Sources:
Genesis Rabbah 94:9; Targum Pseudo-Yonathan on Genesis 46:17; Sefer ha-Yashar 109b-110a; Pesikta Rabbati 17:5; Midrash ha-Gadol, va-Yigash 45:26; IFA 5029; oral version collected from an old woman in Indianapolis by Howard Schwartz.
Studies:
“Serach bat Asher and Bitiah bat Pharaoh—Names which Became Legends” by Margaret Jacobi.
483. THE SECRET OF THE REDEEMER
There was a secret sign that God had communicated to Abraham, the secret of the mystery of the Redeemer. Abraham, in turn, delivered the secret to Isaac, Isaac revealed it to Jacob, and Jacob shared it with Joseph. Joseph revealed the secret to his sons. And Asher, one of the sons of Jacob, shared the secret of the mystery of the Redeemer with his daughter, Serah. It was understood that whoever came to deliver the children of Israel from Egypt and said these words would be the true deliverer, sent to them by the Lord.
During the long years of slavery in Egypt, Serah bat Asher was enslaved and forced to work in a mill. When the time came to be freed from slavery, it was Serah who identified Moses as the Redeemer. For when Moses and Aaron came to the elders of Israel and performed the signs in their sight, the elders sought out Serah bat Asher, and they said to her, “A certain man has come, and he has performed signs in our sight,” and they described them. So too did he say, “I have taken note of you” (Exod. 3:16). Serah said, “That is the sign that I learned from my father. Therefore he is the one who will redeem Israel.” Then they knew that Moses would surely deliver them from the power of Pharaoh, and they believed him and bowed down and prostrated themselves, and recognized Moses as their Redeemer.
In the secret message, “I have taken note of you” (pakod pakadti), God is actually speaking to Moses, as found in Exodus 3:16: “Go and assemble the elders of Israel and say to them: Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, has appeared to me and said, ‘I have taken note of you and of what is being done to you in Egypt.’” Here God has Moses introduce himself to the elders of Israel in much the same way he introduced himself to Pharaoh—as the representative of God—coming to them with God’s own words. What he says is confirmed by Serah, whose knowledge comes directly from her father, and, indirectly, from the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph.
Sources:
B. Sota 13a; Exodus Rabbah 5:13-14; Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer 48.
484. THE COFFIN OF JOSEPH
Before his death, Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, “When God has taken notice of you, you shall carry up my bones from here” (Gen. 50:25). So when the time came to leave Egypt, Moses searched everywhere for Joseph’s coffin, but no one remembered where it was. After Moses had tired himself out searching for it, he encountered Serah bat Asher, who was a survivor of the generation of Joseph. Serah said: “My lord Moses, why are you so downcast?” Moses replied: “For three days and nights I have been searching for Joseph’s coffin and I cannot find it.” She said to him: “Come with me and I will show you where it is.” Moses said: “Who are you, and how do you know where the coffin can be found?” She said: “I am Serah bat Asher, and I know for I was present when the leaden coffin of Joseph was sunk into the Nile.” She led him to a shore of the Nile and there she said: “In this place the Egyptian magicians and astrologers made a metal coffin for Joseph and sank it into the river Nile, so that its waters should be blessed. Then they returned to Pharaoh and said: ‘If it is your wish that these people should never leave this place, then as long as they do not find the bones of Joseph, they will be unable to leave.’”
Some say that Moses then leaned over the bank of the Nile and called out: “Joseph, Joseph, we are leaving Egypt. The time has come for God to redeem His children, and for the oath you imposed on Israel to be fulfilled. I call on you to appear before me, and I will take your bones to the land of Canaan. If you will show yourself, well and good; if not, behold, we are free of your oath.” At that moment Joseph’s heavy lead coffin shook itself free, rose up from the depths, and floated on the surface, and Moses took it and carried it with him.
Others say that Moses took a shard, wrote God’s Name upon it, and threw the shard into the river. At once Joseph’s coffin floated up to the surface.
All the years that the Israelites were in the wilderness there were two arks that accompanied the children of Israel in their wandering, the one containing the remains of Joseph, as it is said, And Moses took with him the bones of Joseph (Exod. 13:19), and the other the Ark of the Tabernacle. The one represented the past and the other, the Torah, defined the future.
At the end of Genesis, Joseph, surrounded by his brothers, takes a vow of the future generations: “I am about to die. God will surely take notice of you and bring you up from this land to the land that He promised on oath to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” So Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, “When God has taken notice of you, you shall carry up my bones from here.” Joseph died at the age of one hundred and ten years; and he was embalmed and placed in a coffin in Egypt (Gen. 50:24-26). This coffin, according to Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael, was sunk in the middle of the Nile. Later it is reported in Exodus 14:19 that Joseph’s coffin was carried next to the Ark of the Tabernacle. This raised the question of how the coffin was found, which is answered in this myth.
