Miracles and The Last Day of Passover

Crossing the Reed Sea. My copy of Sarajevo Haggadah  (See crowned Pharaoh, standing upright in the waters on the far left side)

COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS

Two years ago I wrote about a near accident I had. Since April 2023, so much has happened in our world, and thousands are saying birkat hagomel. There have been too many stories of “just misses”, miracle survivals, hostages being released from tunnels, etc. If you google birkat hagomel, you will find that it is a Jewish prayer of gratitude, a prayer said after recovering from a serious illness or surviving a dangerous journey. In the Mishneh Torah it says:

Four individuals are required to render thanks: a person who had been sick and recuperated, a person who had been imprisoned and was released, people who alight [at their destination] after a journey at sea, ve-yordei ha-yam ke-sheh-alu [literally, those who go down to sea and then arise–which could also apply to those who have been in the depths of the tunnels] and travelers who reach a settlement.
These thanks must be rendered in the presence of ten people, of whom two are sages, as [implied by Psalms 107:32]: “They will exalt Him in the congregation of the people and they will praise Him in the seat of the elders.” How does one give thanks and what blessing should he recite? He should stand in the midst of the [abovementioned] company and say:

Baruch ata Adonai, Eloheinu melech ha-olam, ha-gomel l’chayavim tovot she-g’malani kol tov.

Blessed are You, God, our Lord, King of the universe, who bestows benefits upon the culpable, who has bestowed all goodness upon me.

Ve-hashomim: Mi she-g’malcha kol tov, hu yi-g’malcha kol tov selah.

Those who hear should respond: May He who granted you beneficence continue to bestow good upon you forever (here).

It is customary for a woman to express her gratitude after childbirth in the synagogue. She recites the blessing, not her husband, for it is she who has given birth—an event, that even today can be life-threatening. Not only should she be called up to the Torah, but she should read from the Torah and then recite the blessing (here).

I feel like saying this blessing every time I return safely to my home, whether it is a short trip to Beersheba or a longer outing to my family up North. Many people in our kehillah recite it when they come back from being abroad, although planes are actually safer than cars.

The Torah reading for the last day of Passover is Shirat Hayam, the Song of the Sea (Exodus 15:1-21). For as long as I can remember, I have been the Torah reader for this portion in our kehillah and have what is called a chazaka (ownership, or a valid claim) to read it every Pesach (and also for parshat Beshalach). One can understand this song as one big birkat hagomel that the people of Israel read, thanking God for getting them safely through the Sea. They have gone down and then come up again. They have been saved.

Thus it was very fitting that I recited birkat hagomel two years ago, when I too was nearly drowned. I went to do laps at our local pool before Passover, when a sudden gust of wind caused the door in the lane I was in to almost land on my head. It missed me by a handbreadth. Everyone in the pool told me that I had to bentch gomel—everyone in Israel knows what this prayer is, even secular people, who never attend synagogue. When I reported what happened to the pool’s secretary, she also told me to bentch gomel and added, how lucky I was, because if the flying door had hit me on the head, I would have drowned. So even though it happened two years ago, it is still a good story, one which I can repeat every year–just like the Haggadah–and it serves as a convenient segue to Miriam’s and Moses’s Song of The Sea.

ARE THERE MIRACLES?

In a midrash there is a dispute as to whether Pharaoh drowned in the sea together with the rest of his Egyptian Army.

The waters turned back and covered the chariot … (Exodus 14:28). Even Pharaoh, the words of R. Yehudah, as it says, Pharaoh’s chariots and his army, He has cast into the sea (15:5). R. Nehemiah says: Except for Pharaoh, about whom it is said, Nevertheless, I have spared you for this purpose (Exodus 9:16) (Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael, Massekhta de-Vayehi 7).

Because it does not definitively state in the Torah that Pharaoh drowned, an interesting 11^th century midrash, Midrash Vayosha exists about the miraculous delivery of Pharaoh:

Who is like You– מי כמכה

The Sages, may their memory be for a blessing, said: When Israel recited this song before the Blessed Holy One, Pharaoh heard it while he was foundering in the sea. He lifted up his finger toward the heavens and said, “I believe in You, that You are the righteous one, while I and my people are the wicked ones (Ex 9:27) – and there is no God in the world other than You.

Just then, Gabriel descended and hung a chain of iron around his neck, saying, “Wicked one! Yesterday you said, ‘Who is the Lord that I should listen to his voice?’ (Ex 5:2), and now you say, ‘The Lord is the righteous one!’” (Ex 9:27). Then he drew him down into the depths of the sea and detained him there for fifty days and afflicted him so that he would recognize the great powers of the Blessed Holy One.

Afterwards, he appointed him king over Nineveh….Even now, this Pharaoh lives at the entrance of Gehenna. As kings of the nations enter, he immediately makes known to them the great powers of the Holy One and says to them, “You are the biggest idiots in the world! Why did you not learn from me? See, [I] denied the Blessed Holy One, so He sent ten plagues against me. Plus, He drowned me in the sea and detained me there for fifty days. Then He drew me up from the sea and in the end, I believed in Him against my will.”

Thus, Israel sang this song and everyone recited together, Who is like You among the gods, O Lord? Who is like You, majestic in holiness, awesome in splendor, doing wonders? (Ex 15:11).

I’m not sure what we can learn from this fantastic midrash? Can we, or should we apply it to the leaders of our mortal enemies? How sincere was Pharaoh? Clearly, Gabriel didn’t trust him. You can read more about this in a fascinating article by Arnon Atzmon, “Did Pharaoh Repent?” available here.

Today, when there is so much back and forth among all the leaders in the world, it is not easy for us to trust the sincerity of those who repent (or not) and apologize (or not) to their constituents. Today when so many people are drowning in sorrow over the standstill negotiations with Hamas, it is difficult to believe in miracles. What we all have come to realize since October 7^th, is that even if we are very careful, our lives are not in our own hands. There are limits to what we can control. Had I been swimming just a bit faster; or if the wind had picked up a second later, I would have reached the wall in the pool and then I would not be writing this blog today. Many of us have similar stories.  However, there are also many stories of people who did not survive, who did not have the miracle of a bullet just missing them. Perhaps it is not too late for our hostages who will be doomed if there is no one willing to take on the task of deus ex machina, like the God who saved the Israelites from drowning when they were in an equally tight situation. Unfortunately, the ‘God from the machine’ is a device used when an unsolvable problem is miraculously resolved by something unlikely happening and resolves something which has not been able to be resolved up until now. Yet, if anything, Az Yashir teaches us that we have to have to be strong when we wade into the unknown sea. It takes courage to do this, and to believe that there will be a better future for our grandchildren. Thus, we must hope, pray and continue to protest.

Shabbat shalom and Hag Sameach