Beshalach, Beshallach, or Beshalah (בְּשַׁלַּח — Hebrew for “when [he] let go,” the second word and first distinctive word in the parshah) is the sixteenth weekly Torah portion (parshah) in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the fourth in the book of Exodus. It constitutes Exodus 13:17–17:16. Jews in the Diaspora read it the sixteenth Sabbath after Simchat Torah, generally in January or February.
As the parshah describes God’s deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt, Jews also read part of the parshah, Exodus 13:17–15:26, as the initial Torah reading for the seventh day of Passover. And Jews also read the part of the parshah about Amalek, Exodus 17:8–16, on Purim, which commemorates the story of Esther and the Jewish people’s victory over Haman’s plan to kill the Jews, told in the book of Esther. (Esther 1:1–10:3.) Esther 3:1 identifies Haman as an Agagite, and thus a descendant of Amalek. Numbers 24:7 identifies the Agagites with the Amalekites. A midrash tells that between King Agag’s capture by Saul and his killing by Samuel, Agag fathered a child, from whom Haman in turn descended. (Seder Eliyahu Rabbah ch. 20; Targum Sheni to Esther 4:13.)
The parshah is notable for the “Song of the Sea,” which is traditionally chanted using a different melody and is written by the scribe using a distinctive brick-like pattern in the Torah scroll. The Sabbath when it is read is known as Shabbos Shirah, and some communities have various customs for this day, including feeding birds and reciting the "Song of the Sea" out loud in the regular prayer service.
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When Pharaoh let the Israelites go, God led the people roundabout by way of the Sea of Reeds. (Exodus 13:17–18.) Moses took the bones of Joseph with them. (Exodus 13:19.) God went before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night. (Exodus 13:21.)
When Pharaoh learned that the people had fled, he had a change of heart, and he chased the Israelites with chariots, overtaking them by the sea. (Exodus 14:5–9.) Greatly frightened, the Israelites cried out to God and complained to Moses. (Exodus 14:10–12.) God told Moses to lift up his rod, hold out his arm, and split the sea. (Exodus 14:15–16.) Moses did so, and God drove back the sea with a strong east wind, and the Israelites marched through on dry ground, the waters forming walls on their right and left. (Exodus 14:21–22.) The Egyptians pursued, but God slowed them by locking their chariot wheels. (Exodus 14:23–25.) On God’s instruction, Moses held out his arm, and the waters covered the chariots, the horsemen, and all the Egyptians. (Exodus 14:26–28.) Moses and the Israelites – and then Miriam – sang a song to God, celebrating how God hurled horse and driver into the sea. (Exodus 15.)
The Israelites went three days into the wilderness and found no water. (Exodus 15:22.) When they came to Marah, they could not drink the bitter water, so they grumbled against Moses. (Exodus 15:23–24.) God showed Moses a piece of wood to throw into the water, and the water became sweet. (Exodus 15:25.)
The Israelites came to the wilderness of Sin and grumbled in hunger against Moses and Aaron. (Exodus 16:1–3.) God heard their grumbling, and in the evening quail covered the camp, and in the morning fine flaky manna covered the ground like frost. (Exodus 16:4–14.) The Israelites gathered as much of it as they required; those who gathered much had no excess, and those who gathered little had no deficiency. (Exodus 16:15–18.) Moses instructed none to leave any of it over until morning, but some did, and it became infested with maggots and stank. (Exodus 16:19–20.) On the sixth day they gathered double the food, Moses instructed them to put aside the excess until morning, and it did not turn foul the next day, the Sabbath. (Exodus 16:22–24.) Moses told them that on the Sabbath, they would not find any manna on the plain, yet some went out to gather and found nothing. (Exodus 16:25–27.) Moses ordered that a jar of the manna be kept throughout the ages. (Exodus 16:32–33.) The Israelites ate manna 40 years. (Exodus 16:35.)
