Torah Tuesday: Nachshon and the Legacy of Black Courage
This past weekend, as the rabbi in residence for Shir Hadash in St. Louis, I mashed up the words of "Mi Chamocha," which also appears in this week's Torah portion, Beshalach, and the well-known spiritual "Wade in the Water" - to create a representation of the journey of liberation. After the service, a congregant approached me with questions about the significance of the mashup. I explained to him how I saw the two songs as complementary, using the Midrash and the Talmudic story of Nachshon ben Aminadav, Aaron's brother-in-law, as a metaphor for the bravery and resilience of Black people and the struggle to survive.Â
Nachshon
The story of Nachshon ben Aminadav is a midrash used to explain some of the events in the Torah portion Beshalach. According to the story, the Israelites found themselves trapped at the edge of the Sea with Pharaoh's army closing in. Moses told them that God would fight for them and save them, and to demonstrate faith, Nachshon stepped into the sea. When Nachshon was about to drown, Moses raised his staff, and the waters parted.
The spiritual "Wade in the Water" is a well-known Negro Spiritual that was used as a code to help escaped enslaved people navigate to freedom. The song's lyrics instruct listeners to "Wade in the water, God's gonna trouble the water." The song is also a metaphor for the courage and bravery required to escape slavery. Enslaved people had to risk their lives to cross bodies of Water to reach safety, and the Water also provided cover so that dogs could not track their scent.
As a Black person, I feel a powerful connection between the words in Mi Chamocha, the Nachshon story, and the spiritual Wade in the Water," they all express the bravery and resilience required for a journey of liberation. Nachshon stepped into the sea to demonstrate his faith in God and his belief in a better future, just as Black people used spirituals like "Wade in the Water" to demonstrate their faith in their ability to escape slavery and reach a better future. We can express our faith in a better future through concrete actions that bring about change, and it is only through bravery and resilience that people can overcome difficult obstacles and reach their goals; In other words, having faith in a better future is better than returning to slavery.Â
Black people fear police brutality in a way that white Americans will never understand. I know that soon, very soon, another Black person will be killed by police during a "routine traffic stop" even before the story of Tyre Nichols dies down. We can't simply continue to stand by and do nothing, waiting for the next victim. We must take bold and decisive action to create change and demand the system change. Demand that our elected officials make stronger laws to stop this ongoing violence committed by law enforcement and pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.Â
It is time for us to step forward and make a real difference to create the world we want to see. This is the moment; this is the time to bring about the change we seek, to have faith in our ability to create a better future, and to act upon that faith with courage and bravery, just like Nachshon.Â
Added lyrics:
Nachshon jumped in the big Red Sea
he did it so that we’d be free
Wade in the waterÂ
Thank you for your wisdom.