Divrei Rav Josh- Parshat Beshallah: Jumping into the Sea of Knowledge

In her study of classroom relationships between teachers and students, Miriam Raider-Roth writes in her book Trusting What You Know that students can stop trusting their own knowledge when they feel that their teacher is sending signals that the student is weak or beyond fixing.   In one account, Raider-Roth share the story of Maya, who speaks about how, in spite of the fact that she knew she was good at math, the signals send by her teachers caused her to doubt her own abilities.  Regarding Maya, Raider-Roth writes:

“...Maya recognizes that when teachers doubt her capacities and impose their perspectives on her, she too begins to doubt her own abilities.  She astutely reads her teachers’ cues, and even though her fifth-grade teacher did not say that she was a poor math student, she could “sense” his thoughts through his actions, like placing her in a lower math group.   Yet at the same time that Maya doubts her abilities, she believes that she knows the math and asserts that the teacher placed her in a lower group “even though I know it perfectly well.”  I am sensing that while Maya’s teachers’ perceptions of her can undermine her trust in herself, they do not undermine what she actually knows” (Miriam Raider-Roth, Trusting What You Know, page 67).

What I loved about this passage was the way in which Raider-Roth captures the delicate balance between a student’s ability to trust their knowledge and, by extension, take risks in the classroom, and a teacher’s role in helping that student build a foundation of trust in their own knowledge and in the teacher.   This balance is reflected in the central event of Parshat Beshallah, where our rabbis’ understanding of how and why the Israelites went into the sea shows the benefits of what happens when someone trusts what they know, and trusts that their is someone supporting them along the way.

In spite of the numerous miracles that the Israelites witnessed in Egypt, when standing at the foot of the sea, the Israelites quickly came to doubt whether or not God’s providence would help them as the Egyptian troops were quickly approaching in the distance.  The Torah states:

“Terribly frightened, the children of Israel cried to the Lord.  They said to Moses, ‘Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us to die in the wilderness?  What have you done to us to bring us out of Egypt?’” (Shemot 14:10-11).

Noticing the Israelites’ hesitancy when standing at the foot of the sea, our rabbinic commentators attempt to analyze why the Israelites felt the way that they did, who stepped forward and why, and what each of these things can tell us about the relationship between God and the Jewish people.

In a famous text from the Talmud, the rabbis imagined a scenario while the Israelites rebelled at the sea, Moses became preoccupied in prayer to God, and it was only the bravery of Nahshon ben Aminadab that ultimately resulted in the parting of the sea.   The text states the following:

“Rabbi Yehudah said to Rabbi Meir: When standing at the Sea of Reeds…each of the tribes of Israel were too frightened to enter the sea.  With the waters raging, Nahshon son of Aminadav went forward and jumped into the raging waters of the sea…When he jumped in the sea, Moses was preoccupied by trying to prayer to God.  So the Holy One, blessed be God, said to Moses, “My children are drowning in the sea while you are praying!”  Moses, said, “Lord of the Universe, what is there in my power to do?”  God replied to Moses, “Speak to the children of Israel and raise your staff to make yourself God.”  [Then Moses lifted up his staff and the sea split]” (Babylonian Talmud, Sotah 37a).

The first time I read this text, I was struck by what the rabbis I wanted to teach us by stating that it was not Moses, but Nahshon, a fairly ordinary Israelite, who was the one who had the courage to jump into the sea when the Israelites would not.   We could imagine a scenario where a story was told that Moses jumped into the sea first in order to teach about how we can learn about faith and leadership from our greatest prophet.  However, in choosing Nahshon as the figure who jumped into the sea, I would argue that the rabbis are trying to remind us that any Jewish person is capable to taking the kind of bold action necessary to lead others.   One need not be Moses in order to be a leader; one only needs to be a Nahshon.

In a later commentary on the legend of Nahshon, the Meshekh Hokhmah, the Torah commentary of Rabbi Meir Simhah Ha-Kohen of Dvinsk, argues that it was the willingness to the jump into the sea that led God to part the sea, as the Israelites were rewarded for their willingness to take a risk.  The commentary states:

“The Mekhiltah comments (on Shemot 14:14-15): “Rabbi Joshua said: God said to Moses: ‘Moses!  The Israelites have only to march forward.’”  We must understand this to mean that the Israelites usually followed Moses as sheep do the shepherd.  But at the sea God told Moses to follow the people relying on their faith in him to walk straight into the seat.  In virtue of their act of walking straight into the water the sea would divide for them.  The sea did indeed divide in virtue of their plunging straight into the sea with Moses behind them.  The Mekhiltah accordingly comments: ‘while they were debating, Nahshon plunged into the sea...’  This is the context of the order: ‘Tell the children of Israel to march forward’- they will march forward with you behind them and in reward for this the sea will divide” (Meshekh Hokhmah).  

In this commentary, the Israelites needed to rely on faith alone for the sea to part, for God would not bring a miracle unless he knew the Israelites were ready to act on their own.   As a result, the Meshekh Hokhmah’s commentary sets up a unique partnership between God and the Jewish people, where the Jewish people must take risks in order to grow, while God is the guide on the side who will pull them and aide them in the people’s process of coming to live a life of Torah.

One of the things that Dr. Ari Yares, our Upper School Principal, likes to say is that education is about taking risks, a sentiment with which I wholeheartedly agree.   What we can learn from Parshat Beshallah, and from Maya in Miriam Raider-Roth’s study, is that the trust in your own ability and knowledge alongside a ‘higher authority’ (divine or human) that looks after you is a recipe for helping someone to take the risks necessary to achieving maximal growth.  May each of us merit to build an educational community of passionate risk-takers, and caring educational guides, willing to jump into the sea knowledge, and embrace the new and unknown.   

Shabbat Shalom!