Exodus 13:17-15:26

The seventh day of Passover is usually a happy occasion, the recounting of Israel’s miraculous escape from danger at the Red Sea and the great relief and celebration that followed. But at the end of today’s reading comes a frightening warning:

 

If you obey the Lord your God, and do what is proper in His eyes, and if you attend to His commandments and keep all His laws, then none of the illness that I brought upon the Egyptians will I bring on you—for I am the Lord who heals you (Exodus 15:26)

 

The wording is somewhat difficult, but the sense seems clear: “If you do your part and keep My commandments, then I’ll take care of you and even heal you when you fall sick.” Since the arrival of the COVID-19 virus, however, these words have a hollow ring. Surgical masks cover every face. By now, many of us have heard of one or two people we knew who are no more. Was it really because they didn’t keep all of God’s laws and divine decrees? How in these terrible times can we understand this verse?

 

It may seem odd, but all this brings to mind the Jewish practice of reciting the “blessing of gratitude” (birkat ha-gomel) after having been saved from danger. Tradition singles out four specific occasions for reciting this blessing: 1) after recovering from serious illness, 2) after crossing the sea (even from far above, that is, in an airplane), 3) having been released from captivity (abduction or imprisonment), and 4) having crossed the desert (or any other overland excursion that is dangerous).

 

But why single out these four? What about, for example, a narrow escape from a deadly traffic accident? A modern rabbi explained that in these specific four examples, our first instinct is to thank the human beings involved in our rescue—the surgeon whose skill performed the life-saving operation, the sea captain who brought the ship safely to shore in a storm, the people who took up a collection to pay the ransom money to the captors, or the guide who led us through the trackless desert. By all means, you should give thanks to these human agents for your escape from danger. But remember at the same time that these are merely the proximate cause of your escape.

 

This is, I think, the sense of that last verse in today’s reading. The Torah was certainly not offering any ultimate guarantee for keeping God’s laws. In fact, it’s a pretty safe bet that—then as now—everyone knew that they eventually would die. But what the Torah is saying is that our escaping sickness or any other danger should not be greeted as a return to normal life. That sort of normality always was an illusion.