And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him (Ex. 13:19)
In the Midrash, Moses is described as "wise of heart" for concerning himself with Joseph's bones when the rest of the Jews were helping themselves to the riches that were washed up on the shores of the Red Sea. This is obviously a pious deed, but what does it have to do with wisdom? Moses, as leader of the Jewish people, was like the kohanim (priests) when it came to the prohibition against defiling oneself with the dead. However, by waiting until everyone else was busy, Moses was permitted to do so (indeed, it was a great mitzva), as no one else was free to attend to the task...(Pardes Yosef)
Shabbat Shira
Every year when Parshat Beshalach was read, the Maharal of Prague would instruct the teachers to gather their students (and their parents) in the courtyard of the synagogue to tell them the story of how the birds sang and danced during the splitting of the Red Sea. As related in the Midrash, the Jewish children plucked fruit from the branches of the trees that sprang up on either side and fed them to the birds. After the story was told, kasha (groats) was distributed to the children to scatter about for the birds and chickens in commemoration of this event. The Maharal would then bless the children and their parents that they raise them to a life of Torah and good deeds and lead them to the marriage canopy. (Sefer HaSichot 5702 of the Previous Rebbe)
And you shall hold your peace (Ex. 14:14)
This command was directed against those Jews who wished to engage in prayer instead of actually proceeding into the riverbed. We learn from this that there are times when a Jew must close his prayer book, remove his tefilin, fold his talit and leave the synagogue - in order to save the thousands of Jews who are in danger of drowning in the sea of assimilation, "splitting the sea" and uncovering the light of the Jewish soul that exists within. (The Lubavitcher Rebbe)
Reprinted from the Parashat Beshalach 2003/5763 edition of L’Chaim, a publication of the Lubavitch Youth Organization.
