Weekly Parsha

Rabbi Murray Sragow

The seventh day of Pesach commemorates kriyat Yam Suf, and for this reason the layning for that day is entirely the story of kriyat Yam Suf, as told in Parshat B’Shalach.

Well, almost all of the layning. For some reason, the final aliyah continues a few more psukim and includes the story of Marah. There the Jews complained for lack of water, Hashem showed Moshe how to miraculously sweeten the water, and then Hashem gave the Jews a few mitzvot.

Why is this episode tacked on to the end of the layning? What does it add? It does not seem relevant at all to the kriyat Yam Suf story. Furthermore, why does Hashem choose this occasion to give the Jews some mitzvot? And finally, the last pasuk is especially strange. There Hashem tells the Jews that if they observe the mitzvot, they will be protected from the sort of things that happened to the Egyptians, for “I Hashem am your doctor.” Why the medical analogy?

Rabbi David Benovitz, our former member, suggests an interesting approach. Perhaps Hashem was dissatisfied with the impression He left at kriyat Yam Suf, and wanted to show another side of Himself. At Yam Suf, and prior to that throughout the yetziat Mitzrayim story, all miracles had been destructive. Blood ruined the water, pestilence ruined the animals, Hashem Himself killed the first-born Egyptians, and finally He drowned the Egyptian army. While all that was necessary, the resultant impression in the minds of the Jews was that Hashem was only a force that you hoped to unleash on your enemies.

Only at Marah do the Jews discover that Hashem’s power can (literally) be sweet. It can help improve your life, not only ruin that of your enemy. That’s why Hashem chose that moment to share mitzvot with us. He wanted the mitzvot to be associated with goodness. Similarly, that’s why Hashem calls himself “your doctor.” His power gives life to those He favors.

And that’s why Marah is the true end of the kriyat Yam Suf story, and why we read it on Shevii Shel Pesach. It wasn’t enough for Hashem to drown the Egyptians. Only after the Jews saw Hashem as a force for good could their relationship be cemented. And since the whole point of yetziat Mitzrayim was for the Jews to serve Hashem, the final step in that process needed to be the sweetness of the waters of Marah, not the destructive waters of Yam Suf.