Sermon Beshallach “Long Short Journeys”

Written by Rabbi Nicola Feuchtwang — 8 February 2025

I live 3 about miles from the Sternberg Centre, which is where Alyth has held our main Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services for more than 40 years, and is also the home of Leo Baeck College where Rabbis Hannah and Elliott, and Rabbis Josh and Mark and Laura (and I) all did our training. I do have a car, but I don’t drive on Yom Kippur, and during my studies I often chose to walk to and from College.

For many years I joked that – however fast I walk – that journey always took me exactly an hour.  Then I started discovering some slightly shorter routes using side streets instead of main roads. It also gradually dawned on me that if I cut across the park instead of walking around it, I could save a few more minutes – so I did.  Then one day (exactly 2 years ago, as it happens), I thought I would be really clever and try a further shortcut – but I had forgotten about the fenced-off Pentland business complex, and ended up in a cul-de-sac, having to retrace my steps and adding over 10 minutes to my journey time.

When I showed up a little later than usual, my classmates were amused, and said:

This was the right week for that to happen!  It’s Parashat Beshallach!  Sometimes the short route is the long route.  Sometimes the long route is the short route.

I’d like to invite you to look back at the first verse of the Torah portion which Charlotte read for us this morning:

Now when Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although it was nearer; for God said, “The people may have a change of heart when they see war, and return to Egypt.” So God led the people roundabout, by way of the wilderness at the Sea of Reeds.[1]

It makes my 10-minute diversion very trivial by comparison, because for the Israelites, the “round about” meant that a journey which might have taken only few weeks, would instead take 40 years.  Rabbinic commentators over the centuries have fallen over themselves to try and fathom the reasoning behind the text. (The rabbinic game is that you have to support your argument by providing a ‘proof text’ from Torah – but I won’t quote those verses here). For example:

  • Why might seeing War lead to a change of heart?
  • Why on earth would they want to return to Egypt?
  • Did God want to tire them out? Or test or ‘purify’ them?
  • Might it have been to give God plenty of opportunity to show them miracles and mighty acts – including the manna.[2]

We only read the beginning of the parasha, but let’s look at what happens next:

  • When they reach the sea with the Egyptians behind, they panic and want to go back to Egypt
  • After crossing the sea, they are triumphant and “believe in God and Moses”
  • Almost immediately though, they are complaining about not having water
  • Once that is sorted, they rail against Moses and Aaron: You have brought here to starve us, we were better off in Egypt

And so on…

There are, believe it or not, advantages to being a slave.  Life is hard, but it is relatively predictable; the food may not be great, but it’s there; you don’t have to make decisions, and you have no responsibility.

Our ancestors were a rabble, always ready to complain and squabble.

The usual translation that “God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although it was nearer” may be better translated as “because”.  God didn’t want it to be too easy to go back to Egypt.  We needed time to become a community, to learn to trust that a leader may actually have your best interest at heart, and to obey them, but also to do things for yourself.

There is an Aggadah which is often quoted as a commentary on this week’s portion:

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Ḥananya related as follows:

One time I was walking along the path, and I saw a young boy sitting at the crossroads. And I said to him: On which path shall we walk in order to get to the city? He said to me: This path is short and long, and that path is long and short. I walked on the path that was short and long. When I approached the city I found that gardens and orchards surrounded it, and I did not know the trails leading through them to the city. I went back and met the young boy again and said to him: My son, didn’t you tell me that this way is short? He said to me: And didn’t I tell you that it is also long?[3]

Or to make the same point in terms which may be more familiar:  It is so much quicker for a parent to dress or feed a young child, than to let them “me do it!” And yet, in the long run, the child will acquire the skills and independence so much faster if they are allowed to get on with it.

Sometimes the short route is the long route.  Sometimes the long route is the short route. Sometimes it’s because of a traffic jam or a rail strike, or there is a business park in the way.

It isn’t easy and can be frustrating, but we can learn to regard every unplanned diversion on our life’s journeys, as a challenge, and an opportunity to learn new skills, to grow, to discover potential we did not know we had.

Shabbat Shalom

 

[1] Exodus 13: 17-18 JPS translation

[2] Mekhilta d’Rabbi Yishmael 13:18:1-3 – and many other midrashim and commentaries

[3] bEruvin 53b