January 19, 2013

Bo, Exodus 10:1–13:16

All I Need Is a Miracle

Marci N. Bellows

It was the winter of 1999 in Israel, and my sister had come to visit me while I lived there. We planned a trip to Masada and everyone told us that we should leave near sunrise in order to hike up at the coolest part of the day. Did we listen? No. Instead, we arrived there around noon, and we two Bellows sisters began our climb with the sun directly overhead. It was a particularly hot, humid day in the desert, and the heat only added to the time it took us to ascend.

It probably took us over two hours to make it to the top. We stopped often, and kept trying to stay hydrated. As we approached the top, we noticed there were storm clouds in the distance. We were afraid that it would begin to rain before we made it to the top, which would only make our hike increasingly uncomfortable.

We tried to hurry, but it was hard. Eventually, the dark cloud was right above us. Amazingly, it didn’t begin to rain until the exact second that we put our feet down on the top of Masada. We looked at each other at that moment and had the same thought, “Thanks, God, for waiting until we completed our journey!”

It was an incredibly holy moment, and it provided both of us with a renewed sense of clarity about the Presence of God in our lives, and about the possibility of miracles both large and small.

In Parashat Bo, we read about the final four plagues that occurred during our Egyptian enslavement. Our people had been slaves for so very long, and they were finally about to experience one of the greatest miracles of our tradition. As the midrash teaches us, “Thus it is said that the rescue from Egypt is equal to all the miracles and deeds that God performed for Israel” (M’chilta, Amalek 3).

As the Jewish people, we have always been compelled to tell and retell this story.

It captures the imaginations of authors, illustrators, filmmakers, and academics alike. Of course, our tradition dedicates an entire holiday to it. In fact, the Haggadah may be the Jewish text that has been illustrated most over time.

I believe that one of the reasons we continue to be so captivated by the story is because it teaches us about the possibility of the impossible. God does care about our suffering, God can help us, and miracles do happen.

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