When the Israelites encamped at Rephidim, there was no water and the people quarreled with Moses, asking why Moses brought them there just to die of thirst. (Exodus 17:1–2.) God told Moses to strike the rock at Horeb to produce water, and they called the place Massah (trial) and Meribah (quarrel). (Exodus 17:5–7.)
Amalek attacked Israel at Rephidim. (Exodus 17:8.) Moses stationed himself on the top of the hill, with the rod of God in his hand, and whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed; but whenever he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. (Exodus 17:9–11.) When Moses grew weary, he sat on a stone, while Aaron and Hur supported his hands, and Joshua overwhelmed Amalek in battle. (Exodus 17:12–13.) God instructed Moses to inscribe a document as a reminder that God would utterly blot out the memory of Amalek. (Exodus 17:14.)
The Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael interpreted the words “God led them not by the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near” in Exodus 13:17 to indicate that God recognized that the way would have been nearer for the Israelites to return to Egypt. (Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael Beshallah 19:1:5.)
The Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael interpreted the word translated as “armed” (חֲמֻשִׁים, chamushim) in Exodus 13:18 to mean that only one out of five (חֲמִשָּׁה, chamishah) of the Israelites in Egypt left Egypt; and some say that only one out of 50 did; and others say that only one out of 500 did. (Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael Beshallah 19:1:19.)
The Mishnah cited for the proposition that Providence treats a person measure for measure as that person treats others. And so because, as Genesis 50:7–9 relates, Joseph had the merit to bury his father Jacob and none of his brothers were greater than he was, so Joseph merited the greatest of Jews, Moses, to attend to his bones, as reported in Exodus 13:19. And Moses, in turn, was so great that none but God attended him, as Deuteronomy 34:6 reports that God buried Moses. (Mishnah Sotah 1:7–9.)
Rabbi Meir taught that when the Israelites stood by the sea, the tribes competed with each other over who would go into the sea first. The tribe of Benjamin went first, as Psalm 68:28 says: “There is Benjamin, the youngest, ruling them (rodem),” and Rabbi Meir read rodem, “ruling them,” as rad yam, “descended into the sea.” Then the princes of Judah threw stones at them, as Psalm 68:28 says: “the princes of Judah their council (rigmatam),” and Rabbi Meir read rigmatam as “stoned them.” For that reason, Benjamin merited hosting the site of God’s Temple, as Deuteronomy 33:12 says: “He dwells between his shoulders.” Rabbi Judah answered Rabbi Meir that in reality, no tribe was willing to be the first to go into the sea. Then Nahshon ben Aminadab stepped forward and went into the sea first, praying in the words of Psalm 69:2–16, “Save me O God, for the waters come into my soul. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing . . . . Let not the water overwhelm me, neither let the deep swallow me up.” Moses was then praying, so God prompted Moses, in words parallel those of Exodus 14:15, “My beloved ones are drowning in the sea, and you prolong prayer before Me!” Moses asked God, “Lord of the Universe, what is there in my power to do?” God replied in the words of Exodus 14:15–16, “Speak to the children of Israel, that they go forward. And lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea, and divide it; and the children of Israel shall go into the midst of the sea on dry ground.” Because of Nahshon’s actions, Judah merited becoming the ruling power in Israel, as Psalm 114:2 says, “Judah became His sanctuary, Israel His dominion,” and that happened because, as Psalm 114:3 says, “The sea saw [him], and fled.” (Babylonian Talmud Sotah 36b–37a.)
Rabbi Johanan taught that God does not rejoice in the downfall of the wicked. Rabbi Johanan interpreted the words zeh el zeh in the phrase “And one did not come near the other all the night” in Exodus 14:20 to teach that when the Egyptians were drowning in the sea, the ministering angels wanted to sing a song of rejoicing, as Isaiah 6:3 associates the words zeh el zeh with angelic singing. But God rebuked them: “The work of my hands is being drowned in the sea, and you want to sing songs?” Rabbi Eleazar replied that a close reading of Deuteronomy 28:63 shows that God does not rejoice personally, but does make others rejoice. (Babylonian Talmud Megillah 10b.)
