This week is known as Shabbat Shirah, for the great song of the Israelites after they cross the sea. The portion can be split into two parts. The first 58 (of a total of 116 - exactly half!) are concerned with the exodus from Egypt — this focuses upon a world of miracles, God visible and active inthe natural world. The second half is a story which begins with “And Moses led Israel from the Sea of Reeds” which begins three days after the miracle and the Song at Sea. This world is quite different — instead of joy and exultataion at the miracles performed, there is just endless complaining — no water, the water’s too bitter, there’s no bread… and the people even ask, “Is God among us or not?”
The commentator Dr. Yeshayahu Leibowitz notes, “From Beshallach we learn something very great, and that is that miracle and revelation, and even the exaltation of man to sing as a result of the miracle, all of these are but transitory episodes which have no inlfuence on what occurs later. What endures is not the exaltation of life, but rather the prose of life. [...] And it is in this prose that the Torah was given to Israel, ‘There he made for them a statute and an ordinance’ and there Shabbat was ordained, this being the central institution of Jewish existence.”
These days in the fads of “spirituality,” in which Madonna wears a red string and drinks Kabbalah water, we would do welll to remember this. Spirituality doens’t come from miracles, nor from any epiphany experiences. It comes from keeping Shabbat, from refraining from work, from spending the week preparing for Shabbat, so that we have a 25 hour day in which we do not write, build, erase, destroy, handle money or travel. In short, we do the work so that we can hand over our existence to God for a short period each week, to trust and hope that we will be renewed through God, as an outcome of our efforts the other six days.
The reading for the haftarah for Shabbat Shirah reflects the Song at Sea from our Torah reading. In the haftarah we read the story of Deborah, a prophet and a judge. She sends the general Barak to war against Sisera, and together they conquer his army. Sisera is ultimately killed by the woman Yael. After the death of Sisera, Devorah the prophet sings praise to God.
Beshallach tells the story of Israel’s flight from Egypt with Pharaoh hot on their heels. We know how that part of the story ends, of course. Our portion is called after it: With the Israelites singing with joy at God’s salvation from the pursuing Egyptians and causing them to drown in the sea while Israel looks on from the far dry shore.
But within the larger story is a smaller drama, one which almost disappears in our story. As Israel leaves Egypt the Torah tells us: “And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him; for he [Joseph] had solemnly sworn the people of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you; and you shall carry up my bones from here with you.”
The Torah quotes almost exactly the language that appears in Genesis 50:25. Joseph had insisted that his bones be returned with the people back to the land of Israel. Moses, the people Israel already on the move, makes sure that this promise is fulfilled. This must have been a major undertaking: All of Israel are fleeing Egypt, Moses is their leader, and he, according to the midrash, seeks out the ancient daughter of Asher, Serach, who came down to Egypt with Jacob’s family and who is never recorded as dying, and she takes him to find the hidden bones of the patriarch.
The rabbis emphasize what an amazing thing this is that Moses has done. It states in Midrash Rabbah 20:19:
“And Moses took the bones of Joseph.” Concerning him does it say: The wise in heart will take good deeds, for at the time when the whole of Israel were busily occupied in collecting gold and silver, Moses was occupied with collecting the bones of Joseph, as it says: “And Moses took the bones of Joseph.” The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses: “In you is fulfilled the verse: ‘The wise in heart will receive commandments.’ Joseph was in duty bound to bury his father, being a son; but you, though neither his son nor his grandson, have occupied yourself with his burial. So will I too occupy Myself with your burial, though I am not obliged to do so for anyone.” Hence does it say: And he buried him in the valley.
The rabbis inform us that Moses receives a great reward for having taken his time to find the bones of Joseph to take them out of Egypt: That because of this, God’s own self will bury Moses.
This is a reflection of the rabbinic view that God and humans are entwined in a mirroring relationship. God’s rewards parallel our actions, and we in turn, are supposed to learn from God’s example.
Every morning, we read in the blessings of the morning, Birkat Hashachar, a series of actions for which we praise God, but the rabbis expect a lot more from us than that. We read these blessings every day not simply because we’re happy that God does these things, but because we too are obligated to do them. It is written in Sotah 14a:
Said Rabbi Hama, son of Rabbi Hanina, “What is the meaning [of the verse]: ‘You shall walk behind Adonai your God?’ Could this verse mean that a person may actually walk behind the Divine Presence? [Surely not! For] is it not also stated, ‘For Adonai your God is a devouring fire?’ Rather, the first verse from Deuteronomy must mean that a person should imitate the righteous ways of the Holy One, the Blessed.“Just as Adonai clothed the naked — as it is stated, ‘And Adonai God made for Adam and for his wife coats of skin, and clothed them’ — so, too, you must supply clothes for the poor.
“Just as the Holy One, the Blessed, visited the sick — as it is stated, ‘And Adonai appeared to Abraham who was recuperating by the oaks of Mamre.’ — so, too, you should visit the sick.
“Just as the Holy One, the Blessed buried the dead — as it is stated, ‘And Adonai buried Moses in the valley.’ — so, too, you must bury the dead.”
We like to think of this in terms of social action. We give money to the victims of hurricanes, and we feed the hungry at N Street village, and we walk for Anne Frank House: All good things that we surely should be doing. But the rabbis are not expecting us to imitate God merely in the obvious ways. Of course we are supposed to do justly, and love mercy. Of course we are to treat every human in the image of God — but there’s nothing especially Jewish about this. All major religions say similar things. They all believe in helping the oppressed and feeding the hungry. But Judaism requires more of us: Judaism’s focus on ritual obligation is the heart of this lesson.
Why bring Joseph’s bones to Israel? I mean, really, who cares whether your bones are buried here or there? But we do care, and we care because we learn from ritual. We don’t always know what we’re learning, but we can learn without knowing what we’re learning. God knows, and that’s enough. Obligation to God is the heart of true social tranformation. It’s fine for us to have feelings about how society ought to be, but we’re influenced by the societies in which we live. The Israelites couldn’t imagine life outside of Egypt. They had to be hauled, kicking and screaming through the desert to Israel, complaining every step of the way. Our imaginations are not limitless, but God’s is.
The goal of getting to true freedom cannot happen without being guided by Torah, without being taught about obligation to God and community. We have to learn about how to live from our tradition which opens up our minds to the possibilities of true counterculture, possibilities that don’t live within the boundaries of the society that teaches us what the world ought to look like.
Obligation to God is the heart of social transformation. Synagogues, and churches and mosques too, of course, are great at tackling social justice projects. What we’re not so great at is changing society. Of course we need to feed those who are hungry now, but that’s not enough. It doens’t hurt anyone’s interests to feed the hungry. But it often does to vote for a living wage, or support the unions when it’s your company that will have to pay more money to the workers. How many synagogues insist that all subcontractors of the shul should allow their employees to unionize?
God’s imagination is bigger than ours. God hears not only the need of the well-off to feel that we’re doing the right thing, but also the cries of those who have needs that aren’t being met. And God requires our participation.