Sara Morell is a 6th Grader at Hunter College Elementary School, and co-president of the Student Council.  One of her favorite projects last year was a class trip to Federal Hall after studying the Constitution; students presented arguments for and against gender segregation on school sports teams (Sara was against).

Sara loves math and logic, and enjoys reading fantasy and science fiction.  She also enjoys traveling with her family; some of her favorite places include Venice Italy, Morocco, Mexico, Oregon -- and NYC!  One of her goals is to visit every continent in the world.  Sara's other interests include playing the flute, theater, current events, and spending time with her friends and with her dog Snoopy.  She is looking forward to celebrating her Bat Mitzvah here at Hebrew Tabernacle on January 22nd.

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             My Parashah is Beshalach, which contains the Song of the Sea.  In Beshalach the Israelites leave Egypt with Moses. They follow God who appears as a pillar of cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night. Even though Pharaoh allows the Israelites to leave, God hardens the hearts of the Egyptians, and they chase after the Israelites. Moses splits the Red Sea and the Israelites pass through just as the Egyptians start to cross the sea; and the waves crash onto the Egyptians, drowning them. The Israelites are relieved to be safe, and they praise God. This praise is known as the Song of the Sea, which I just chanted. The Israelites travel through the desert, and become hungry. Then they complain to God, asking for food. God gives them the food, but tells them to only take what they need. The Israelites are afraid there will be no food the next day, and they save most of their meal. The next day God sees that they didn’t trust him. As a punishment for not trusting him, the next day the food is infested with maggots. As the Israelites travel through the desert they pass the Amalekites. The Israelites have a battle with them, and God splits open the earth trapping the Amalekites in the earth forever. God tells them to never forget the bad things the Amalekites did. This is the end of parashot Beshalach.

          There are two different kinds of problems the Israelites face in my Torah portion. There are issues among the Israelites themselves, and issues with other people, such as the Amalekites. My Drash is about the internal problems that faced the Israelites, especially the relationship between the Israelites and God. The relationship is demonstrated by the crossing of the Red Sea to escape the Egyptians, and how the Israelites obtain water, bread, and manna in order to survive. Both of these problems are related to the peoples’ trust in God.

          There are two different types of trust. There is trust out of fear, and trust out of respect. Trust out of fear is when someone does as they’re told, but only because they have no one else to rely on. Trust out of respect is when someone knows that another person, or God, is really looking out for them out of kindness. The Israelites just got out of slavery, and their only option for survival is with the God they haven’t encountered in over 400 years. As they left Egypt, the Israelites trust came from fear.

          Fear is the one of the simplest of human emotions. It is the easiest to create in yourself or others and the hardest to get over. People can be afraid of spiders, the dark, fire, drowning, knives, monsters, and just about anything. If you are afraid of fire, it even makes you scared to light a candle on Shabbat. On the other hand respect is one of the most complex human emotions, and is the exact opposite. You need to build up a bond of respect over time, and work hard to make it last.

          Trust out of respect is more powerful than trust out of fear, but it takes much longer to gain. Trust out of respect can overcome fear. For trust out of respect to overcome fear you have to have trust out of respect in another person. God had two choices: to have the Israelites trust God out of respect or out of fear. God needed the Israelites to trust him immediately, so God used fear. The Israelites then have to work to overcome their fear of God before they can respect God.  Fear can take over your entire body; unless you use the trust through respect that you have in another person to drive it away. Your friends and family can help you to overcome fear.

          The Israelites don’t truly respect God… yet. I would like to quote Rabbi Nahum Sarna. He says: “ They were acting like spoiled children. Moses had led them out of slavery. God had freed them from bondage. Even after they had been given sweet water from Marah and manna to eat, they still found reasons to murmur against Moses and God. They remained skeptical, doubtful of God’s goodness and of Moses’ intentions.”  I agree that they were skeptical of God, but I don’t believe they were acting spoiled. These are people who spent the last 400 years in slavery. They just needed to take their time to get to know and trust God.

