימים במדבר, “for three days in the desert.” They camped three times, at Eytam, Pihachirot, and Marah.

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).

And Moses caused Israel to journey. Rashi explained that “he caused them to journey” means he made them travel against their will, because they did not want to depart from the spoils of the Sea, and Moses was afraid that too much wealth would lead them to sin. The incident of the Golden Calf proves this, as the abundance of gold that was given to them was the cause of its creation. Therefore, he made them journey against their will. Furthermore, Moses thought that excessive wealth would be a reason for them to be unworthy of receiving the Torah, because Torah and wealth flee from each other and are like rivals to one another, as it is written, It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn Your statutes (Psalms 119:71). Therefore, he made them journey against their will. And they traveled for three days in the wilderness and found no water. This was measure for measure because they engaged with the plunder of the sea more than appropriate, and from then they were unworthy to receive the Torah, which is compared to water. Therefore, they were punished by not finding water. This is the view of our Sages in tractate Bava Kamma (82): “The interpreters of hints said that they went three days in the wilderness without Torah, which is compared to water, etc.” Undoubtedly, they did not intend to say that this lack of water literally meant the Torah, for if so, what would be the purpose of casting wood into the water? Rather, they meant to say that because they were busy with plunder and did not hasten to go to the wilderness, the place of receiving the Torah, they were consequently punished by not finding ordinary water. For the Holy One, blessed be He, had already told them, You shall serve God on this mountain, meaning the receiving of the Torah, but they were engaged in plundering the sea and did not say, “Let us go and run to receive the Torah.” Therefore, they were punished with a lack of water, just as in Rephidim, where because they slackened their hands from the Torah, it also says, And they camped in Rephidim, and there was no water for the people to drink.

ויסע משה, “Moses caused Israel to journey, etc.” Ibn Ezra writes that originally the cloud used to travel in front of the Israelites and the pillar of fire would travel behind them. After the Egyptians had been drowned, and the people no longer were in a state of fear from pursuers, and they no longer traveled at night also, the cloud departed and Moses instructed the people which way to move forward in accordance with directions he received directly from G’d. There were only 6 journeys all the way to Mount Sinai. The climate at that time of year was pleasant in that region, neither too cold nor too dry so that those that did not have tents of their own did not even need tents to sleep in at night. When they came to the region of Mount Sinai they made tents for themselves, as they expected to remain in the same location for a number of nights until the Tabernacle would be ready. [According to the Torah’s report they remained encamped at Mount Sinai for 11 months and 20 days. Ed.] Moses had informed them that they would remain there until the Tabernacle would be built. This was the reason why they had brought the shittim beams with them out of Egypt. In order to provide a visible symbol of these, Moses commanded them to construct the huts on the Sukkot festival, as the Torah says in Leviticus 23,43 כי בסוכות הושבתי את בני ישראל, “For I have house the Israelites in huts, etc.” They certainly could not very well have dwelled in the clouds for all this time. [a reference to the tradition that the Israelites “dwelled” in tents in the desert. Ed.] There is no comparison between “huts” and “clouds.” Once the Tabernacle had been constructed, G’d made a cloud take up position above that Tabernacle. (compare Exodus 40,38 “for the cloud of the Lord would be above the Tabernacle by day, and fire would be on it at night, before the eyes of all of the Children of Israel throughout their journeys.”) Whenever the cloud would move, this was the signal for the Israelites to commence journeying once they had left Mount Sinai, and this is why the Torah describes two pillars traveling with the Israelites, one by day and one by night. These two pillars would alternate with one another by day and by night respectively. If the report is based on historical tradition that these clouds were identical with the ones commonly known as the ענני הכבוד, the clouds proving the Presence of a Divine Presence, שכינה, we will abandon our rational approach to the subject and accept that tradition. Our sages explain the unusual word ויסע as proof that Moses had to make the Israelites travel in the direction of the desert against their will. One reason was that the loot they garnered at the sea was many times more than what they had taken with them from Egypt. Other commentators hold that this was not a criticism of the Israelites, but a compliment to them; they had been so enthralled by the spiritual uplift during their miraculous salvation that it had caused them to exclaim “this is My G’d, let me build Him an appropriate residence,” (15,2) that they could not entertain the thought of leaving a location where they had such a wonderful vision.

ויסע, a causative construction, hiphil. When the Torah writes, as it does most of the time, vayisa, this is in the intransitive active mode, meaning “he journeyed,” instead of “he made (someone) journey,” as is the case here. Similar constructions involving both the kal mode and the hiphil mode of the verse are: vayagesh את פר החטאת, “he presented, brought near, the bull of the sin offering,” (Leviticus 8.14) as distinct from vayigash, “he approached (himself).” Similarly, a construction such as vayipol is in the intransitive active mode, meaning: “he fell, or he prostrated himself deliberately,” whereas the transitive mode of the same word (root) would be “vayapel,” “he threw down.”

וילכו שלשת ימים, “they walked for a period of three days;” when the Israelites had left Egypt they had taken vessels containing drinking water with them. As soon as they ran out of water they raised their voices complaining (verse 24) Instead of displaying a minimum amount of patience, they complained immediately. An alternate interpretation: the expression וילכו שלשת ימים במדבר ולא מצאו מים, is an allegory; the people had been hoping to find Torah=מים=life sustaining water, but were sorely disappointed not to have found it, so they complained. In Isaiah 55,1, Torah has been equated with water. This is the reason why Ezra introduced the custom to read publicly from the Torah every Monday and Thursday, so that the people would not have to go without listening to a Torah reading for three successive days. (Talmud, tractate Baba Kamma, folio 82)

And they came to Marah, and they were unable to drink water from Marah, for it was bitter; therefore its name was called Marah.

