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Armed with Hope

Armed with Hope

Last updated on: February 3, 2025 at 1:38 pm by Hebrew College

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Armed with Hope 2025-02-03T13:38:23-04:00 Hebrew College

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By Rabbi Max Edwards

Parashat Beshalach (Exodus 13:17-17:16)

Every year as we sit around the seder table during Passover, we retell our collective story of liberation from Egypt. But the Haggadah is exactly that: a retelling. The Haggadah prioritizes the experience of being redeemed by God. Think of the song Dayenu: God did all of these things for us and any one of them would have been enough!

In reading Parashat Beshalach this year, the biblical story of leaving Egypt — the story our Haggadot are retelling — I was struck in particular by one line which is causing me to completely rethink the Israelite experience of the Exodus.

וַיַּסֵּ֨ב אֱלֹהִ֧ים ׀ אֶת־הָעָ֛ם דֶּ֥רֶךְ הַמִּדְבָּ֖ר יַם־ס֑וּף וַחֲמֻשִׁ֛ים עָל֥וּ בְנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל מֵאֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרָֽיִם׃

So God led the people round about, by way of the wilderness at the Sea of Reeds. Now the Israelites went up armed out of the land of Egypt. (Exodus 13:18).

The image here is not of a beleaguered people waiting on a miracle from God; it is of warriors, a people ready to fight for their own freedom and liberation. Rabbeinu Bahya, a 13th century commentator, asks a question which naturally flows from this verse: Why would the Israelites need to take up arms if God ultimately fights for them? He answers through a proof text from Proverbs:

The Torah wants us to do whatever is possible in a natural way, and anything beyond that we have to leave to heavenly forces. King Solomon said as much in Proverbs 21:31: “The horse is readied for the day of battle; but victory comes from the Lord.” In other words, humans are obligated to look out for themselves, to ready their horses and prepare their weapons. Subsequently, God will deliver them, for deliverance is God’s alone.

This text from Rabbeinu Bahya sounds a lot like the midrash of Nachshon ben Amminadav, who took the first steps into the Sea of Reeds before God caused it to split. What is it about the Exodus that necessitates such a later interpretive focus on human action?

Following our verse at hand, the Israelites are fearful, hesitant, and suspect of leaving Egypt (Ex. 14:10-12). The biblical narrative probes the mind of a community that has been enslaved for hundreds of years. Even witnessing the Ten Plagues and the parting of the Sea of Reeds may not have been enough to pull oneself toward hope.

In comes Rabbeinu Bahya, surfacing a hidden layer of the text. Our ancestors were not simply dragged out of Egypt, nor were they wholly apprehensive. They were resilient, instrumental in their own salvation, partners with their Creator.

We have recently experienced — and will continue to experience — large-scale, global changes to our leadership, climate, and economy. God knows it’s tempting to look around and wonder what impact we as single individuals may have on our world. In the words of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, God needs us to bring about the reality that God desires. In his book Abraham Joshua Heschel: The Call of Transcendence, Rabbi Shai Held glosses Heschel’s innovative theology: “God will not redeem the world alone, but instead waits for human beings to participate in that work.”

May we find strength in those around us, spiritually armed with justice and love. As Rabbeinu Bahya teaches through the language of Proverbs:

“The horse is readied for the day of battle; but victory comes from the Lord.”

Rabbi Max Edwards was ordained at the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College in 2021, where he also received an MJED. He is the Associate Rabbi at Temple B’nai Abraham in Livingston, NJ.

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