Finally, in last week's parshah, after years of the Jews' enslavement and
then all the ten plagues that G-d heaped upon the Egyptians, Pharaoh had let the
Jews out of Egypt. But in this week's parshah, no sooner are the Jews out of
Egypt that Pharaoh changes his mind and begins chasing after them!
Now, in front of the Jews is the sea, and behind them is Pharaoh with
thousands of soldiers. If they move forward they will drown, but if they turn
around, or do nothing, Pharaoh and his army will reach them and they will be
forced back to Egypt. What should they do?! They are trapped!
G-d tells Moses to take his stick and strike the sea. Moses does, and an
amazing miracle happens--the sea splits, allowing the Jews to walk through on
dry land! The Egyptians try to follow the Jews into the sea, but the sea begins
to flow again and closes in on them.
When the Jews come to the other side, they sing a song of thanks to G-d,
awesomely grateful for the miraculous way they were saved.
Now, the Jews have come to the desert, and they are worried
that they will not have food to eat. So G-d sends quail for the Jews to have meat, and
every morning, a special food called Manna falls to the ground. The Jews collect
one portion of Manna every day, but on Friday there is a double portion for Shabbat. Then Moses hits a rock and it becomes a
fountain, giving the Jews water.
Next, a nation called Amalek comes and attacks the Jews. Moses
sends Joshua to gather an army from the Jews and go fight them. Joshua does
this, and he wins against the Amalekites. But G-d is very angry, and promises to
never forget what Amalek did to the Jews, that they were the first one to attack them in the desert.
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