In Parasha Beshalach, the Torah tells us that when the Israelites finally reached the Red Sea, they realized that Pharaoh and his army were pursuing them. They were trapped between Pharaoh’s army and the sea. But God told Moses to raise his staff above the water, and then the sea parted to let the children of Israel pass and then closed over the Egyptians, drowning them. As soon as the Israelites crossed the sea, they quickly forgot their good fortune and began to complain about the lack of water and food. They said that slavery in Egypt was preferable to their new situation. God, through Moses, brought water from a rock and made manna fall from the sky.

The Midrash Shmot Rabbah questions the children of Israel’s claims and asks: Have you forgotten all the miracles God performed for you? Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson tells us: “Clearly, it seems that miracles were not an effective way to instill an awareness of God. In fact, the entire Bible can be read as a book that narrates how difficult it was to teach man proper behavior.” Consider this, Rabbi Artson tells us: “First, God addressed the problem with a garden of paradise. Adam and Eve disobeyed Him anyway. Then He sent the flood. This also failed. The people continued to act violently. Then God enslaved the Hebrews, sent them a liberator, and redeemed them from Egypt. Even so, after the ten plagues and the parting of the sea, the Hebrews remained a stubborn people. At Sinai, He gave them instructions on how to behave according to the commandments of the Torah, and the Israelites ignored them. God sent prophets with their vision, and the Jews rebelled against them. It seems that miracles don’t work. Initially, people marvel at them and then forget them.”

Rabbi Bradley continues: “Reforming human character requires much more than “special effects,” like in the movies, even if they are miracles of divine origin. Transforming human behavior requires constant and gradual education, with reinforcement, discipline, and a community.” Change is achieved with small actions. It’s not external miracles that make the change. If that were the case, with a word from God, people would change. God doesn’t seek to perform great miracles for the sake of performing them; what He wants is for people to change for themselves.

Ahad Ha-am explains it differently: “In this hour of happiness, Moses’ heart overflows with emotion and pours out into a song. He doesn’t know that he is still at the beginning of his journey; he doesn’t know that the true task, the most difficult task, has yet to begin. Pharaoh is gone, but his work remains; the master is no longer the master, but the slaves have not ceased to be slaves. A people formed for generations in the house of slavery cannot in an instant cast off the effects of that formation and become truly free, even when the chains have been torn away.” The important thing was not the miracle of the parting of the sea, but rather the initiation of the inner change within each person who left Egypt.

By Marcos Gojman.

Bibliography: “The Bedside Torah” by Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson and other sources.