          There is only one time when the Israelites do show respect, which is the Song of the Sea. They spend most of their time complaining when they should be trying to fix their own problems.

          With the gaining of trust out of respect there is always some doubt. The crossing of the Red Sea is a good example of this. Right before the splitting of the Red Sea, the Israelites freak out. They see the Egyptians chasing them, and the only escape is through the un-opened sea. The Israelites go so far as to say they wished they stayed in Egypt. “Was it for want of graves in Egypt that you brought us to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us, taking us out of Egypt? Is this not the very thing we told you in Egypt saying ‘Let us be, and we will serve the Egyptians, for it is better for us to serve the Egyptians, than to die in the wilderness’?” They were just getting to know God. For almost 400 years during their time as slaves they had no contact with their God. When they cross the Red Sea, this is an example of trust out of fear. They have to trust God in order to escape the Egyptians, but they still fear God. Directly after they cross the sea, they feel respect for the first time and they sing praises to God. This is the Song of the Sea. Still, they haven’t got enough respect for God to last for very long.

          After the crossing of the Red Sea they have to travel in the desert for 40 years. When they start to get hungry they complain to Moses and God. God tests their faith by telling them to take only what they need. But the fear of starvation overpowers them, and they lose their trust in God, so the Israelites disobey God, and take more than they need.

          Their trust out of fear came because God wanted the Israelites to fear him. In Beshalach it says “and when Israel saw the wondrous power which the Lord had wielded against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord…” The Israelites fear God.

          The fact that the Israelites feared God means that when they did trust God, that the Jew’s trust came from fear as well. They obey because they see what God could do to destroy. They are scared of God doing to them what God did to the Egyptians and the Amalekites.

          I don’t think we fear God today as much as the Israelites back then did. This may be because we fully respect God now. Despite the terrible losses of the Holocaust, the survival of the Jewish people is a cause for respecting God. Another reason why we respect God is that we know God will help us through the conflict of Israel and Palestine Today we know of God’s power and we trust that God won’t use it against us. Our relationship now comes from trust out of respect. As God said to the Israelites after the flood in the story of Noah’s Ark “Never again will I doom the earth because of man…” We understand this, because we’ve been through so many difficult situations and have seen God work miracles when they are needed. Jews now know God will always help us.

          So far I haven’t explained why the Israelites praised God during the song. There are many possible answers, but the one I believe comes with what I said about fear.

          When the Israelites saw the Egyptians crash under the waves they were in awe of God’s power. For a moment, they respected God, but later when they were in the desert and had no water and no food they became scared. Once again their fear took over and they lost their respect.

           This Torah portion relates to me in many ways. The main way is how I trust other people. One example took place last year at camp. Two cabins got the chance to go on a camping trip at High Point State Park. At one point in the night we were going to roast marshmallows. I am extremely afraid of fire, and got really scared of having to go so close to something so hot. But a couple friends of mine convinced me to try going up to the fire, and roasting a marshmallow, and I did. The marshmallow tasted really delicious, and it helped to overcome my fear of fire. I only did this because I respect my friends – someone else’s words wouldn’t have meant as much. My friends and I have a relationship based on respect.

           Even in next weeks torah portion, Yitro, the Israelites still don’t trust God. I know this because they bow down to a golden calf while Moses goes to get the 10 commandments. The Israelites will eventually trust God out of respect, but that takes time.

              I would like to thank Nina Nesher for tutoring me in my Torah portion and Haf-Torah. I would like to thank Miriam Frank for starting me on my Drash, and Rabbi Weiner for helping me to write my Drash. I would like to thank Ms. Freeman, and Alex Sarlin for giving me ways to improve my Drash. I would like to thank Cantor Fletcher for helping me practice in the sanctuary. Finally I would like to thank my parents for helping me through my first 12 years of life.

Shabbat Shalom