Yom Shvi'i Shel Pesach - Special Reading for Shabbat in Passover - Exodus 14:30-15:21 - 4/18/25

We have a special Torah portion this week, as it is the Shabbat in Passover. We read Exodus 14:30 – 15:21, which encompasses the Song at the Sea – the song that Moses sings at the Sea of Reeds when the Israelites escape from Pharoah’s pursuing army.

The midrash tells us that the angels rejoice at the defeat of the army and rescue of the Israelites:

“The angels wanted to sing their songs, but the Holy One said, the work of my hands, the Egyptians, are drowning at sea and you wish to sing? Therefore, we conclude that God does not rejoice over the death of the wicked” (BT M’gillah 10b).

At our Passover seders, we were instructed to pour out ten drops of wine to lessen our cups of joy, in remembrance of the deaths of the Egyptians, both at the Sea and in the last plague. From this we learn that, no matter our own pain and grief, and no matter how justified our acts to protect ourselves, still we must have empathy even for our enemies.

Rabbi Hara Person, Chief Executive of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, wrote of this important lesson:

“To be human, created in God's image, is to struggle, against all evidence to the contrary, to recognize the humanity of all God's creatures. If God can see the humanity in all people, how can we not also aspire to do so? If God is pained at the deaths of all God’s children, we too must push ourselves to feel the pain of others, some of whom are our enemies, but some of whom are innocents: children, women, the elderly.”

It is human to feel anger, to seek revenge, when we and loved ones are grievously harmed. To feel compassion and empathy for the suffering of our enemies does not come easily or naturally. But if it were easy or natural, we wouldn’t need to be taught the lesson. But as human beings made in the image of God, this is the challenge we must face. As it says in the Holiness Code (Leviticus 19) – “Be holy, as I Adonai your God am Holy”.

-Rabbi Bonnie Margulis