{"id":52709,"date":"2019-03-31T22:14:20","date_gmt":"2019-03-31T19:14:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=52709"},"modified":"2019-03-31T22:14:20","modified_gmt":"2019-03-31T19:14:20","slug":"comfort-out-of-chaos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/comfort-out-of-chaos\/","title":{"rendered":"Comfort Out Of Chaos"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[],"acf":{"old_id":"52709","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":38047,"related_cahpter":"2005","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Exodus 14:22 - \u201cThe Israelites went \u200einto the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left.\u201d","content":"

What did ordinary Israelites feel when \u200ecrossing the sea on dry land? Was the former sea floor really dry or were there puddles? How did they experience the walls of water?<\/span><\/p>\n

In Egypt and the ancient Near \u200eEast, masses of water symbolized primordial forces \u200eof chaos. Beyond the anxiety that the walls might come crashing down, the ancient \u00a0Israelites may well have understood themselves as being enclosed by \u200ewalls of primordial chaos.\u200e<\/span><\/p>\n

But a midrash paints a more complex picture: \u201cR. Nehorai interpreted, \u201cWhen an Israelite woman was passing through the sea and a child in her arms was crying, she could reach out her hand, grab an apple or a pomegranate from within the sea and give it to the child\u201d (Exodus Rabbah 21:10). Sustenance and comfort could be extracted from the chaos. <\/span><\/p>\n

With a genuine, physical threat behind them, and an unknown wilderness ahead, the Israelites put one foot in front of another throughout the night. The pillar of light, at the head of the column, was far away from most people who likely saw only the backs of the people in front of them. Perhaps they held hands. For the average Israelite, God\u2019s saving power was present in a muddy path leading through the chaos, in the people around them, and some sweet, colorful fruit to calm a (rightly) terrified child.<\/span><\/p>\n

Splitting the Reed Sea is a key moment in the formation of the Jewish people. Jewish liturgy repeatedly invokes the Song at the Sea, keeping it present as the ultimate \u200erealization of God\u2019s saving power.\u200e\u200f \u200fYet, for me, the most powerful moment, the one most worth remembering is before the jubilation, when ordinary \u200epeople slog \u200ethrough mud in the dark, \u200e trying to extract some good from the chaos, and supporting each other. These are elements in the story of redemption no \u200eless \u200ethan the Song.\u200e \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Redemption was, is, and will be complicated and messy.<\/span><\/p>\n

When disorder exceeds order, the \u200eswamp is threatening and fog hides the \u200elight,\u200e we can recall that the \u200eExodus from Egypt happened at night, in \u200ethe mud. When God\u2019s light seems remote, we \u200ecan support each other and together \u200eforge a way forward. Perhaps we will be \u200eable to feel the presence of God for a \u200emoment or see the light of life breaking \u200ethrough, just a bit.\u200e<\/span><\/p>\n","image":false,"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"Jews\/Verses\/Tanakh","main_caption":"Comfort Out Of Chaos","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"Exodus 14:22 - \u201cThe Israelites went \u200einto the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left.\u201d","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":false,"preview_video":"","external_link":"","link_for_pay":false,"tile_gallery_items":false,"credits":""},"alternate_tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","hide_media":false},"tile_group":{"preview_image_url":false,"main_caption":"","sub_caption":"","":null,"popup_package_extra_content":"","read_time":""},"home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo":{"seo_title":"","seo_description":"","seo_default_title":"","seo_default_description":""},"links":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52709"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52709"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52709\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52710,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52709\/revisions\/52710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}