MIDEI CHODESH B'CHODSHO
BY RABBI SHMUEL GOLDIN
Faculty, OU Israel Rabbi Emeritus, Congregation Ahavath Torah, Englewood NJ
A Narrow Path
facing the participants was a שביל, a narrow pathway.
T
But wait a moment! A שבילon both occasions? How could that be?
wo monumental events… one shared word… a bewildering connection…
Travel back with me for a moment to two seminal events that mark our Torah reading at this time of the year. Behind us, the desperate, dramatic entry of the Israelites בתוך הים, “into the midst of the Sea [of Reeds].” Next Shabbat, Moshe’s solitary climb בתוך הענן, “into the midst of the cloud [enveloping Sinai].” Noting the shared textual appearance of the word בתוך, “into the midst,” on these two occasions; and deriving evidence from the scene at the sea; the rabbis arrive at a startling conclusion. On both of these occasions, at the sea and at Sinai, the route
OU Israel mourns the loss of
HaRav Yitzchok Scheiner zt"l
An Israeli - American Rabbi who became the Rosh Yeshiva of the famed Kamenitz Yeshiva of Yerushalayim. His legacy includes thousands of talmidim that he nurtured and inspired ה.ב.צ.נ.ת 20
TORAH TIDBITS / YITRO 5781
Certainly, it makes sense to suggest that a narrow path marks Moshe’s point of entry into the cloud at Sinai’s summit. He is, after all, one man, entering the unknown alone. The situation at the sea, however, is drastically different. Scholars determine, based on the Torah’s figure of 600,00 army-age men participating in the Exodus; that roughly 2.4 million men, women and children entered the Sea of Reeds. A “narrow pathway” simply would not have sufficed. Clearly the scene at Yam Suf must have been as we classically picture it: a dramatic parting of the waters; the miraculous appearance of a huge swath of dry land; an avenue for flight afforded to the Israelites, en masse. How, then, can the rabbis suggest that only a narrow pathway was provided for Bnai Yisrael’s escape at Yam Suf? Perhaps the connection drawn by the rabbis between the sea and Sinai is actually much deeper than first appears… Consider Moshe’s first step into the cloud at Mt. Sinai. Alone, awestruck, perhaps a bit fearful of the unknown, this towering
