Weber-Pelcovits Haggadah Insert 2018

We were slaves to Pharaoh in the land of Egypt... And the more one tells about the Exodus from Egypt, behold it is praiseworthy.

(1) Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the LORD. They said: I will sing to the LORD, for God has triumphed gloriously; Horse and driver God has hurled into the sea. (2) The LORD is my strength and might; God is become my deliverance. This is my God and I will enshrine the Divine; The God of my parents, and I will exalt the LORD.

Rabbi Judah asked: "Who (in particular) sang praises to the Blessed Holy One (after the parting of the Red Sea)?

It was those same children whom Pharaoh had sought to cast into the Nile, for they recognized the Blessed Holy One.

How was that?

Because when Israel were in Egypt and an Israelite woman was about to give birth, she would go to the field and deliver there; and as soon as she gave birth, she would abandon the child and entrust him into the hands of the Blessed Holy One, saying, 'Master of the Universe! I have done my part; now do Yours.'

R. Yochanan said: Immediately, the Blessed Holy One descended in the Divine glory - so to speak - and cut the umbilical cords, washed them, and anointed them...

(As Ezekiel says: "...As for your birth, when you were born your navel cord was not cut, and you were not bathed in water...")

(God) placed two pieces of flint in the Divine hand, one rock fed the child with oil and the other with honey...

(As it says in Deuteronomy, "He fed him honey from the crag, And oil from the flinty rock.."

And when these children were grown they would return to their parents’ homes, and their parents asked them ‘Who took care of you?’ They would answer, ‘A fine handsome young man descended and attended to all of our needs,’.as it says in Song of Songs, "My beloved is clear-skinned and ruddy, Preeminent among ten thousand."

When the Israelites came to the Sea, those very same children were there, and they saw the Blessed Holy One at the Sea, and they began to say to their parents: ‘This is the very same one who did all those things for us when we were in Egypt,’ as it says, ‘This is my God, and I will glorify the Divine (Exodus 15:2).