In this week’s
parasha the word “yad,” Hebrew for “hand,” “arm,” or “power,” is a key term. In
chapter 14 alone, the word appears at seven times, and it occurs frequently in
other sections of the parasha as well.
Moses stretches his arm (yad) with the staff in it out over the sea, and
God causes the wind to blow and split the water so that the Israelites may
cross over on dry land. God’s power (yad)is seen by the Israelites as it is
wielded against the Egyptians. The Song of the Sea concludes with a vision of God’s
hands (yadecha – “Your hands,”) building the Temple on the mountain in the Land
of Canaan. And as the Israelites complain for lack of food and water, they
express the wish that they could have died at the hand (yad) of God back in
Egypt rather than starve to death in the wilderness.
In this
climactic parasha of our people’s liberation from slavery and the miraculous
crossing of the sea, we are invited to notice the hand of God in our story. God
reaches in to split the sea, to defeat the Egyptians, and to shower down manna.
The parasha even ends with a war with Amalek in which Moses must raise his arms
(yadav, “his arms,”) in order for the Israelites to prevail.
We might conclude
from this ever-present “hand” of God, that God is with the people in a new and
more immediate way than before. In contrast to the 400 years of distance and darkness and slavery, we now have
God in our midst, further embodied by the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar
of fire by night. Yet, even though this hand is reaching in to our story, the
Israelites are still unsure. Yes, they celebrate on the other shore of the Sea.
But the crossing is bookended by complaints and fear - Where is the water and the food going to come
from? The Egyptians are pursuing us – did you bring us to the desert to die?
Can we
identify with this experience? Is the Divine presence in our lives? Can we detect that “yad”? And even
when we do for a moment, is our awareness dominated by worry, fear, a sense of
distance? What do we need to do in order to see that hand – that pillar? And
how do we keep it in our consciousness, even when we are hungry?
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