… The Jews finally leave Egypt.
The sea splits. The Jews are saved. And the Egyptians drown. (Exodus, 13:17-15:22)
We’ll come back to it.
… But things don’t go so smoothly after that.
There’s nothing to drink. The water is bitter.
And the Jews complain to Moshe. “Where’s the water”!
Moshe turns to G-d. And G-d shows a him a certain tree.
When Moshe throws a piece of wood into the water?
Delicious sweet water to drink! (Exodus, 15:22-25)
It’s not the splitting of the Red Sea. But pretty impressive!
… We may wonder, “Why don’t we ever see things like that”?
The answer?
We do. Every time we drink a glass of water!
It’s the exact same miracle.
Because, what’s the history of the water we drink?
It starts off in the ocean. But we can’t drink it. It’s full of salt!
And what did G-d do.
“Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it”!
And he makes the sun.
Ninety three million miles away!
The sun shines on the ocean. And the water starts evaporating.
The water becomes vapor and it rises, leaving the salt behind. And it forms clouds.
It rains.
And we have delicious sweet water!
… Why don’t we say “wow!” every time we take a drink?
Because we got used to it!
But Jewish tradition has a way to help us appreciate the miracle.
It’s called a bracha. A blessing.
Here’s a suggestion.
Take a glass of water some time today.
And before you drink it?
Make a bracha. Thank G-d for the gift. Remind yourself of the miracle!
And be inspired!
Here are the words.
“You are blessed, the Lord our G-d, King of the universe, by Whose word everything came into being”. (Baruch atoh adonoy, eloheynu melech haolom,
shehakol nihyeh bidvoroh)
And do me a favor.
Drop me an e-mail and tell me you tried it. (And show me that you really read this!)
All the best,
Moshe