Summary of Shabbat Talk Jan 27, 2018 - BeShalach/Shabbat Shira
Our Torah reading this morning described the dramatic events surrounding the Exodus from Egypt. God led the people to the shores of the Reed Sea, Moses was commanded to lift his arm over the water, and with a strong wind God parted the waters enabling the Israelites to walk through on dry ground. As soon as all the Israelites made it across, God closed the waters and the pursuing Egyptian army was drowned.
It seems clear that the Torah teaches us that God answers our prayers. As God told Moses at the burning bush, He "heard the cry of the Israelites", sent Moses to lead them out and provided the plagues and other miracles to get the job done. The theological lesson we learn today is that if we cry and pray hard enough then God will hear answer our prayers.
The rabbis though offer a radically different approach to confronting crisis. Rather than wait for God to act for us, the rabbis wrote an alternative version of our story. As the Israelites are on the shore of the Sea and they hear the Egyptian army rapidly approaching, Nachshon Ben Aminadav, the chief of the tribe of Judah, starts walking into the water. Nachshon believed that he had to act and reflect faith in God. He entered the water and kept walking until the water reached his nose. At that point Moses stretched forth his arm and God parted the waters.
From this story we learn that we can't rely on prayer alone. We must take initiative in order to solve personal or communal challenges. Rather than sit back and wait for the solution from above, we must be like Nachshon - we must exhibit faith and resolve that God will work with us in partnership to make things right.
The Nachshon perspective on life is supposed to motivate us to act. When we face personal hardship, when we see injustice in the world around us, we must take action. We cannot wait for someone else to do our work for us. We cannot even rely on God to solve the problem for us. We must instead be a force for Good.
May Nachshon always inspire us to step into the water with faith, bravery and resolve.
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