ויבאו מרתה AND THEY CAME TO MARAH — The word מרתה is the same as למרה: a ה at the end of a word (as a suffix) replaces a ל at its beginning (as a prefix). The ת takes the place of the ה which is rooted in (an integral part of) the word מרה; when it is joined with another letter, viz., when it is attached to the ה which is added to the word in place of the ל, the ה of the primary form (the ordinary form of the noun from which longer forms are made by the addition of suffixes) is changed into a ת. Thus, also, every ה which is a root-letter (a letter in the primary form of the noun) is changed into a ת when it is joined to another letter. E. g., we have (Isaiah 27:4) “Fury (חמה) is not in Me”, but (Esther 1:12) “And his fury (חמתו) burned within him”; you see that the ה of the ground-form is changed into a ת because it is to be joined to the ו which has been added. Similar are: (Leviticus 25:44) “Manservant and handmaid (אמה)”, but (Genesis 30:3) “Behold, my handmaid (אמתי) Bilhah”; (Genesis 2:7) “a creature of life (חיה)”, but (Job 33:20) “His life (חיתו) maketh him to abhor bread”; (Judges 4:5) “Between Ramah (רמה) [and Beth-el]”, but (I Samuel 7:17) “And his return was to Ramah (הרמתה)” the latter example being exactly parallel to that in this verse (מרתה - מרה).

"And they came to Marah" — and it is written "they set out from the Sea of Reeds" (Numbers 33:11), corresponding to "Moses led Israel away from the Sea of Reeds, and they went out into the wilderness of Etham for three days, and they camped at Marah" (ibid. 33:8). "Therefore he called its name" — the subject of 'he called' is like "she who bore her to Levi" (Numbers 26:59) [i.e., used impersonally or indefinitely].

ויבאו מרתה, They arrived at Marah, etc. Why is this place sometimes referred to as Marah and other times as Maratah? Apparently the original name of the oasis was Maratah and the spring it contained did not have a separate name. The Torah added: "they could not drink the waters of Marah," meaning that the spring itself was now named Marah because its waters were bitter. The name Marah therefore also became the name of the oasis after the Israelites had camped there and G'd had shown Moses how to make the waters of that spring palatable. The words כי מרים הם were an allusion to an experience the Israelites were going to have.

And they came to Marah, etc. God arranged for them the matter of the bitter waters [Marah] to test them again whether they would be worthy of receiving the Torah. For our Sages already disagreed (Mekhilta Beshalach, Chapter 1) regarding what is stated And the Lord showed him a tree — some say it was an olive tree, some say it was a willow, and some say it was an oleander. Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai said it was something from the Torah that He showed him, as it is stated She is a tree of life (Proverbs 3:18). The explanation of this matter is that the Torah is initially bitter and is called “tushiyah” because it weakens [mateshet] a person’s strength. Our Sages said, “Why is the Torah compared to an olive? Just as the olive is initially bitter but eventually sweet, so too are the words of Torah.” The commandments are also not given for pleasure, as it is written, And tell the children of Israel — words as hard as sinews. For the illnesses of the soul are like the illnesses of the body: just as most bodily illnesses are typically healed by taking bitter herbs, and if the patient doesn’t trust the doctor, he will refuse to take them, similarly with the illnesses of the soul — they were sick because of the bad beliefs they acquired in Egypt. The Holy One, blessed be He, wanted to heal them through receiving the Torah, which is compared to an olive since its beginning is bitter like an olive. There was concern that perhaps Israel would wonder in their hearts, saying, “How can something bitter be healed with something bitter?” Therefore, God brought them to a test and arranged before them the matter of the bitter waters that were sweetened by something bitter. Through this, God tested them — if they would believe that Moses did this thing through divine power, then they would also believe that through the Torah, the bitterness of the soul would be sweetened. And if they would say that he did this thing through some kind of incantation, they would not be worthy of receiving the Torah. Therefore it says, And the Lord guided him [va-yorehu] [to] a tree — it should have said “va-yar’ehu” [and He showed him], but va-yorehu means that He taught him the way of Torah, as it is written And he taught me [va-yoreni] and said to me, “Let your heart hold fast to my words; keep my commandments and live” (Proverbs 4:4). And He commanded him to take a tree to be an example and parable for the Torah, which is called “the tree of life.” And according to the opinion that it was an olive tree, it fits well as a parable for the words of Torah that are initially bitter, like this olive that is initially bitter but eventually sweet. Regarding this it says, There He made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there He tested them — and this test was to see if they would be worthy of receiving the Torah. And when Israel believed, that Moses performed all that great deed through divine power, therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, gave them some commandments: Sabbath, red heifer, civil laws, and honoring father and mother. These commandments have a relationship with this deed, because through believing in this miracle, they would also believe in the creation of the world which the Sabbath testifies to. For this miracle is close to creating something from nothing, as the sweetening of the waters came about from nothing, because the tree that was cast there was also bitter. Therefore, the waters were only sweetened by the word of God. And honoring father and mother has a similarity to the Sabbath, as it is not without reason that these two commandments are juxtaposed in both the first and last Tablets, and in Parashat Kedoshim (19:3): Every man shall fear his mother and his father, and you shall keep My Sabbaths. And what seems most reasonable to me to say about this is that it comes to teach that there are three partners in the creation of a person: the Holy One, blessed be He, his father, and his mother. Therefore, He commanded to honor all three together, because honoring the Sabbath is honoring the Holy One, blessed be He. Since the Sabbath is evidence of the creation of the world, it also follows that we know and acknowledge that the Holy One, blessed be He, is the third partner who breathes the soul of life into a person. For according to those who believe that the world is eternal [rather than created], the Holy One, blessed be He, has no part in the formation of man. And this is the secret of the additional soul that Sabbath observers have on the Sabbath day. Evidence for this is that both [honoring parents and Sabbath] were commanded at Marah, as it says in the second version of the Commandments regarding Sabbath and honoring father and mother: as the Lord your God commanded you. And our Sages said (Sanhedrin 56b): as He commanded you [means] at Marah. And those who interpret textual hints said that the final letters of these four words equal the numerical value of “Marah,” because that is where they were commanded about them. And the [red] heifer and the civil laws are hinted at in the phrase statute and ordinance, meaning the statute of the [red] heifer and the ordinances and civil laws. A hint to this is [the phrase] And these are the ordinances that whose final letters [spell] “Marah.” And [regarding] the heifer without blemish [mum], it hints to take the letter ‘Mem’ from the word “parah” [heifer], and then [the numerical equivalent of the word] “marah” [bitter] remains. And do not be surprised that “mum” [blemish] is written with a Vav, because similar to this, Rabbi Jacob Ba’al HaTurim wrote in Parashat Vayishlach (32:15): two hundred female goats, etc. — the final letters of all of them [spell] “Mem,” because he sent him animals with blemishes that were not fit for sacrifice. And the reason for this commandment, is that by seeing that a bitter thing is healed by another bitter thing like it, they will not question this commandment, which is that the [red] heifer defiles the pure and purifies the impure. And so explained the Rivah. And the reason for this commandment now is that through the belief in creation [of the world, it becomes clear that] there is judgment above [even] if there is no judgment below, as explained above in the portion of Genesis regarding what Rabbi Isaac said: The Torah did not need to begin with In the beginning etc., but rather so that the nations of the world should not say “You are robbers.” And there it is explained that this depends on this, see there.