The midrash taught that the six days of darkness occurred in Egypt, while the seventh day of darkness was a day of darkness of the sea, as Exodus 14:20 says: “And there was the cloud and the darkness here, yet it gave light by night there.” So God sent clouds and darkness and covered the Egyptians with darkness, but gave light to the Israelites, as God had done for them in Egypt. Hence Psalm 27:1 says: “The Lord is my light and my salvation.” And the midrash taught that in the Messianic Age, as well, God will bring darkness to sinners, but light to Israel, as Isaiah 60:2 says: “For, behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the peoples; but upon you the Lord will shine.” (Exodus Rabbah 14:3.)
Rabbi Hama ben Hanina deduced from Exodus 1:10 that Pharaoh meant: “Come, let us outwit the Savior of Israel.” Pharaoh concluded that the Egyptians should afflict the Israelites with water, because as indicated by Isaiah 54:9, God had sworn not to bring another flood to punish the world. The Egyptians failed to note that while God had sworn not to bring another flood on the whole world, God could still bring a flood on only one people. Alternatively, the Egyptians failed to note that they could fall into the waters, as indicated by the words of Exodus 14:27, “the Egyptians fled towards it.” This all bore out what Rabbi Eleazar said: In the pot in which they cooked, they were themselves cooked — that is, with the punishment that the Egyptians intended for the Israelites, the Egyptians were themselves punished. (Babylonian Talmud Sotah 11a; see also Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael Beshallah 7:2.)
Reading the words, “there remained not so much as one of them,” in Exodus 14:28, Rabbi Judah taught that not even Pharaoh himself survived, as Exodus 15:4 says, “Pharaoh's chariots and his host has He cast into the sea.” Rabbi Nehemiah, however, said that Pharaoh alone survived, teaching that Exodus 9:16 speaks of Pharaoh when it says, “But in very deed for this cause have I made you to stand.” And some taught that later on Pharaoh went down and was drowned, as Exodus 15:19 says, “For the horses of Pharaoh went in with his chariots and with his horsemen into the sea.” (Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael Beshalah 7:8.)
The Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael cited four reasons for why “Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea-shore,” as reported in Exodus 14:30: (1) so that the Israelites should not imagine that the Egyptians escaped the sea on the other side, (2) so that the Egyptians should not imagine that the Israelites were lost in the sea as the Egyptians had been, (3) so that the Israelites might take the Egyptians’ spoils of silver, gold, precious stones, and pearls, and (4) so that the Israelites might recognize the Egyptians and reprove them. (Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael Beshalah 7:18.)
Rabbi Jose the Galilean reasoned that as the phrase “the finger of God” in Exodus 8:15 referred to 10 plagues, “the great hand” (translated “the great work”) in Exodus 14:31 (in connection with the miracle of the Reed Sea) must refer to 50 plagues upon the Egyptians, and thus to a variety of cruel and strange deaths. (Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael Beshallah 7:21; Mekhilta of Rabbi Simeon 26:6; see also Exodus Rabbah 5:14, 23:9.)
The Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael counted 10 songs in the Tanakh: (1) the one that the Israelites recited at the first Passover in Egypt, as Isaiah 30:29 says, “You shall have a song as in the night when a feast is hallowed”; (2) the Song of the Sea in Exodus 15; (3) the one that the Israelites sang at the well in the wilderness, as Numbers 21:17 reports, “Then sang Israel this song: ‘Spring up, O well’”; (4) the one that Moses spoke in his last days, as Deuteronomy 31:30 reports, “Moses spoke in the ears of all the assembly of Israel the words of this song”; (5) the one that Joshua recited, as Joshua 10:12 reports, “Then spoke Joshua to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites”; (6) the one that Deborah and Barak sang, as Judges 5:1 reports, “Then sang Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam”; (7) the one that David spoke, as 2 Samuel 22:1 reports, “David spoke to the Lord the words of this song in the day that the Lord delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul”; (8) the one that Solomon recited, as Psalm 30:1 reports, “a song at the Dedication of the House of David”; (9) the one that Jehoshaphat recited, as 2 Chronicles 20:21 reports: “when he had taken counsel with the people, he appointed them that should sing to the Lord, and praise in the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and say, ‘Give thanks to the Lord, for His mercy endures for ever’”; and (10) the song that will be sung in the time to come, as Isaiah 42:10 says, “Sing to the Lord a new song, and His praise from the end of the earth,” and Psalm 149:1 says, “Sing to the Lord a new song, and His praise in the assembly of the saints.” (Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael Shirata 1:5.)
