4th-5th c. Huqoq Synagogue Galil
רַבִּי נָתָן אוֹמֵר: ״וֶאֱמֶת ה׳ לְעוֹלָם״ — דָּגִים שֶׁבַּיָּם אֲמָרוּהוּ, כִּדְרַב
הוּנָא. דְּאָמַר רַב הוּנָא: יִשְׂרָאֵל שֶׁבְּאוֹתוֹ הַדּוֹר מִקְּטַנֵּי
אֲמָנָה הָיוּ, וְכִדְדָרֵשׁ רַבָּה בַּר מָרִי: מַאי דִּכְתִיב ״וַיַּמְרוּ עַל
יָם בְּיַם סוּף״ — מְלַמֵּד שֶׁהִמְרוּ יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּאוֹתָהּ שָׁעָה וְאָמְרוּ:
כְּשֵׁם שֶׁאָנוּ עוֹלִין מִצַּד אֶחָד, כָּךְ מִצְרִיִּים עוֹלִים מִצַּד אַחֵר.
אָמַר לוֹ הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא לְשַׂר שֶׁל יָם:
פְּלוֹט אוֹתָן לַיַּבָּשָׁה! אָמַר לְפָנָיו: רִבּוֹנוֹ שֶׁל עוֹלָם, כְּלוּם
יֵשׁ עֶבֶד שֶׁנּוֹתֵן לוֹ רַבּוֹ מַתָּנָה וְחוֹזֵר וְנוֹטֵל מִמֶּנּוּ? אָמַר
לוֹ: אֶתֵּן לָךְ אֶחָד וּמֶחֱצָה שֶׁבָּהֶן
Rabbi Natan said "The truth of God is forever." - The fishes in the sea said this, as Rav Huna said, "The Israelietes of that generation were of little faith, they rebelled against God, saying that as we go up one side, the Egyptians will come up the other side.
The Holy Blessed One said to the Ministering Angel of the Sea, "Spit them out onto dry land," The Angel said before God, "Ruler of the World, has there ever been a servant who received a gift from their master who returned it back from them? God said to the Angel, "I give one half of them."
Rashi -a servant who received a gift from their master - wages to the fish.
Sarajevo Haggadah 1350
Exodus 14:23
23 A Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and
his horsemen.
(8) Rabbi
Nechunia, son of Haḳḳanah,
said: Know thou the power of repentance. Come and see from Pharaoh, king of
Egypt, who rebelled most grievously against the Rock, the Most High, as it is
said, "Who is the Lord, that I should hearken unto his voice?" (Ex.
5:2). In the same terms of speech in which he sinned, he repented, as it is
said "Who is like thee, O Lord, among the mighty?" (Ex. 15:11). The
Holy One, blessed be He, delivered him from amongst the dead… He went and ruled
in Nineveh...When the Holy One, blessed be He, sent for Jonah, to prophesy against
(the city) its destruction, Pharaoh hearkened and arose from his throne, rent
his garments and clothed himself in sackcloth and ashes.
Venice Haggadah 1609
Tali
Visual Bet Midrash
Two
Israelites pull Egyptian soldiers from the Sea, while Miriam dances and plays a
tambourine together with female companions.
Exodus 15
וַתִּקַּח֩ מִרְיָ֨ם הַנְּבִיאָ֜ה אֲח֧וֹת אַהֲרֹ֛ן אֶת־הַתֹּ֖ף בְּיָדָ֑הּ וַתֵּצֶ֤אןָ כׇֽל־הַנָּשִׁים֙ אַחֲרֶ֔יהָ בְּתֻפִּ֖ים וּבִמְחֹלֹֽת
Nicholas
Poussain, Early C17
As with so
many of Poussin’s works, the source for the content of the Crossing is a text, specifically the Old Testament
Book of Exodus (14. 19-31) with
some additional details taken from the Antiquities (II,
16. 2-6) by the first-century historian Flavius Josephus. In the immediate
foreground, five sinewy men drag bodies from the water, divesting them of their
arms and armour, a detail from Josephus and a mark of God’s providence in
supplying the refugee Israelites with weapons for their defence.
Josephus
Antiquities II 16:6
6. On the
next day Moses gathered together the weapons of the Egyptians, which were
brought to the camp of the Hebrews by the current of the sea, and the force of
the winds resisting it; and he conjectured that this also happened by Divine
Providence, that so they might not be destitute of weapons. So when he had
ordered the Hebrews to arm themselves with them, he led them to Mount Sinai, in
order to offer sacrifice to God, and to render oblations for the salvation of
the multitude, as he was charged to do beforehand.