And the people murmured against Moses, saying: What shall we drink?

וילנו AND THEY MURMURED — This is a Niphal form, and similarly the Targum is a Niphal form: ואתרעמו (the Ithpael form in Aramaic corresponds to the Hebrew Niphal). And such is the way in which the expression denoting murmuring (from root לון) is employed: to refer back the matter (the action of murmuring) to the person (the subject of the verb); thus one says מתלונן and מתרועם and one does not say לונן and רועם. So, too, the Frenchman says “decomplaisant se” in old French, where it turns back the matter (the action) to himself (the subject) by saying, “se”, English himself.

"And they murmured" [va-yillonu] — from the nif'al conjugation, like 've-yikonu' (Proverbs 16:3), from 'nakhonu' (Proverbs 19:29), belonging to the doubled-letter verbs or the hollow-root verbs. Had it been from a verb with nun as a radical, it would have followed the pattern of 'va-yiggashu.'

וילונו העם על משה, The people murmured against Moses, etc. The Torah criticises the manner in which the people provoked a quarrel. The Torah does not deny the validity of a people asking for drinkable water, i.e. the question: "what are we to drink?" They should have asked for their needs in an appropriate manner.

And he prayed before Hashem, and Hashem showed him a piece of wood, and he cast it into the water, and the water became sweet. There He established for them a statute and an ordinance, and there He tested them.

שם שם לו HERE HE MADE FOR THEM [A STATUTE AND AN ORDINANCE) — At Marah He gave them a few sections of the Torah in order that they might engage in the study thereof; viz., the sections containing the command regarding the sabbath, the red heifer and the administration of justice (Mekhilta; Sanhedrin 56b). ושם נסהו AND THERE HE TRIED THEM (lit., He tried him) — “him” (singular) means the people; and He saw their stubbornness: that they did not consult with Moses in a respectful fashion: “Entreat mercy for us that we may have water to drink” — but that they murmured.

THERE HE MADE FOR THEM A STATUTE AND AN ORDINANCE, AND THERE HE TRIED THEM. “At Marah He gave them some of the sections of the Torah so that they might engage in the study thereof, [such as]: the Sabbath, the Red Heifer, and the laws of justice. And there He tried them, that is, the people.” Thus the language of Rashi, and it is the opinion of our Rabbis. But I wonder! Why does Scripture not explain these statutes and ordinances here, saying, “And the Eternal spoke to Moses: ‘Command the children of Israel,’” as it says in the chapters mentioned above, Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel? Indeed, it does so with regard to all commandments given in the Tent of Meeting, on the plains of Moab, and the Passover in the wilderness! Now Rashi’s expression, “He gave them… sections of the Torah so that they might engage in the study thereof,” indicates that Moses did inform them of these statutes and that he taught these statutes to them, [saying], “In the future, the Holy One, blessed be He, will command you so,” in the same way as Abraham our father learned the Torah. The purpose of it was to make them familiar with the commandments and to know if they would accept them with joyfulness and with gladness of heart. This was “the trial” of which Scripture says, and there He tried them, and he [Moses] informed them that G-d would further command them the precepts of the Torah. This is the intent of the verse, “If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Eternal thy G-d… and wilt give ear to His commandments, which He will command you [in the future].”In line with the plain meaning of Scripture, when the Israelites began coming into the great and dreadful wilderness… thirsty ground where there was no water, Moses established customs for them concerning how to regulate their lives and affairs until they come to a land inhabited. A custom is called chok, this being associated with the expressions: Feed me with ‘chuki’ (my customary) bread; ‘chukoth’ (the customary ways or laws) of heaven and earth. Custom is also called mishpat (judgment or ordinance) because it is something measured out accurately. A similar usage [of the word mishpat] is found in these verses: So did David, and so hath been ‘mishpato’ (his manner) all the while; After the former ‘mishpat’ (manner) when thou wast his butler; And the palace shall be inhabited upon ‘mishpato’ i.e., upon its ascertained dimension. It may mean that Moses instructed them in the ways of the wilderness, namely to be ready to suffer hunger and thirst and to pray to G-d, and not to murmur. He taught them ordinances whereby they should live, to love one another, to follow the counsel of the elders, to be discreet in their tents with respect to women and children, to deal in a peaceful manner with the strangers that come into the camp to sell them various objects. He also imparted moral instructions, i.e., that they should not become like bands of marauders who do all abominable things and have no se...

