Tikvah
Editors’ Pick

March 28, 2018

The Splitting of the Sea, Divine Providence, and the Suez Crisis

A rabbi’s reflections.

In January 1957, Israel’s second war with Egypt had just ended, and Israeli forces still occupied much of the Sinai Peninsula—soon to be withdrawn under U.S. pressure. The American Jewish sage Joseph B. Soloveitchik had these events in mind when he delivered a sermon on the week’s Torah reading, which describes the splitting of the Sea of Reeds. Basil Herring has transcribed and translated the sermon:

SaveGift