Golden Haggadah, Spain 1320
It is interesting that the
decision was made to highlight Miriam’s Song of the Sea rather than her brother
Moses (vv.1–19). In making this choice, the focus of attention is directed to
her ritual leadership of a religious and politically significant ceremony: the
celebration of the deliverance of the Israelites from their enemy.
Miriam is depicted as a young
maiden, clad in an elegant medieval gown. She holds a small square frame drum
(adufe) decorated with an Islamic motif, alongside three other female musicians
who play a lute—an instrument associated with the female form (Dowling Long
2011: 108–113)—a circular frame drum (pandero), the cymbal, and clappers.
Interestingly, in many cultures, the adufe or frame drum is a
woman’s drum, associated with female sexuality. Often it is the only drum that
women are permitted to use (Montagu 2007: 29)—a tradition that continues in
parts of Portugal and Spain today (Cohen 2008). Doubleday (2008: 13) notes that
the drum is ‘a symbol par excellence of the womb’, with the drum skin
signifying ‘the unbroken hymen’, and the women’s drum playing ‘likened to
sexual intercourse’ (ibid: 28).
Early Christian writers [regarded] Miriam as
a type of Church—for example in Ambrose's description of her ‘as a virgin
[who] with unstained spirit joins together the religious gatherings of the
people to sing divine songs’ (Concerning Virgins, 1.3.12).
They also understood Miriam as a type of Mary the Mother of Christ. Notable
among these was Peter Chrysologus who drew a parallel between the two
women’s names, Miriam (Hebrew: Miryam) being
the same as Mary (Greek: Mariam) (Sermon, 146). Luca
Giordano (d. 1705, who painted many representations of the Virgin Mary, might
well have intended to represent Miriam as a type of Mary, given the similarity
of Miriam’s attire in this rendition to the Virgin’s attire in his many other paintings.
Laura
James 1999, Commentary Jo Milgrom, Joel Duman
A
large crowd stands on the shore of the Red Sea, in a line that undulates in
three waves, starting from the angel in the upper right corner. Standing out in
this crowd – because of their head coverings – are Miriam on the right in a
white dress and Moses, who is holding a staff, on the left.
In this painting,
everything is in motion. In addition to the undulating waves of people, the
individuals are also moving; for the most part they are not standing straight,
but rather with their hips on an angle and swaying – in other words, they are
dancing!
Exodus 13
וַחֲמֻשִׁ֛ים עָל֥וּ בְנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל
מֵאֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרָֽיִם׃
Rashi וחמשים.
אֵין
חֲמוּשִׁים אֶלָּא מְזֻיָּנִים
Sotah
37a
אָמַר לוֹ רַבִּי יְהוּדָה: לֹא כָּךְ הָיָה
מַעֲשֶׂה, אֶלָּא זֶה אוֹמֵר: אֵין אֲנִי יוֹרֵד תְּחִילָּה לַיָּם, וְזֶה אוֹמֵר:
אֵין אֲנִי יוֹרֵד תְּחִילָּה לַיָּם, קָפַץ נַחְשׁוֹן בֶּן עַמִּינָדָב וְיָרַד
לַיָּם תְּחִילָּה
Numbers
1:7 These are the names of the participants who
shall assist you: From Reuben, Elizur son of Shedeur. From Simeon, Shelumiel
son of Zurishaddai. From Judah, Nahshon son of Amminadab.
7:12 The one who presented his offering on the first day was Nahshon
son of Amminadab of the tribe of Judah.
Numbers Rabba 13
נַחְשׁוֹן בֶּן עַמִּינָדָב
לְמַטֵּה יְהוּדָה (במדבר ז, יב), לָמָּה נִקְרָא שְׁמוֹ נַחְשׁוֹן, עַל שֵׁם שֶׁיָּרַד תְּחִלָּה
לַנַּחְשׁוֹל שֶׁבַּיָּם. אָמַר רַבִּי שִׁמְעוֹן בֶּן יוֹחָאי אָמַר הַקָּדוֹשׁ
בָּרוּךְ הוּא לְמשֶׁה מִי שֶׁקִּדֵּשׁ אֶת שְׁמִי בַּיָּם הוּא יַקְרִיב
תְּחִלָּה, וְזֶה הָיָה נַחְשׁוֹן,
An Angel Called Truth
I glanced back at the crowd.
Moses was gesticulating – go swim, go swim! So on I went. I tried to spot my
parents. There they were, standing calm ... as I, their son, walked out into
deep and life-threatening water. How could they look so proud when I was busy
drowning?
Exodus
13 And Moses took with him the bones of Joseph, who had exacted an oath
from the children of Israel, saying, “God will be sure to take notice of you:
then you shall carry up my bones from here with you.”