In leading Moses to the place where Joseph’s coffin was lowered into the Nile, Serah bat Asher performs her most important task. This midrash fills in a major gap in the biblical narrative between the vow that Joseph made the sons of Israel swear on his deathbed that you shall carry my bones from here (Gen. 50:25) and the report that Moses took the bones of Joseph with him (Exod. 14:19). However, it is Moses who must figure a way to raise up the sunken coffin. In one version of the myth, he calls out to Joseph, saying, “If you make yourself visible, well and good. If not, we shall be innocent of violating the oath you made our forefathers swear” (Pesikta de-Rav Kahana). Thus, if Moses is unable to raise up the coffin, he will at least have done his best to fulfill the oath.
One of the miracles of the recovery of Joseph’s coffin is that it was made of metal. B. Sota 13a addresses this issue: “Be not astonished that iron should float,” and follows with an example (from 2 Kings 6:5-7) of how an axe-head was made to float.
B. Sota and Pesikta de-Rav Kahana recount a dialogue with a passerby who saw the two caskets Israel carried in the desert, one the coffin of Joseph and the other containing the tablets of the Law. “What are these two caskets?” They answered, “One is the ark of Joseph, who was mortal, and the other is the Ark of Him who is immortal.” The passerby asked, “Is it proper that God’s Ark should accompany an ark with a man in it?” They answered, “This one contains the bones of Joseph, who fulfilled all the commands that God set down in the other Ark.”
Sources:
Targum Pseudo-Yonathan on Genesis 50:26, Exodus 13:19; B. Sota 13a-b; Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael, be-Shalah 1:86-110; Pesikta de-Rav Kahana 11:12.
485. A VISION AT THE RED SEA
When Serah bat Asher was among the children of Israel at the Red Sea, she had a vision in which she saw things that none of the others saw. In the vision she saw the multitude of angels who had gathered to watch the children of Israel cross the Red Sea. So too did she see the Divine Presence, who descended among them when Miriam played the tambourine and sang the Song of the Sea. And in that vision Serah even saw the Holy One commanding the waters of the Red Sea to part. For other than Moses, Serah was the only one alive in that generation who could look upon the Holy One and live.
There are contradictory traditions about what the Israelites saw at the Red Sea. Some state that even the lowest among the people saw more than the prophet Ezekiel saw in his famous vision in the first chapter of his book. In “God’s Presence at the Red Sea,” p. 385, the infant boys raised by God recognize His presence at the Red Sea. In the present myth, however, only Serah bat Asher is aware of all the angels present at the Red Sea, along with God, who descended to witness the miracle
of the crossing there. See the following myth of “The Walls of the Red Sea,” where Serah reports on what she witnessed.
Sources:
Pesikta de-Rav Kahana 11:13.
486. THE WALLS OF THE RED SEA
Rabbi Yohanan once asked his students to describe the appearance of the walls of the Red Sea when the waters parted for the children of Israel to cross. When none could do so, Rabbi Yohanan described them as resembling a window lattice. Then, all at once, they heard a voice say: “No, it was not like that at all!” And when they looked up, they saw the face of a very old woman peering in the window of the house of study. “Who are you?” demanded Rabbi Yohanan. “I am Serah bat Asher,” came the reply, “and I know exactly what the walls resembled. I was there, I crossed the Red Sea—and they resembled shining mirrors, mirrors in which every man, woman, and child was reflected, so that it seemed like an even greater multitude crossed there, not only those of the present, but also those of the past and future as well.” And when Serah had finished speaking, none dared contradict her, for her knowledge was firsthand.
Here is one more example of a midrash in which Serah bat Asher, by this time more than a thousand years old, suddenly appears to resolve a question about the Exodus. Her explanations are definitive for, as she notes, “I was there.” This one concerns what the walls of the Red Sea looked like. As for the reason that the walls shone, Pesikta de-Rav Kahana suggests it was because of the radiance of Moses and Aaron.
Sources:
Pesikta de-Rav Kahana 11:13.
487. THE DEATH OF SERAH BAT ASHER
How long did Serah live? Some say she lived until the days of the Temple, while others say she lived even longer than that. One account has it that she met her death in the ninth century in a fire in a synagogue in Isfahan. And when that synagogue was rebuilt it was named the Synagogue of Serah bat Asher, and the Jews of Persia made pilgrimages to that synagogue, the holiest Jewish site in the land.
Others say that Serah bat Asher never died. She was taken to the heavenly Garden of Eden while she was still alive, because she had announced to Jacob that Joseph was alive. There Serah has a palace of her own, where she teaches Torah to the righteous women. And they know that every word she says is true, because she was a witness to all the miracles that took place in those mighty days.
There are two legendary accounts of the ultimate fate of Serah. One reports that she met her death in a fire in a synagogue in Isfahan, Persia, in the ninth century. That synagogue was rebuilt and named after her, and it is still the holiest Jewish site in Iran, to which Persian Jews used to make pilgrimages when they were still permitted to do so.
