(טו) וַיֹּ֤אמֶר ה' אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֔ה מַה־תִּצְעַ֖ק אֵלָ֑י דַּבֵּ֥ר אֶל־בְּנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל וְיִסָּֽעוּ׃
(15) And the LORD said unto Moses: ‘Why do you cry unto Me? Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward.
Why would God respond to the people's 'crying out' and hear them in their suffering in Egypt and then not want to hear it now?
(א) "מה תצעק אלי" - למדנו שהי' משה עומד ומתפלל אמר לו הקב"ה לא עת עתה להאריך בתפלה שישראל נתונין בצרה... (ב) "דבר אל בני ישראל ויסעו" - (מכילתא) אין להם אלא ליסע שאין הים עומד בפניהם כדאי זכות אבותיהם והאמונה שהאמינו בי ויצאו לקרוע להם הים
'Why do you cry to Me?' We learned that Moses was standing and praying. God said to him, 'This is not a time to pray at length. Israel is in trouble!"...'They must move on because the sea is not in their way. The merit of their ancestors and the faith with which they believed in Me when they left Egypt will split the sea for them.'
When it is right to 'pray at length'? Which times? Ever? Never?
What do you make of the use here of praying and walking forward?
The most common figure in the opening of the Reed Sea is Nachshon Ben Aminadav. Most kids learn the story of the sea with this name. It is actually a midrash. The name of Nachshon appears 7 times in all of Tanach.
נודע ביהודה אלהים אמר רבי יהודה בר' אלעאי: כשעמדו ישראל על הים, היו השבטים מדיינים אלה עם אלה, זה אומר: אני יורד תחלה, וזה אומר: אני יורד תחלה. קפץ נחשון לתוך גלי הים וירד ועליו. אמר דוד (שם סט): הושיעני אלהים כי באו מים עד נפש. אמר הקדוש ברוך הוא למשה: ידידי שוקע בים ואתה מתפלל?! (שמות יד): דבר אל בני ישראל ויסעו. הוי, נודע ביהודה אלהים, ולפיכך הגדיל הקב"ה שמו של נחשון בישראל, שזכה להקריב ראשון, שנאמר: ויהי המקריב ביום ראשון וגו'. הוי, בישראל גדול שמו:
E-lohim is known in Yehudah [in Israel His Name is great] (Ps. 76:2), Rabbi Yehudah bar Ilai said: When Israel was at the sea, the tribes were arguing with each other. One tribe said: 'I will go down first [into the sea]', and the other tribe said 'I will go down first.' Nachshon jumped first into the waves of the sea and went down, and on him David said, "Deliver me, O God, for the waters have reached my neck." Said the Holy One of Blessing to Moshe: My beloved is sinking in the sea and you are praying?! 'Tell the Israelites to get going!'(Ex. 14:15)"This is 'E-lohim is known in Yehudah', and therefore the Holy One of Blessing increased the name of Nachshon among Israel, that he merited to be the first to bring offerings [for the Mishkan] , as it says: 'And the bringer on the first day, etc' - this is 'and in Israel his name became great.'
What do you make of Nachshon's act? What do you think is the motivation behind Nachshon's act? Is this a typical understanding of "slave's mentality"?
Nehama Leibowitz
Only after the visible miracle [the plagues] did the people have faith in the Lord. But before the waters divided, the people, the undistinguished mass stood dismayed at the sight of "Egypt" bearing down upon them. Admittedly, he children of Israel appealed to God for help, but the people as a whole was seized with fear and dread in the face of its pursuers...If they put their trust in God who brought them out of Egypt, and march forward even before the sea divides, and plunge into its midst, they can be assured that the sea will indeed be divided for them.
(ח) וָאֶשְׁמַ֞ע אֶת־ק֤וֹל אדושם אֹמֵ֔ר אֶת־מִ֥י אֶשְׁלַ֖ח וּמִ֣י יֵֽלֶךְ־לָ֑נוּ וָאֹמַ֖ר הִנְנִ֥י שְׁלָחֵֽנִי׃
(8) And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: Whom shall I send, And who will go for us? Then I said: ‘Here am I; send me.’
How different is Isaiah's response from Moses' response to God?
R. Samson Raphael Hirsch, Collected Writings, Vol. 4, P. 16
Then did Isaiah hear the voice of God saying: "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" God was in search of a messenger for this mission. Outside the human world, winged servitors are waiting to serve God. But only a being freely able to offer devoted service to God can undertake a mission to man: only man can deliver God's message to man...
(undefined) Egypt serves as a constant place of refuge from famine and conquest, yet it is the only place where Jews are Biblically prohibited to live (Devarim 17:16).8 That the Jews in the Bible nonetheless continue to be more connected to Egypt than to anywhere else only serves to create depth as well as irony to the Torah’s prohibition. This country is somehow friend and foe – often at the same time. Whatever it is, however, its intertwining with the Jewish nation reinforces our desire to understand what Egypt is all about.
(undefined) The Jews’ relationship to exile is based not only on its being the more frequent situation in which they have found themselves. Exile is also a key element in the very foundation of the Jewish people. The Torah makes a point of telling us that Avraham was not born or raised in Israel (Bereshit 11:26–31).89 Just as he was born outside his homeland, the Jewish nation too would have to be “born” outside their homeland (i.e., in Egypt). This means that the Jew’s relationship to his land is not the same as that of other nations. He belongs in it but he also belongs out of it.90
(undefined) And whether it was God’s original intention or not, the so-called “wandering Jew” is an almost ubiquitous feature of our world. The Jews are a nation that maintains its own identity in exile even as it assumes much of the cultural trappings of its hosts. Indeed, Jews don’t only resemble their gentile neighbors, they often take a leading role in their societies. A Jew is both a Jew and a universal man. This unique situation is perhaps the result of being the spokesperson for a document that is meant as much for universal consumption as it is for Jewish consumption.
Judaism is a messenger who forgot his message. [Abraham Joshua Heschel]