Timbrels & Apples or Ethics of Care as the Foundation of Redemption, Seventh Day of Passover

Hebrew

Then Miriam the prophet, Aaron’s sister, picked up a timbrel (or “hand-drum”) and all the women went out after her in dance with timbrels. And Miriam chanted responsively with them: Sing to the Eternal for God has triumphed, yes, triumphed, the horse and its charioteer are flung into the sea!                   (Exodus 15:20-21, composite translation)

“Where did they get timbrels in the desert?” Rashi asks following the midrash in the Mekhilta, and answers: “The righteous women of that generation were so confident that the Creator would perform miracles for them that they took timbrels from Egypt:”

Without detracting from the miracles and wonders, I want to go back in time one additional week to uncover a foundational layer. Although the Israelites left Egypt “with much property,” most of it was “borrowed” from Egyptians at the very end. On the morning of 14 Nisan, as the Israelites prepared for departure, how much property could slaves have had? Maybe two changes of clothes and a blanket for each person and some kitchen utensils – including a kneading bowl – for the family. And a hand-drum.

According to ancient texts, including the Bible, and archaeological evidence, in the Ancient Near East hand-drums were customarily played by women. They were simpler than our modern tambourines, because they didn’t have jingles around the circumference. Rather, they were a small, modest objects that a slave could afford, or make for herself.

When the Israelite women packed their meager belongings before the Exodus, were they thinking only about celebrating miracles? Unlikely. Pause for a moment and imagine: what it was like to leave Egypt with a two-and-a-half-year-old?

Before they were used to praise the Redeemer and celebrate redemption, the timbrels could entertain, soothe or, at least, distract hungry, confused and frightened babies and children. Before they were tools of liberation, the timbrels were tools of care.

Detail from the Second Nuremberg Haggadah, showing a woman with three children,
one in a carry-cot on her head, and a man with two babies in a carrier on his back (Golinkin and Kulp, The Schechter Haggadah)

“Ethics of Care” is a philosophical school that focuses on the practice and value of caring for dependent, vulnerable others, as opposed to the classic liberalism of Thomas Hobbs and company who focused on the self-sufficient, independent adult. As if such people exist. We were all born dependent on others.

Ethics of care were exemplified during the journey out of Egypt not only by the Israelite women but also by the Holy Blessed One, who cared for the hungry toddlers. In Midrash Shemot Rabbah, Rabbi Nehorei explains: “When passing through the sea, an Israelite woman who was carrying a crying child could reach out her hand, and pluck an apple or pomegranate out of the sea and gives to the child.” The shiny red, sweet fruit appears when as needed. The toddler is fed and the parents – who apparently lacked experience in traveling with children – learned a lesson: don’t budge without taking snacks for the children.

The people of Israel marched in the mud and in the dark, between walls of water, came to the other side and burst into song, in two choruses.

About one it is said: “Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Eternal. They said: I will sing to the Eternal, for God has triumphed, yes, triumphed” (Exodus 15:1). Although they are singing together, each one stands as an individual, using the singular “I will sing.”

About the other chorus, we are told, “Miriam chanted responsively with them: “Sing [plural] to the Eternal for God has triumphed, yes, triumphed” (verse 21). Miriam leads and asks for a response from the women. They answer and sing together using plural language.

I wish I could claim that gender segregation at the sea is a thing of the past, but this goal remains unattained, in numerous ways. It is not enough that women can now work in traditionally "male" professions. It is also important for men to take on the work of care. 

More than two years of Covid-19 has highlighted how vulnerable we all are, how dependent society is on care-givers and people in care professions, and how quickly the appreciation for workers in health, education and food supply can pass.

Until society appreciates and rewards fairly care-oriented people who sing their song in the plural, in a manner similar to the individualists who espouse personal achievements, we will not reach the Promised Land.

(Take a timbrel and some apples, we’ve got a long way to go.) 

Kehillat Hod veHadar, 2022

-----------

With thanks to the teachers whose Torah and writing were the inspiration that set me on the path to this drasha: Rabbis Tali Adler, Aryeh Bernstein, Shai Held, Jason Rubenstein and Prof. Laurie Zoloth (in alphabetical order) and to Rabbi David Golinkin for the illustration.