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D'var: Parashat Beshalach 5784 Commentary by Michael Goldstein Friday, January 26, 2024 |
| Exodus 13:17–17:16 |
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This week’s Torah portion is named Beshalach which means "when he let go."
(The word "he" means "Pharaoh.")
In Beshalach, God tells Moses to set up camp at the Sea of Reeds. When Pharaoh and his army chase them, God splits the sea and Moses leads the Israelites to the other side.Then, when the Egyptians follow, God lets the waters return, drowning them.Moses leads the Israelites in song.Then Miriam leads the women in song and dance.When the Israelites complain about not having food or drink, God provides water, quail, and manna (which is probably bread).Amalek attacks them, but they defeat the Amalekites. Interestingly enough, the Shabbat when Beshalach is read, is referred to as the Sabbath of Song, presumably referring to the songs sung by Moses, Miriam, and perhaps even "The Song of Deborah" in this week’s Haftorah, Judges 4:4–5:31. The terrible reality of the Israeli-Hamas war’s continuing consequences leads me to look at how the Israelites’ need for food in Beshalach relates to our present-day world, especially to the extent to which the foreign aid programs of many nations, including our own, try to satisfy the needs of the impoverished populations in our world.It is, I believe, one of the messages we find in the portion. Shortly after crossing the Red Sea, the Israelites feel what today we call "food insecurity."Here’s the verse (Exodus 16:3)
The children of Israel said to them, If only we had died by the
hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by pots of meat,
when we ate bread to our fill! For you have brought us out into this
desert, to starve this entire congregation to death
My final job before retirement was as an executive with Meals on Wheels of Central Texas. Believe me when I say that not knowing if you will have food can be overwhelming. Food insecurity is defined as not having access to sufficient food, or food of an adequate quality, to meet one's basic needs. More than 800 million people every day go hungry or live with the anxiety of food insecurity. It’s a problem even in the U.S. According to the Food Research & Action Center, in 2022, one in eight households here, almost 13 percent, experienced food insecurity, or lack of access to an affordable, nutritious diet.And an estimated 44.2 million Americans lived in those households. In answer to the Israelites’ demand for food, God tells Moses; "I will rain down for them manna from heaven, and the people will go out and collect a daily portion every day." Manna is the biblical version of food aid. A student of the second century sage, Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, asked him why God provided the manna daily and not a year’s supply all at once.He answered that being constantly wondering whether or not a god they cannot see will make manna fall from heaven would cause them to feel dependent on God. In addition, manna didn’t care about the Israelites’ tastes . The Israelites did complain about the monotony in their diet. In Numbers 11:5, they protest, If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish that we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. The rabbis were disturbed that the Israelites ate the same thing every day during their forty years in the desert, so, in a Midrash, they posited that the manna could taste any way the diner wished. Food aid policies that focus only on food security often ignore cultural preferences and traditional diets. The goal should go beyond "food security" to "food sovereignty." La Via Campesina, an international movement, defines food sovereignty as: "The right of peoples to define their own food and agriculture; to protect and regulate domestic agricultural production and trade in order to achieve sustainable development objectives; to determine the extent to which they want to be self-reliant." In Exodus, we witness the journey of the Israelites from food insecurity in the desert finally to food sovereignty when they enter the promised land.Let us support initiatives that seek to overthrow the shackles of dependency, enabling all people to exercise control over food production, distribution, and consumption. A personal thought… As I write this, today January 26, is the 112th day of the Israeli-Hamas war.Israel continues to permit water, food, medical supplies, clothing, and other necessities to be delivered to Gaza, even though the amounts are probably not sufficient considering the need. Tomorrow is International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Yom HaShoah. That the Israelis are allowing any aid to be brought to people who wish them death, especially when it is the time of commemoration for one of history’s most horrifying chapters, proves what kind of people we can be, we should be, and we must always strive to be. Michael Goldstein |
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