The Tosefta deduced from Exodus 1:22 that the Egyptians took pride before God only on account of the water of the Nile, and thus God exacted punishment from them only by water when in Exodus 15:4 God cast Pharaoh’s chariots and army into the Reed Sea. (Tosefta Sotah 3:13.)
A midrash taught that as God created the four cardinal directions, so also did God set about God’s throne four angels — Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, and Raphael — with Michael at God’s right. The midrash taught that Michael got his name (Mi ka'el, מִי-כָּאֵל) as a reward for the manner in which he praised God in two expressions that Moses employed. When the Israelites crossed the Red Sea, Moses began to chant, in the words of Exodus 15:11, “Who (mi, מִי) is like You, o Lord.” And when Moses completed the Torah, he said, in the words of Deuteronomy 33:26, “There is none like God (ka'el, כָּאֵל), O Jeshurun.” The midrash taught that mi (מִי) combined with ka'el (כָּאֵל) to form the name Mi ka'el (מִי-כָּאֵל). (Numbers Rabbah 2:10.)
Rabbi Judah ben Simon expounded on God’s words in Deuteronomy 32:20, “I will hide My face from them.” Rabbi Judah ben Simon compared Israel to a king's son who went into the marketplace and struck people but was not struck in return (because of his being the king’s son). He insulted but was not insulted. He went up to his father arrogantly. But the father asked the son whether he thought that he was respected on his own account, when the son was respected only on account of the respect that was due to the father. So the father renounced the son, and as a result, no one took any notice of him. So when Israel went out of Egypt, the fear of them fell upon all the nations, as Exodus 15:14–16 reported, “The peoples have heard, they tremble; pangs have taken hold on the inhabitants of Philistia. Then were the chiefs of Edom frightened; the mighty men of Moab, trembling takes hold upon them; all the inhabitants of Canaan are melted away. Terror and dread falls upon them.” But when Israel transgressed and sinned, God asked Israel whether it thought that it was respected on its own account, when it was respected only on account of the respect that was due to God. So God turned away from them a little, and the Amalekites came and attacked Israel, as Exodus 17:8 reports, “Then Amalek came, and fought with Israel in Rephidim,” and then the Canaanites came and fought with Israel, as Numbers 21:1 reports, “And the Canaanite, the king of Arad, who dwelt in the South, heard tell that Israel came by the way of Atharim; and he fought against Israel.” God told the Israelites that they had no genuine faith, as Deuteronomy 32:20 says, “they are a very disobedient generation, children in whom is no faith.” God concluded that the Israelites were rebellious, but to destroy them was impossible, to take them back to Egypt was impossible, and God could not change them for another people. So God concluded to chastise and try them with suffering. (Ruth Rabbah Prologue 4.)
A Baraita taught that the words, “I will send My terror before you, and will discomfort all the people to whom you shall come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you,” in Exodus 23:27, and the words, “Terror and dread fall upon them,” in Exodus 15:16 show that no creature was able to withstand the Israelites as they entered into the Promised Land in the days of Joshua, and those who stood against them were immediately panic-stricken and lost control of their bowels. And the words, “till Your people pass over, O Lord,” in Exodus 15:16 allude to the first advance of the Israelites into the Promised Land in the days of Joshua. And the words, “till the people pass over whom You have gotten,” in Exodus 15:16 allude to the second advance of the Israelites into the Promised Land in the days of Ezra. The Baraita thus concluded that the Israelites were worthy that God should perform a miracle on their behalf during the second advance as in the first advance, but that did not happen because the Israelites’ sin caused God to withhold the miracle. (Babylonian Talmud Sotah 36a.)