"And he cried out" — this tree, we do not know what it was; it was simply a miracle. Were the waters standing still, we might have said it was by way of a natural remedy — but the correct view is what the Sages said. "There He set for him" — Hashem set for Israel. "A statute and an ordinance" — to discipline them and teach them. "And there He tested him" — in the manner of "for Hashem your God is testing you, to know whether you love" (Deuteronomy 13:4), and likewise "and He afflicted you and caused you to hunger" (Deuteronomy 8:3), "and in order to test you, to do you good in your latter end" (ibid. 8:16) — to benefit those who endured without murmuring against Moses.

ושם נסהו, to find out if they would be willing to accept statutes (laws not given to our intelligence to understand,) as well as social legislation and they would not ignore it when they were not in a state of crisis as now when they needed water through a miracle.

ויורהו ה׳ עץ וישלך אל המים, “the Lord taught him about a certain kind of wood, and he tossed it into the water;” although G-d had other means of making the water sweet, without using that kind of wood, G-d wanted to teach Moses some common chemistry, i.e. how to use natural products to sweeten something that only needs sweetening in order to make it drinkable or edible. שם שם לו חק ומשפט, “there He made for them a statute and an ordinance; according to Rashi, one of them was the law of the red heifer, although in practice it could not be practiced until the second year of their wanderings. [There is no earlier source for Rashi’s saying that this law was revealed at Marah. Ed.]

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!”

ויורהו ה' עץ, “Hashem showed him a tree.” Nachmanides writes: seeing that I do not know of a single instance in which the root להורות means something other than “to teach, to instruct,” (as in Proverbs 4,4 and all other examples) I believe that according to the plain meaning of the text the tree the Torah speaks about here would convert bracken water into sweet water upon contact. This was a beneficial property of that kind of wood, a phenomenon found in nature. G’d taught Moses some lesson in botany. According to our sages we are dealing with a miracle, in fact a miracle within a miracle, as the instrument used to perform it was naturally bitter instead of sweet. G’d either told Moses where to find this marvelous tree, or He invented it for the purpose of the miracle. שם שם לו חוק ומשפט ושם נסהו, “there He established a decree and ordinance for His people, and there He subjected it to a test of faith.” According to Rashi [based on the Talmud Sanhedrin 56. Ed.] the Jewish people were given a partial list of the laws pertaining to the observance of the Sabbath, the commandment to honour father and mother, purification rites by means of the red heifer, and a number of laws governing inter-personal relations. Nachmanides wonders why the Torah would not have spelled out some specifics, introducing them by the time honoured introduction: “G’d said to Moses, ‘say to the Children of Israel, etc.?’” According to the wording in Rashi it appears that Moses taught the people laws that would later on be revealed to them as part of the Torah, and he did it in a manner similar to Avraham, who is reputed to have known all the laws of the Torah. What he did when he taught his converts was to teach them what he knew to be the wishes of G’d in his respect. Neither Avraham nor Moses had at that time been authorized to reveal these laws as already being operative, and in the case of Moses, having done so would have robbed the revelation at Mount Sinai of part of its momentum. The reason why the Torah adds that this was in the nature of a test of their faith, was that G’d/Moses tested the reaction of the people to such laws, and if they welcomed them with joy. According to the plain meaning of the text, upon entering the desert, Moses asked himself by which rules he should lead the Israelites pending their arrival in the promised land, at which time the entire Torah would become applicable. Rules of behaviour are generally known as חק, statute. One example of the use of that word in this context is found in Proverbs 30,8 הטריפני לחם חוקי, “feed me with the bread allotted to me.” משפט, on the other hand, is the term used to describe generally acceptable conduct, as in Samuel I Alternatively, the meaning of the expression ושם נסהו, refers to the all the tribulations which wandering in the desert involved, especially to test if the people were willing to put up with the discomforts and deprivations without complaining. In this context the word משפט would mean that the people would understand and willingly submit to the need to love their neighbours, honour the aged, be modest and undemanding in their general behaviour, and be welcoming to people who came to the camp to offer their wares to the Israelites. ושם נסהו, the Torah recorded that G’d deliberately led the people into regions which lacked basic survival needs, and when He brought them to a place that had water, the water turned out to be unfit to drink. All this is part of “being tested.” Moses referred to this at the end of forty years, when he said: ויענך וירעיבך, “He subjected you to oppressive conditions and He starved you.” (Deut. 8,3) G’d did so in order that the people should better appreciate how He responded to their complaints, and provided constant comforts for them.

