04 Feb PARSHAS BESHALACH: SWEET’ CAN EMERGE FROM ‘BITTER

This week’s parsha
contains the famous
“Song of the Sea”
(Az Yashir). The
Medrash says that
Moshe told G-d “I
know that I sinned
against You with my
use of the word ‘Az’ [then], as recorded in
the Torah: ‘From the time (mei’Az) I came
before Pharoah, you have done evil to this
nation’ [Shemos 5:23]. Therefore I will
praise You with the word ‘Az,’ as it is written
‘Then (Az) Moshe sang’ [Shemos 15:1].”
This Medrash requires an explanation.
The Torah section immediately following
the description of the Splitting of the Sea —
literally in the dawning days of the Jewish
nation — is the incident when Israel traveled
for three days and could not find water. They
came to a place called Marah. However, they
were unable to drink the water there because
it was bitter. They complained against
Moshe, asking what they could drink. Moshe
prayed to G-d. G-d showed Moshe a tree.
Moshe threw the tree into the water and the
water became sweetened. The Jews were

then able to drink the water.
The Medrash adds that the bark of the tree
that G-d showed Moshe was itself extremely
bitter. The bitter water was sweetened
through the addition of a bitter tree.
G-d is not in the custom of magnifying
miracles. Normal ‘procedure’ would be to
sweeten the water with something sweet. So
we see that there must be a lesson here. In
addition, since it is taught immediately after
the Splitting of the Sea, during the infancy of
the nation, this lesson must be of particular
importance.
The lesson of these incidents is (to quote the
words of the prophet) “From the bitter, sweet
emerges” [Shoftim 14:14]. Sometimes,
the sweetest outcome can emerge from the
bitterest pain. G-d is trying to teach His
nation a lesson. This is a difficult lesson that
the Jewish nation, and every nation, must
learn. And just as this is a lesson for nations,
it is a lesson for us as individuals as well.
Situations that sometimes appear to us as
terribly bitter may eventually produce the
sweetest of results. While a person is in the
process of enduring and suffering through
bitterness, he cannot imagine what positive

outcome can come out of his situation.
However, bitter wood in bitter water can
eventually produce sweetness. This is a
lesson that we needed to learn early on and
that we have seen, in retrospect, over and
over again. A situation that seemed like a
terrible pill to swallow turned out to be the
Salvation of G-d (Yeshuas HaShem).
This is also the key to understanding the
above-quoted Medrash regarding Moshe’s
use of the word ‘Az’. Moshe was not merely
making a play on words. Moshe was not
merely saying “Since I used the word ‘Az’ in
a bad way, now I will use the same word ‘Az’
in a good way.”
The first ‘Az’ was, in effect, a question: What
positive outcome can emerge from all the
pain and suffering that the Jews are enduring?
“From the moment (mei’Az) I came before
Pharoah, the situation of this nation has
worsened. How can this be positive? Where
is the sweetness here?”
The answer is that this suffering and torture,
in fact, eventually benefited the Jewish
nation. Rather than living in Egypt for 400
years, as G-d told Avraham, they only had
to stay there for 210 years. As our Sages

teach us, the length of the Egyptian exile
was diminished because of the severity of
the servitude. This ultimately saved them,
because had they stayed in Egypt any longer,
they would not have been able to leave at all
— they would have spiritually sunk too far
into the depths.
This, then, is the explanation of what Moshe
was saying in the above quoted Medrash.
“With this very word ‘Az’, which represented
a situation where I saw no possible silver
lining — namely the bitterness of Egyptian
servitude — I will now utter a Song of Praise
(with this very same word ‘Az’). Now I
can look back and see in retrospect that the
suffering was worth it. I can see that from
the bitterest portion can come the sweetest
of destinies. Mei’Az (from the bitter) yatza
masok (emerged sweetness).”