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 By Rabbi Arthur O. Waskow
The Torah calls the Sea of Transformation Yam Suf, “the Sea of Reeds.” Or maybe the Torah had in mind Yam Sof, “the Sea of End.” The end of one world, the beginning of another.
But for a couple of thousand years, and not just in English, where the shift from “reed” to “red” is obvious, many have called it “the Red Sea.” Perhaps the image that flooded everybody’s brain was Pharaoh’s army, drowned. A sea of blood. Or—“My water has broken!” the birthing mother says. The end of one world, the beginning of another.
There are two tiny tales the ancient Rabbis read in the “white fire” between the letters of the Yam Suf story.
Their reading of the white fire of the Breaking of the Sea crystallized one of the great shifts from biblical to Rabbinic Judaism. The Torah says that at the edge of the Sea, with Pharaoh’s chariots thundering behind and the waters of the Sea thundering before, Moses raised his staff and prayed. Then, says the Torah, God said to Moses, “Tell My people to move forward.”
But the Rabbis heard a story in the silence: “Moses,” said God, “there are times to pray at length, and there are times to pray briefly. My people are hemmed in, and you stand there piling prayer on prayer? Tell My people to move forward!”
The Rabbis were teaching that prayer should not substitute for action. And then they took one more step: The black fire of Torah says that the people “went into the Sea on the dry land” (Exod. 14:22), and then God split the waters. When the Rabbis read this line with deep attention, they thought it was peculiar. If it was sea, then it was not dry land; if dry land, it wasn’t sea. What was it, then?
So they read another story in the white fire: As the people approached, the Sea flowed on, unmoving. The Pharaoh’s army, all in chariots, their trumpets braying triumph, approached; the Sea flowed on, unmoving. The people stood there—unmoving, frozen.
Even after Moses told the people to “move forward,” they were unwilling. The newly trapped Israelites began to wail. Still nothing happened.
Then one man, moved by faith or fear, cowardice or courage, stumbled his way into the water. Up to his knees: he staggered from one rock to another. Up to his waist: he pushed himself against the waves. Up to his nose: he began to cough and choke.
And then the waters parted. Not till then.
Let’s not forget his name. According to the Rabbis’ midrash, it was Nachshon ben Amminadav. Not a great national hero before that moment; just a local leader of the tribe of Levi. A community organizer.
By seeing these stories hidden in the fire of the spaces, the Rabbis crossed their own Yam Sof, Sea of Transformation, an End and a Beginning. The God of miracle and magic gave way, at least a little, to the human pioneer. These stories meant that freedom lay in human hands and legs.
The above excerpt “The Sea of Ending and Beginning” by Rabbi Arthur O. Waskow and Rabbi Phyllis O. Berman is from Freedom Journeys: The Tale of Exodus and Wilderness across Millennia. © 2011 by Arthur O. Waskow and Phyllis O. Berman. Permission granted by Jewish Lights Publishing, P.O. Box 237, Woodstock, VT 05091; www.jewishlights.com.
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Rabbi Arthur O. Waskow is author of Godwrestling; Godwrestling—Round 2: Ancient Wisdom, Future Paths (Jewish Lights), which was named “Best Religion Book of the Year”; The Freedom Seder; Seasons of Our Joy; Freedom Journeys: The Tale of Exodus and Wilderness across Millennia (Jewish Lights); Torah of the Earth: Exploring 4,000 Years of Ecology in Jewish Thought, Vol. 1: Biblical Israel and Rabbinic Judaism (Jewish Lights); and Down-to-Earth Judaism. He is the co-editor of Trees, Earth, Torah: A Tu B’Shvat Anthology.
He and his wife, Phyllis Berman, who is also a leader of Jewish renewal, often join to speak, teach new forms of prayer and lead retreats and workshops in many Jewish and interreligious settings. Together they wrote Tales of Tikkun: New Jewish Stories to Heal the Wounded World.
Waskow is recognized as one of the leading thinkers of the Jewish renewal movement. He has been at the forefront of creating Jewish renewal theory, practice and institutions. He founded and directs The Shalom Center, and is a Pathfinder of ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal, an international network. He is founder and editor of the journal New Menorah, and helped found the Fabrangen Cheder and the National Havurah Committee.
Waskow lives in the Philadelphia area. He has two grown children of his own, is “associate parent” for two others and has one son-in-law and one daughter-in-law.
Rabbi Arthur O. Waskow is available to speak on the following topics:
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Freedom Journeys across Millennia
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Jewish Wisdom on the Earth and Human Earthlings
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Praying with Our Legs: Social Action Rooted in Spiritual Commitment
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Transformative Judaism
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The Flow of Jewish Time
Click here to contact the author.
Rabbi Phyllis O. Berman is co-author, with Rabbi Waskow, of A Time for Every Purpose Under Heaven: The Jewish Life-Spiral as a Spiritual Path.
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