ויורהו, a word meaning “He instructed, taught,” similar to Deuteronomy 33,10 יורו משפטיך ליעקב, “they (the Levites) will teach Your laws to Yaakov.” שם שם לו חק ומשפט, there, at Marah, as a result of the complaints and the resolution of the crisis, G’d taught the people that it would pay them to accept G’d’s laws, as failure to do so might result in G’d withdrawing His vital support from them. They were to learn that G’d was not only willing but also able to provide all of their needs. This is why the experience is referred to as a נסיון, a trial. G’d Himself spelled out the lesson after having supplied them with water, “to see if they would listen to His instructions and carry out His ordinances.” (verse 26) He added the assurance that if the people would take the lesson to heart, כל המחלה אשר שמתי במצרים, all the diseases which He had brought upon Egypt, commencing with turning the source of life, the waters of the Nile, into blood, G’d would not afflict the Israelites with. We know from Exodus 23,25 that blessing one’s food and water is equivalent to keeping away disease from people. וברך את לחמך ואת מימיך והסירותי מחלה מקרבך.

חק ומשפט, “a law which is a social law,” i.e. the commandment to honor one’s parents.

And He said: If you will truly hearken to the Word of Hashem your God, and do what is right before Him, and give ear to His commandments and observe all His statutes — all the diseases that I brought upon Egypt I will not bring upon you, for I, Hashem, am your Healer.

אם שמע תשמע IF THOU WILL DILIGENTLY HEARKEN — this implies acceptance — that they should take upon themselves the duty of performing God’s commands. תעשה AND IF THOU WILT DO — this implies the performance of the commands. והאזנת means THOU WILT INCLINE THE EAR to be punctilious in the practice of the details. כל חקיו ALL HIS STATUTES — Matters which are only the decrees of the King (decrees of God imposed by Him, as King, upon us, His subjects) and which appear to have no reason, and at which the evil inclination cavils saying, “What sense is there in prohibiting these? Why should they be prohibited?” — For instance: the prohibition of wearing a mixture of wool and linen, and of eating swine’s flesh, and the law regarding the red heifer, and similar matters (cf. Yoma 67b). לא אשים עליך I WILL NOT PLACE ON THEE — and if I do place them on thee because thou refusest to hearken to My voice, it will be as though they had not been placed on thee, for if thou repentest of thy disobedience I will remove them immediately, כי אני ה׳ רפאך BECAUSE I AM THE LORD THAT HEALETH THEE. This is its Midrashic explanation (Mekhilta). But according to its literal sense the meaning is: For I am the Lord who healeth thee and teacheth thee the Law and Commandments in order that thou mayst be saved from them (these diseases) — like a physician who says to a man: Do not eat this thing lest it will bring you into danger from this disease. So, too, it states, (Proverbs 3:8) “It (obedience to God) will be wholesome to thy body” (implying that disease will not fall upon thee) (Mekhilta).

IF ‘SHAMO’A TISHMA’ TO THE VOICE OF THE ETERNAL THY G-D. Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra explained that “[shamo’a tishma here] means ‘to understand’ the purport of that which He has commanded you to do. And thou wilt do that which is right in His eyes — this implies the positive commandments — and wilt give ear to His commandments — this implies the negative commandments.” [Thus the language of Ibn Ezra.] And in the Mechilta, the Rabbis have said: “And thou wilt do that which is right in His eyes, this means in business dealings. This teaches us that if a person is honest in his business dealings, and the spirit of his fellow creatures finds pleasure in him, it is accounted to him as though he had fulfilled the entire Torah.” I will further explain this when I come to the verse ‘And thou shalt do that which is upright and good,’ if the good G-d will show me goodness. I WILL PUT NONE OF THE DISEASES UPON THEE, WHICH I HAVE PUT UPON THE EGYPTIANS; FOR I AM THE ETERNAL THAT HEALETH THEE. Rashi wrote: “I will put none of the diseases upon thee, and if I do place them [because you will not hearken to My voice], they will be as though they had not been placed, for I am the Eternal that healeth thee. This is the homiletic exposition. But according to the plain meaning of Scripture, the verse is to be understood in the sense of a person who says, ‘I am the physician who warns you not to eat certain things which might bring a man back to his state of disease.’” Thus far the language of Rashi. But according to the plain meaning of Scripture, rophecha is not an adjective, [or more precisely, a noun-adjective, as Rashi would have it, meaning “Thy physician Who teaches thee how disease should not befall thee.” Instead, the meaning of the verse is “that I am the One Who heals thee.”] Besides, it is not customary that a master should assure his servants that “if you will do all my will and desire, I will not slay you with sore diseases.” None of the Divine assurances of the Torah are expressed in that way! Rather, the verse here constitutes an admonition by which He warned them not to be among those that rebel against Him as the Egyptians had been. By hearkening to His voice, they will be saved from all sickness, since that sickness deservedly comes upon all those who rebel against His will, even as it befell the Egyptians when they did not hearken to Him. This is similar to that which He said that He will put upon thee all the diseases of Egypt which thou wast in dread of, and they shall cleave unto thee. And He further said, For I am the Eternal that healeth thee. This constitutes a promise “that I will remove from you sickness that comes in the natural course of events, even as I healed the waters [at Marah].”Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra commented that this sign, [i.e., making the bitter waters sweet], which was the first one done for them in the wilderness, was in contrast to the first plague that came upon the Egyptians. The waters of the [Nile] river were sweet and H...

