We are at a critical moment in our Torah. God decides his people will\nnot go the short way to the Promised Land. The Israelites, former slaves, a\nfrightened people running from their slaveowners, will turn back if they are\nforced to face the Philistines who block the short passage, God says. They are\nnot prepared for war (Exod. 13:17).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Commentators offer other reasons for God\u2019s decision. Ibn Ezra argued that it was important that the newly freed people understand, first, the challenges of freedom. Maimonides agreed, suggesting that hardships endured in the wilderness would function as training for the task ahead: to conquer and settle the land of Canaan God had promised them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Certainly, hardship was coming. It was before them and behind them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
They stood at Yam Suf, the Sea of Reeds. What must it be so stand at\nthe shore of a sea of water, to look over one\u2019s shoulder and to see the dust\nstorm of six hundred chariots manned by officers and soldiers of the greatest\nand most powerful empire coming in pursuit? The Israelites stood at the edge of\ndeath \u2013death rushing toward them, death in the sea behind them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
God says to Moses: \u201cTell the Israelites to go forward\u201d (Exod 14:16). Moses\nis to lift up his staff and hold it over the sea to split it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A famous midrash tells us that the sea refuses to split unless the\nIsraelites demonstrate their faith and march into the waters. The Israelites,\nwe are told, wanted the miracle to happen before they could believe in the\nmiracle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Finally, so that midrash goes, Nachshon of the tribe of Judah does exactly\nthat, stepping into the water with nothing but courage to steady his feet. Some\nstories claim that the water reached his nose before it finally parted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
David Ebenbach writes: \u201cMiracles only happen when we are willing to go\nforward into what scares us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Walls of water stand between us and what we long for. There is so much\nto be afraid of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We are afraid we will not be understood by someone we love. We are\nafraid of being hurt by someone we love. We are afraid we will fail at some\nimportant task we have set for ourselves. We are afraid we will not fill\nexpectations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We see our own leaders violating oaths, caring about nothing but their\nhold on power \u2013 even if that means putting children in a cage. We are afraid\nfor our democracy and the values so many once believed were permanent fixtures\nof American life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We look at the climate crisis unfolding in the world and we are afraid\nwe cannot stop the tsunami that is coming, a tsunami which will melt icecaps,\nswallow islands, peninsulas, and cities, change seasons and, we can be sure, inflict\nwidespread suffering. We are afraid that we are helpless. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is, indeed, so much to fear and so many reasons to feel helpless\nand afraid. Miracles only happen when we are willing to go forward into what\nscares us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The reconciliation and understanding we seek cannot be found in fear.\nWe must take chances, step into the water, hope for an opening, a way forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The values we hold dear can only be embedded if we live them in every\naspect of our own lives, if we reject bullying and aggression at each and every\nturn. We must take every opportunity over the next nine months to begin to do\njust that. We must try to birth a different America than the one we live in, one\nthat embodies justice and generosity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What must we live for? The possibility of miracles. They will not\nhappen without us. Let us all step into the sea, frightened though we are. Let\nus part the water, walk forward together, and create the miracle of our freedom\nand our hope.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
“Miracles only happen when we are willing to go forward into what scares us.”
\nWalls of water stand between us and what we long for. There is much to be afraid of.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1961,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[536],"class_list":["post-1960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-nachshon"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/adrenalinedrash.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Lake-Michigan-Waves.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adrenalinedrash.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adrenalinedrash.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adrenalinedrash.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adrenalinedrash.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adrenalinedrash.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1960"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/adrenalinedrash.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1960\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1967,"href":"https:\/\/adrenalinedrash.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1960\/revisions\/1967"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adrenalinedrash.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adrenalinedrash.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adrenalinedrash.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adrenalinedrash.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}