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D'var Torah for Pesach
2005
Leading the Way Together
There are many lessons to be learned from Pesach. Among other things, it teaches us about the nature of freedom in its myriad forms, about the need to clean the chametz (leavened products), both physical and spiritual, from our lives on a regular basis and about the transformation of individuals into a collective nation. This week's portion adds another level to our understanding of the holiday. This is the portion read traditionally on the seventh day of Pesach, on the yom tov (holiday day) at the end of the festival, which this year falls on Shabbat. This portion tells the story of the Jewish people's escape from Egypt and culminates with the dramatic story of the splitting of the Red Sea, as God drowns the Egyptians in the waves and Moses leads the people through a terrifying and redemptive experience that, literally and symbolically, brings them through adversity to the dry land and allows them to experience a kind of rebirth as a nation. (Shemot/Exodus 13:17-15:26)
What is the lesson of this story that can add to our overall understanding of the holiday? Let's concentrate on the main human players in this story. First of all, of course, there is Moses, the leader. Moses is the central, most powerful character in this story. He keeps his faith in God, even when it is being tested by the most difficult and threatening circumstances. He reassures the people that they will be saved from the Egyptians and gives them encouragement: "Have no fear! Stand by and witness the deliverance which the Eternal will work for you today." (Exodus 14:13) He is clearly empowered by God to do the actions that will lead to the splitting of the sea. And then, after the Israelites emerge onto dry land, he leads the people in a song of joy and celebration at their salvation. Moses' leadership is of a very obvious and important kind. He is a partner with God, a national leader, with a very public and significant role in the miracle.
Moses' sister, Miriam, is also a leader, albeit a different kind. The Torah describes that after the splitting of the sea, Miriam "picked up a hand-drum and all the women went out after her in dance with hand-drums." (Shemot/Exodus 15:20) Miriam leads the singing and dancing among the people. She emerges as a leader from within the people, and although she sings some of the same words as Moses, she adds instruments and dance and her expression of joy seems to be qualitatively different. It appears able to channel the emotions of the people, especially the women, and to carry them with her into a public expression of joy and celebration that is more primal and maybe even more ecstatic. She may have a less public role in the miracle itself, but without the outlet she provides for all the people afterward, the miracle might have remained an event tainted by trauma and fear rather than joy and celebration.
The rabbis identify another human figure in the story, a character who does not appear in the text itself, but who is imagined in the Midrash. This is Nachshon ben Aminadav, a leader of the tribe of Judah, whom the rabbis imagine to be another kind of leader. Nachshon is the individual who takes the first step into the sea itself. According to the Midrash, he walks into the sea before it has receded, up to his neck, demonstrating complete faith that God will indeed split the waters. Nachshon is also a leader from within the people. He is the person whose example encourages the rest, those who were not convinced by Moses, that it would be safe to walk into the sea. Sometimes it takes a peer, someone closer to us, to lead us into the unknown when a more powerful leader cannot. Nachshon was the one who took the chance, who complemented the more dramatic leadership of Moses with a statement that made the difference and ultimately led to all the people walking through the sea, even though the situation appeared terrifying.
These three human figures - Moses, Miriam and Nachshon - teach us about the leadership that emerges in times of transition and upheaval. Pesach is the ultimate transition in the life of the Jewish people, a time of great excitement, stress and maybe even trauma, in our collective memory. At such a time the Jewish people relied on three people: Moses, who had a direct line to God, a very public role and a clear and demanding faith; Miriam, whose creative and emotional expression of joy added an important dimension to the experience; and Nachshon, whose position as "one of them" and demonstration of faith served to tip the balance allowing the people to, literally, take the plunge into an experience that would ultimately change the nature of the Jewish people forever.
As we extract the myriad lessons of Pesach this year, we can also think about how this leadership triad complemented each other and played a crucial role in the story, and how we can extend these different types of leadership into our Hillels, our university communities and the wider world.
Prepared by Clare Goldwater, Director, Hillel's Joseph Meyerhoff Center for Jewish Learning
Learn More
Additional commentaries and text studies on Pesach at MyJewishLearning.com.
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