Rabbi Akiva said that he who whispered Exodus 15:26 as an incantation over a wound to heal it would have no place in the world to come. (Mishnah Sanhedrin 10:1.)
The Gemara asked how one could reconcile Exodus 16:4, which reported that manna fell as “bread from heaven”; with Numbers 11:8, which reported that people “made cakes of it,” implying that it required baking; and with Numbers 11:8, which reported that people “ground it in mills,” implying that it required grinding. The Gemara concluded that the manna fell in different forms for different classes of people: For the righteous, it fell as bread; for average folk, it fell as cakes that required baking; and for the wicked, it fell as kernels that required grinding. (Babylonian Talmud Yoma 75a.) The Gemara asked how one could reconcile Exodus 16:31, which reported that “the taste of it was like wafers made with honey,” with Numbers 11:8, which reported that “the taste of it was as the taste of a cake baked with oil.” Rabbi Jose ben Hanina said that the manna tasted differently for different classes of people: It tasted like honey for infants, bread for youths, and oil for the aged. (Babylonian Talmud Yoma 75b.)
The Mishnah taught that the manna that Exodus 16:14–15 reports came down to the Israelites was among 10 miraculous things that God created on Sabbath eve at twilight on the first Friday at the completion of the Creation of the world. (Mishnah Avot 5:6.)
Tractate Eruvin in the Mishnah, Tosefta, Jerusalem Talmud, and Babylonian Talmud interpreted the laws of not walking beyond permitted limits in Exodus 16:29. (Mishnah Eruvin 1:1–10:15; Tosefta Eruvin 1:1–8:24; Jerusalem Talmud Eruvin 1a–; Babylonian Talmud Eruvin 2a–105a.)
A Baraita taught that Josiah hid the Ark, the bottle containing the manna (see Exodus 16:33–34), Aaron’s staff with its almonds and blossoms (see Numbers 17:25), and the chest that the Philistines sent as a gift (see 1 Samuel 6:8), because Josiah read in Deuteronomy 28:36: “The Lord will bring you, and your king whom you shall set over you, to a nation that you have not known.” Therefore he hid these things, as 2 Chronicles 35:3 reports: “And he said to the Levites, that taught all Israel, that were holy to the Lord: ‘Put the holy ark into the house that Solomon, the son of David, King of Israel built. There shall no more be a burden upon your shoulders now.’” (Babylonian Talmud Yoma 52b.)
The Mishnah reported that in synagogues at Purim, Jews read Exodus 17:8–16. (Mishnah Megillah 3:6.)
The Mishnah quoted Exodus 17:11, which described how when Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and asked whether Moses’ hands really made war or stopped it. Rather, the Mishnah read the verse to teach that as long as the Israelites looked upward and submitted their hearts to God, they would grow stronger, but when they did not, they would fall. The Mishnah taught that the fiery serpent placed on a pole in Numbers 21:8 worked much the same way, by directing the Israelites to look upward to God. (Mishnah Rosh Hashanah 3:8.)
According to Maimonides and Sefer ha-Chinuch, there is one negative commandment in the parshah:
(Maimonides. Mishneh Torah, Negative Commandment 321. Cairo, Egypt, 1170–1180. Reprinted in Maimonides. The Commandments: Sefer Ha-Mitzvoth of Maimonides. Translated by Charles B. Chavel, 2:296. London: Soncino Press, 1967. ISBN 0-900689-71-4. Sefer HaHinnuch: The Book of [Mitzvah] Education. Translated by Charles Wengrov, 1:137–41. Jerusalem: Feldheim Pub., 1991. ISBN 0-87306-179-9.)
The haftarah for the parshah is:
For Ashkenazi Jews, the haftarah is the longest of the year.