"And He said: if you will diligently hearken" — I have already noted that every instance of 'listening' followed by a lamed or a bet does not mean hearing the words but rather grasping the reason behind what is stated. This 'listening' means understanding what one is commanded to do. "And do what is right in His eyes" — these are the positive commandments. "And give ear to His commandments" — the negative commandments, to reflect on what they are. "And keep all His statutes" — not to transgress them, as in "you shall not walk in the statutes of the nation" (Leviticus 20:23) — for Hashem's statutes mean not acting as they act. "The disease" — you should remember that with your own eyes you saw the disease and the plagues and the afflictions that I placed upon Egypt because they rebelled against Me; if you heed My statutes, you will be spared them, for I will not do to you what I did to them. Moreover, "I, Hashem, am your healer" — of every disease I decreed to be upon the earth, you have no need of a doctor, just as I healed the bitter waters which no doctor has the power to heal. The matter of Marah is the inverse of the first plague: there the sweet waters became undrinkable, and here the bitter waters returned to being sweet. Hashem did the thing and reversed it: heed this and be on guard not to rebel against Him, and love Him, for He will do good to you.

אם שמוע תשמע לקול ה' אלוקיך, to accept the statutes which would follow as a way of life, not merely as emergency regulation in the desert, and if from now on they would הישר בעיניו תעשה והאזנת למצותיו, וגו, carefully observe G’d’s commandments endeavouring to live according to their understanding of what is pleasing to Him, then they would be permanently spared any of the afflictions that G’d had brought upon the Egyptians. The implication was that betraying G’d’s trust would have painful consequences. The entire experience is a reminder of the manner in which the Rabbis relate to a potential convert to Judaism. One does not present Judaism in rosy attractive colours so as to encourage him to convert, but on the contrary, one apprises him first and foremost of the עול המצות, “the yoke of the commandments,” telling him of all the things he would have to forego by joining the Jewish people, i.e. the Jewish religion. Moreover, one advises him that whereas up until now he was able to eat certain foods, such as chelev, not only would he no longer be able to eat these foods, but violation of the commandment would carry the penalty of karet, loss of entitlement to his afterlife, etc. Only after he has duly absorbed this information does one proceed with teaching him the intricacies of Judaism. What happened at Marah was preparatory to accepting Judaism at Mount Sinai. If the people had not gone through this process it is doubtful that they would have said נעשה ונשמע, “we will do, now let us learn G’d’s Torah,” when the time came for this a few weeks later. כי אני ה' רופאך, the point of all this is that once you have accepted the statutes and then fail to honour your commitment you will be subject to punishment by G’d. These punishments will be in the nature of being self-inflicted as all of G’d’s commandments are designed to make your life on earth and beyond a healthy life. Failure to honour your commitment will expose you to all the negative influences which abound on earth. I have shown you that I can cure harmful waters, waters which humans cannot drink. This is only a sample of what My commandments and observing them can do for you. We, today, do not know what kind of wood or tree G’d told Moses to throw into these waters. The Torah deliberately did not reveal this information. Even if all the trees in the world would be the kind that G’d told Moses to throw into the water, and even if we would throw all this wood into only a minute quantity of water the result would be nil. On the other hand, if, by the grace of G’d, one throws even a minute quantity of such wood into even an entire ocean, the waters of the ocean would suddenly become drinking water. [my addition. Ed.] Leviticus 20,26 states clearly that G’d separates the Jewish people from the surrounding nations. Failure to honour commitments results in “disease,” i.e. the defilement of one’s soul. As a result, such a person deserves his punishment.

אם שמוע תשמעו לקול ה׳ אלוקיך, "if you will carefully listen to the voice of the Lord your G'd, etc." This means that if the Israelites would hearken to the statutes and social legislation Moses introduced in the name of G'd immediately after this experience and they would observe them, they would also merit to listen to His other commandments and hear these commandments directly from G'd's mouth. [the reference is to the impending revelation at Mount Sinai. Ed.] In Deut. 4,33 Moses reminded the Israelites of their experience when he asked rhetorically: "Has any nation ever heard the sound of G'd's voice out of the fire and remained alive as you have done?" According to Sanhedrin 56 G'd gave the Israelites some of the Sabbath legislation as well as the laws of דינים, jurisprudence, while they were at Marah. The words שם ניסהו, "there He tested them," must be understood as a trial preceding the revelation at Mount Sinai. If the Israelites would prove receptive to the laws revealed at Marah there was reason to believe they would accept the entire Torah at Sinai when the time came. Actually, the Torah alludes to four distinct commandments here, ללמוד וללמד, לשמור ולעשות, to study the law, to teach it, to observe the prohibitions, and to carry out the aspects demanding action. The words: אם שמוע תשמע allude to the duty to study these laws. The repetition implies the demand that one should commit what one has learned to memory. It also suggests that one should grow fond of studying G'd's laws. One should not feel one has already done enough studying. The words: והישר בעיניו תעשה, "you will do what is right in His eyes," refer to the teaching of G'd's laws for free, similar to what we have been told in Nedarim 37 that just as Moses did not charge us for teaching the Torah, so we should not charge others for teaching them the Torah. The word ישר refers to G'd who in His goodness gave the Torah to His creatures expecting His creatures in turn to hand it on for free. The words: והאזנת למצותיו, imply carrying out positive commandments, whereas the words: ושמרת כל חוקיו imply not violating negative commandments. אשר שמתי במצרים, "which I put upon the Egyptians, etc." The reason G'd mentioned that He had brought diseases upon the Egyptians, something we are all aware of, is to prevent us from making an error. If G'd had not referred to the past we could have thought that He only promised not to inflict these diseases upon us, whereas if we contracted them without His active intervention we would not be protected against them. G'd reminds us that just as He made sure we were not infected by the diseases with which He struck the Egyptians so we would remain totally immune to any of the germs which caused these diseases in the Egyptians. כי אני ה׳ רפאך, "For I the Lord am your Healer." The Torah here refers to diseases which are not due to Divine intervention such as the common cold contracted due to one's carelessness, etc. (compare Ketuvot 30). G'd undertak...