Sotah 16a-b
The Sages taught Come and see how beloved mitzvot
are to Moses our teacher. As all the Jewish people were involved in taking plunder
and he was involved in mitzvot. And from where did Moses our teacher know where
Joseph was buried? Serah, the daughter of Asher, remained from that generation.
Moses went to her and said to her: Do you know where Joseph is buried? She said
to him: The Egyptians fashioned a metal casket for him and set it in the Nile [Nilus]
River so that its water would be blessed. Moses went and stood on the bank of
the Nile. He said, “Joseph, Joseph, the time has arrived about which the Holy Blessed
One, took an oath that, “I [God], will redeem you. If you show yourself, good, if
not, we are clear from your oath.” Immediately, the casket of Joseph rose.
And all those years that the Jewish people were in
the wilderness, these two arks, one of a dead man and one of the Divine
Presence, travelled together, and passersby would say “What is the nature of
these two arks?” They said “One is of a dead person and one is of the Divine
Presence.” “In what way does dead person travel with the Divine Presence?” They
said, “This fulfilled all that is written in this.”
Joshua 24
The bones of Joseph, which the Israelites had
brought up from Egypt, were buried at Shechem, in the piece of ground that
Jacob had bought from the children of Hamor, Shechem’s father.
"This is God's prophet, our master Joseph, peace be upon him", 1917. The text is stated on the top part with large letter in Arabic: "Hadhā nabiyy-’Allah sayyidinā Yūsuf ʿalayhi ’s-salām" (هٰذا نَبِيّ الله سَيِّدِنَا يُوسُف عَلَيهِ ٱلْسَّلَام)
The Itinerarium Burdigalense (333 CE) notes: "At the foot of the mountain itself, is a place called Sichem. Here is a tomb in which Joseph is laid, in the parcel of ground which Jacob his father gave to him."[68] Eusebius of Caesarea in the 4th-century records in his Onomasticon: "Suchem, city of Jacob now deserted. The place is pointed out in the suburb of Neapolis. There the tomb of Joseph is pointed out nearby."[69][70] Jerome, writing of Saint Paula's sojourn in Palestine writes that "turning off the way [from Jacob's well], she saw the tombs of the twelve patriarchs".[71] Jerome himself, together with the Byzantine monk George Syncellus, who had lived many years in Palestine, wrote that all twelve patriarchs, Joseph included, were buried at Sychem.[72]
After
the events of October 2000, the IDF prohibited Israeli access to the tomb.[152] As a result of Operation Defensive Shield, Nablus was reoccupied by the IDF in April 2002,
with severe damage to the historic core of the city, where 64 heritage
buildings suffered serious damage or were destroyed.[153] Some Breslov hasidim and others began to take advantage of the new
circumstances to visit the site clandestinely under the cover of darkness,
evading army and police checkpoints. Eventually Joseph's tomb was once more
open to visits. In May 2002, Israeli soldiers mistakenly opened fire on a
convoy of settlers taking advantage of an ongoing incursion in Nablus to visit
the tomb. Seven settlers were arrested by the army for illegally entering a
combat zone.[154] As a result of Operation Defensive Shield, the tomb was
retaken by the IDF and shortly afterwards, in response to numerous requests,
they renewed guarded tours of the tomb.
In February 2007, thirty five Knesset members (MKs) wrote to the army
asking them to open Joseph's Tomb to Jewish visitors for prayer.[155] In
May 2007, Breslov hasidim visited the site for the first time in two years and
later on that year, a group of hasidim found that the gravesite had been
cleaned up by the Palestinians. In the past few years the site had suffered
from neglect and its appearance had deteriorated, with garbage being dumped and
tires being burned there.[158]
In early 2008, a group of MKs wrote a letter to the Prime
Minister asking that the tomb be renovated: "The tombstone is completely
shattered, and the holy site is desecrated in an appalling manner, the likes of
which we have not seen in Israel or anywhere else in the world."[159] In
February, it was reported that Israel would officially ask the Palestinian
Authority to carry out repairs at the tomb,[160] but
in response, vandals set tires on fire inside the tomb. In December 2008,
Jewish workers funded by anonymous donors painted the blackened walls and
re-built the shattered stone marker covering the grave.[161]
The tomb
As of 2009, monthly visits to the tomb in bullet-proof vehicles
under heavy IDF protection are organised by the Yitzhar based organization Shechem Ehad.[162] In
late April 2009, a group of Jewish worshipers found the headstone smashed and
swastikas painted on the walls, as well as boot prints on the grave itself.[163]
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