Both the parshah and the haftarah contain songs that celebrate the victory of God’s people, the parshah in the “Song of the Sea” about God’s deliverance of the Israelites from Pharaoh (Exodus 15:1–18), and the haftarah in the “Song of Deborah” about the Israelites’ victory over the Canaanite general Sisera. (Judges 5.) Both the parshah and the haftarah report how the leaders of Israel’s enemies assembled hundreds of chariots. (Exodus 14:6–7; Judges 4:13.) Both the parshah and the haftarah report how God “threw . . . into panic” (va-yaham) Israel’s enemies. (Exodus 14:24; Judges 4:15.) Both the parshah and the haftarah report waters sweeping away Israel’s enemies (Exodus 14:27–28; Judges 5:21.) Both the parshah and the haftarah report singing by women to celebrate, the parshah by Miriam (Exodus 15:21), and the haftarah by Deborah (Judges 5.). Finally, both the parshah and the haftarah mention Amalek. (Exodus 17:8–16; Judges 5:14.)
The Gemara tied together God’s actions in the parshah and the haftarah. To reassure Israelites concerned that their enemies still lived, God had the Reed Sea spit out the dead Egyptians. (See Exodus 14:30.) To repay the seas, God committed the Kishon River to deliver one-and-a-half times as many bodies. To pay the debt, when Sisera came to attack the Israelites, God had the Kishon wash the Canaanites away. (See Judges 5:21.) The Gemara calculated one-and-a-half times as many bodies from the numbers of chariots reported in Exodus 14:7 and Judges 4:13. (Babylonian Talmud Pesachim 118b.)
The concluding blessing of the Shema, immediately prior to the Amidah prayer in each of the three prayer services recounts events from Exodus 14:21–31. (Reuven Hammer, Or Hadash: A Commentary on Siddur Sim Shalom for Shabbat and Festivals, 114. New York: The Rabbinical Assembly, 2003. ISBN 0916219208.)
The Passover Haggadah, in the magid section of the Seder, recounts the reasoning of Rabbi Jose the Galilean that as the phrase “the finger of God” in Exodus 8:15 referred to 10 plagues, “the great hand” (translated “the great work”) in Exodus 14:31 must refer to 50 plagues upon the Egyptians. (Menachem Davis. The Interlinear Haggadah: The Passover Haggadah, with an Interlinear Translation, Instructions and Comments, 51–52. Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, 2005. ISBN 1-57819-064-9. Joseph Tabory. JPS Commentary on the Haggadah: Historical Introduction, Translation, and Commentary, 95. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 2008. ISBN 978-0-8276-0858-0.)
The Song of the Sea, Exodus 15:1–18, appears in its entirety in the P’sukei D’zimra section of the morning service for Shabbat (Hammer, at 102–03.)
The references to God’s mighty hand and arm in Exodus 15:6, 12, and 16 are reflected in Psalm 98:1, which is also one of the six Psalms recited at the beginning of the Kabbalat Shabbat prayer service. (Hammer, at 18.)
The statement of God’s eternal sovereignty in Exodus 15:18, “God will reign for ever and ever!” may have found paraphrase in Psalm 146:10, “Adonai shall reign throughout all generations,” which in turn appears in the Kedushah section of the Amidah prayer in each of the three Jewish services|prayer services. And the statement of God’s eternal sovereignty in Exodus 15:18 also appears verbatim in the Kedushah D’Sidra section of the Minchah service for Shabbat. (Hammer, at 4, 227.)
The people’s murmuring at Massah and Meribah, and perhaps the rock that yielded water, of Exodus 17:2–7 are reflected in Psalm 95, which is in turn the first of the six Psalms recited at the beginning of the Kabbalat Shabbat prayer service. (Hammer, at 15.)
In the Weekly Maqam, Sephardi Jews each week base the songs of the services on the content of that week's parshah. For Parshah Beshalach, Sephardi Jews apply Maqam Ajam, the maqam that expresses happiness, to commemorating the joy and song of the Israelites as they crossed the sea.
The parshah has parallels or is discussed in these sources:
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