ויאמר, “he said;” the subject is Moses. 'אם שמוע תשמע וגו, “if you will surely listen etc.;” Moses quotes what G-d had said to him to tell the people. 'כל המחלה אשר שמתי במצרים וגו, “every disease with which I have afflicted the Egyptians in Egypt, etc.” לקול ה' אלוקיך, the letter ל in the word לקול, has a “crown”. [something exceptional for that letter. Ed] לא אשים עליך, “I will not afflict you with.” G-d implied that the reason He would not do so is that He would otherwise have to trouble Himself to cure the Israelites from these diseases. כי אני ה' רופאיך, “for I, the Lord, am your physician.” I would have to act as your physician after you had decided to listen to My voice, having been afflicted with such diseases as I struck the Egyptians with. [If understand our author correctly, he means that these diseases would not be considered as “natural,” as the Israelites had learned while in Egypt that they were means of G-d punishing people as opposed to diseases that had not been inflicted upon the Egyptians. Ed.] G-d hints that no physician but He could have turned water into blood and reversed the process.

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.

And He said, “If you will diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord, etc. all the diseases, etc.” Just as your eyes see that I have the power to heal a bitter thing with another bitter thing of the same kind, from now on accept upon yourself to listen to the voice of the Lord and to do what is right in His eyes. And even though the Torah and commandments initially appear difficult and bitter, nevertheless, their end is sweet, for they are healing to the bone and a remedy for your body, and they save you from all the diseases which I put upon Egypt — both physical illnesses and spiritual illnesses related to their stiff-neckedness. And if you do not sense the power of the Torah to be a remedy for you in this way, behold, I am the Lord, your healer, and only the physician alone needs to know the healing properties of the remedies, but the patient does not need to know this — he only needs to have faith in the trustworthy physician. Another explanation: He said, “Why do I warn you not to come to a state of illness? Because I am the Lord your healer, and it is the way of every physician to warn those he loves to guard their souls from things that cause illnesses, so that they will not need to engage afterward in their healing. Similarly, I teach you what is beneficial — things that preserve health so that you will not come to a state of illness — because I am the Lord your healer, guiding you in the way you should go.

ויאמר אם שמוע תשמע, “He said: ‘if you will surely listen, etc.” According to Ibn Ezra this formulation means: “if you will endeavour to understand the rationale underlying the legislation, etc.” והישר בעיניו תעשה, “and you will do what is right in His eyes, etc.” A reference to the positive commandments. והאזנת למצוויו, “and you will give ear to His commandments;” a reference to the negative command-ments. In the Mechilta the words והישר בעיניו תעשה, are understood as a reference to “your business ethics,” the reason being that anyone who practices fair business ethics will be beloved both by his peers as well as by his G’d. He is perceived as having observed the entire Torah. כי אני ה' רופאך, “for I the Lord, am your healer.” According to Rashi the previous lines can be summed up as if a person would introduce himself to his patient as a doctor, and would tell him that as long as he would obey his warnings not to eat certain foods, etc., he would not need to be concerned about contracting certain illnesses. Nachmanides disagrees, saying that this is not the straightforward meaning of these verses at all. The reason why he disagrees is that it is not the nature of a master to assure his servants that if they perform their duties he would not strike them with a fatal disease. There cannot be found a single parallel in the entire Torah which substantiates that this is the type of assurance G’d hands out to His subjects. What our verse does portray is the assurance that if the Jewish people, as opposed to the Egyptians, will hearken to the instructions of G’d, they will not be struck down as had the Egyptians who had maintained a consistently rebellious posture against G’d. G’d confirms this with the words: “for I am the Lord your healer,” making the point that all the diseases which struck the Egyptians were not due to the caprice of natural forces, but to the active intervention of G’d against people who refused to obey His instructions. G’d goes beyond this, promising that in response to the people’s obedience He would even heal those afflictions which would be the result of the caprice of natural forces in the universe. Ibn Ezra writes that the first miracle confirming what G’d had just said was the changing of bitter water to drinkable sweet water, which was the exact reversal of the first of the ten plagues that had changed life-sustaining drinking water to blood. It is G’d’s ability to be effective both by doing one thing and by doing its opposite, which makes Him so unique. This is why you are well advised to always be in awe of Him, not rebel against Him so that He will not quarrel with you. Moreover, you have every reason to love Him, for He will prove benevolent to you, just as He did when He cured the bitter waters.

(1) ANY OF THE DISEASES THAT I BROUGHT UPON THE EGYPTIANS. That I turned their waters into blood (Ps. 105:29), and they did not have water to drink. (2) I WILL NOT BRING UPON YOU, FOR I THE LORD AM YOUR HEALER. In that I have "healed" the waters, as this expression is written with respect to Elisha, who "healed" the water. (II Kings 2:21) (3) ANY OF THE DISEASES. It refers to [those of] water, as it is written (Ex. 23:25), "He will bless your bread and your water. And I will remove sickness from your midst."

