BeShallach -- The Waters of Redemption

In case anyone out there is actually reading my musings on Exodus-As-Metaphor-For-Working-Through-Personal-Struggle/Addiction …. my self-identified “addictions” have at various times included: codependency (very hip in the 90’s to be codependent!), pornography, food and video gaming.

And now back to our story of personal redemption, a reading of the Book of Exodus as a story not of Israel’s redemption and journey to a physical Promised Land, but as a story of each person’s redemption and journey to an inner “promised land” of peace, balance, connection and harmony.

Exodus 13:17 tells us that the Jews take the long way home, not the direct route.

Who makes their journey to wholeness easy? We all find ways to complicate, obfuscate.

Exodus 13:18 tells us that the Jews travel to the Sea of Reeds.

I see this as equivalent to the mikvah or the baptism. Water is a symbol of renewal and rebirth. We walk in as one person, and leave as another. A breaking point has been reached and we will never be the same again. I let my father control our relationship for many years. When I got the maturity and courage to change the dynamic, there was a point reached when I could not turn back. I had come too far.

Exodus 13:21 tells us that the Lord send a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night to help guide the Jews.

I believe there is mystery in this world. Mystery in the form of things that simply cannot be explained. Like when we desperately need help, and suddenly, unexpectedly get help from seemingly nowhere.

Exodus 14:28 tells that the waters of the Reed Sea drown the Egyptians.

The Egyptians were about surfaces, appearances, illusion. The waters wash all that away. And we are left with only truth.

Exodus 15 is the Song of the Sea.

There are moments of indescribable joy in recovery and rebirth. The soul feels freed, and life suddenly seems to sparkle and come alive as it never has before. And we sing.