כי אני, ה' רופאך, “for I, the Lord, am your physician.” The Torah here speaks of preventive medicine. It tells us that G–d, i.e. His Torah, teaches us how to forestall sickness. Physicians are in the habit of telling their patients what to eat and what not to eat so that that they will not become victims of certain common diseases. This is why the verse commences with the warning to pay heed to what your Physician tells you before you become a victim to these diseases. We are to consider the performance of the Torah’s commandments as preventive medicine. Our author also quotes Isaiah 17,11 as support for his interpretation. The prophet wrote: נד קציר ביום נחלה וכאב אנוש, “on the day that you plant you see it grow.” He also quotes proverbs 4,22, where the author concludes his advice in verse 20 by stating: ולכל בשרו מרפא, “and healing for all his flesh.” (Attributed to Rabbi Joseph Kara). The words: כל המחלה in our verse above is interpreted as having the same meaning as the same word in Samuel II 12,2: ולרש אין כל, “and the poor man does not have anything,” and as in Psalms 78,38: ולא יעיר כל חמתו, “and He did not give full vent to His fury,” i.e. “any of the different kinds of disease I will not inflict upon you.”

And they came to Elim, and there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees there, and they encamped there by the water.

שתים עשרה עינת מים TWELVE SPRINGS OF WATER — A number corresponding to the twelve tribes of Israel were ready for them (Mekhilta). ושבעים תמרים AND SEVENTY PALM-TREES — corresponding to the seventy elders (Mekhilta).

AND THERE WERE TWELVE SPRINGS OF WATER, AND THREE SCORE AND TEN PALM TREES. It is not such a significant matter that seventy palm trees are found in a certain place. In the lowlands, a thousand and more palm trees can be found in one location, and springs of abundant water are springing forth in valleys and hills, and Scripture does not mention them at all! [Why then are these springs and palm trees singled out here?]Now Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra explained that Scripture narrates that they came to a good place which was unlike Marah. In Elim, there were many springs, and the waters were sweet and good, since palm trees cannot thrive in soil where the waters are bitter. It is for this reason that Scripture says here and they encamped there, because on account of it, they stayed there for more days than in the other places they passed through. In the section of Eileh Mas’ei, however, Scripture does not relate anything about Marah, and yet it states, And they journeyed from Marah, and came unto Elim; and in Elim were twelve springs of water, and three score and ten palm trees, and they encamped there, and a description of a place at such length is not found there about any of the places they traversed!Now Rashi wrote: “Twelve springs of water, a number corresponding to the twelve tribes of Israel, were ready for them. And seventy palm trees — these corresponded to the seventy elders.” But I do not know the nature of this preparation, i.e., whether it was done for them by a miracle just for that time. I have however, seen here in the Mechilta: “Rabbi Eleazar of Modaim said: ‘On the very day that the Holy One, blessed be He, created His world, He created twelve springs corresponding to the twelve tribes of Israel, and seventy palm trees corresponding to the seventy elders.’” Scripture thus tells that each tribe encamped beside his spring and the elders sat in their shade praising G-d for them, because He had prepared for them [such a restful place] in a land of drought. Our Rabbis have yet another explanation in the Midrash of Rabbi Nechunya ben Hakanah on this verse, which is wonderful in our eyes.

"And they came" — the Gaon [Saadia] said there were seventy varieties of date palms, and others added [one] for each tribe, and still others said one for each person. But there is no need for such things, for the twelve springs and the seventy palm trees were not created now on account of Israel, and furthermore this was not the season of ripening dates. In my view, Israel did not stay at Marah more than a single day, but lingered at Elim for about twenty days — which is why Scripture says "and they camped there by the waters." This is why the very next verse says: "for on the fifteenth day of the second month they set out from Elim" — so in fifteen days they camped at four places: the wilderness of Sinai, Dofkah, Alush, and Rephidim, for at the beginning of the third month they came to the wilderness of Sinai. He mentions the date palms to indicate that the waters were sweet — the opposite of the waters of Marah — for date palms do not thrive in land whose waters are bitter.

שתים עשרה עינות מים, in spite of this, the people moved on from there.

ויחנו שם, “they encamped there.” The reason why they did so was to devote time to study the laws G-d had taught them, as we read about in verse 25.

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.

ושם שתים עשרה עינות מים ושבעים תמרים, “and there were 12 wells of water there as well as 70 date palms.” Nachmanides holds that this was not something so special, as there are may oases in the desert where sweet water wells are found, wells that are surrounded by fruit-bearing palm trees. Rashi writes that the number 12 is allegorically significant, as it represents a separate well of water for each of the 12 tribes. The number 70, i.e. seventy palm trees, is a hint at the 70 elders. I do not know whether Rashi meant to imply that the wells, their number, and the palm trees, as well as their number were phenomena that came into being miraculously for that occasion. There is even a commentary on our verse in the Mechilta that both phenomena had been created during the six days of creation and that they had awaited being able to serve a useful purpose until that time. Ibn Ezra is of the opinion that our verse simply tells us that after having encountered an oasis that had first been disappointing, the waters having been bracken, now they found an oasis that offered all the advantages commonly associated with such places in the midst of a desert. When they saw the date palms they knew immediately that the wells provided drinking water, as otherwise the date palms could not have grown there successfully.