However, it is also said that Serah never died, but that she was taken into Paradise alive because she brought Jacob the news that Joseph was still alive (Gen. 45:26). She is counted among the nine who entered Paradise alive (Derekh Eretz Zuta 1), and it is said that she now is one of the blessed women who teaches Torah to the souls of righteous women in a heavenly palace of her own (Zohar 3:167a-b). See “Women in Paradise,” p. 190.
As this rich legend of Serah bat Asher makes abundantly clear, it is the latter version that rings true. Serah never died. She was created out of the imagination of the rabbis and she lives on, a living witness to God’s miracles during the Exodus who wanders the world, setting things straight.
Sources:
Targum Pseudo-Yonathan on Genesis 46:17; Sefer ha-Yashar 110a; B. Sota 13a; Alpha Beta de-Ben Sira 28a; Derekh Eretz Zuta 1; Targum Yonathan, Bereshit 46:17; Zohar 3:167a-b.
488. GOD’S FOOTSTOOL
The Egyptian taskmasters beat the Israelites so that they would make bricks for them. As the Israelites were treading the straw in the mortar, along with their wives and sons, the straw pierced their heels, and the blood mingled with the mortar. A young woman named Rachel, who was near childbirth, was treading the mortar, and the child was born there and became entangled in the clay and brick. Her cry ascended before the Throne of Glory, and the angel Gabriel came down and brought the brick into heaven, and set it as a footstool beneath God’s throne.
This myth recounts the suffering of the Israelites under Egyptian bondage, and how a newborn child was lost in the mortar and the angel Gabriel brought the brick into heaven as a footstool for God, which thus became a memorial of the bondage of the Israelites in Egypt. Targum Pseudo-Yonathan on Exodus 24:10 links this footstool with the sapphire stone under the feet of God in Exodus 24:10: And they saw the God of Israel; and there was under His feet the like of a paved work of sapphire stone.
Sources:
Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer 48; 3 Baruch 3:5; Targum Pseudo-Yonathan on Exodus 24:10.
489. THE PARTING OF THE RED SEA
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry out to Me? Tell the Israelites to go forward. And you lift up your rod and hold out your arm over the sea and split it, so that the Israelites may march into the sea on dry ground. And I will stiffen the hearts of the Egyptians so that they go in after them; and I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his warriors, his chariots and his horsemen. Let the Egyptians know that I am Lord, when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”
The angel of God, who had been going ahead of the Israelite army, now moved and followed behind them; and the pillar of cloud shifted from in front of them and took up a place behind them, and it came between the army of the Egyptians and the army of Israel. Thus there was the cloud with the darkness, and it cast a spell upon the night, so that the one could not come near the other all through the night.
Then Moses held out his arm over the sea and the Lord drove back the sea with a strong east wind all that night, and turned the sea into dry ground. The waters were split, and the Israelites went into the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left. The Egyptians came in pursuit after them into the sea, all of Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and horsemen. At the morning watch, the Lord looked down upon the Egyptian army from a pillar of fire and cloud, and threw the Egyptian army into panic. He locked the wheels of their chariots so that they moved forward with difficulty. And the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from the Israelites, for the Lord is fighting for them against Egypt.”
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Hold out your arm over the sea, that the waters may come back upon the Egyptians and upon their chariots and upon their horsemen.” Moses held out his arm over the sea, and at daybreak the sea returned to its normal state, and the Egyptians fled at its approach. But the Lord hurled the Egyptians into the sea. The waters turned back and covered the chariots and the horsemen—Pharaoh’s entire army that followed them into the sea; not one of them remained. But the Israelites had marched through the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left.
Thus the Lord delivered Israel that day from the Egyptians. Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the shore of the sea. And when Israel saw the wondrous power that the Lord had wielded against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord; they had faith in the Lord and His servant Moses.
The parting of the Red Sea is universally regarded as the greatest Jewish miracle of all time. Belief that the parting of the sea had really taken place was used as a test of faith. For example, a widow in Safed was said to have been possessed by a dybbuk because she did not believe that the waters of the sea had really parted. See “The Widow of Safed,” p. 228.
Rabbinic lore is full of descriptions of what the walls of the Red Sea looked like when they parted, how they contained foods such as pomegranates for those who became hungry while crossing, etc. According to Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael, be-Shalah 4:87-97, the splitting of the Red Sea was a great revelation, in which the slave girls saw great things that even the prophet Ezekiel did not see. The widespread experience of this revelation serves the purpose of validating the account. See also “The Walls of the Red Sea” p. 381, where Serah bat Asher serves as a witness who had experienced this miracle firsthand.
According to Pirkei
de-Rabbi Eliezer 42, when the Red Sea split, it split into twelve paths, one for each of the 12 tribes.
For other myths about the crossing of the Red Sea, see the next four entries.
Sources:
Exodus 14:15-31.
490. THE WATERS OF THE RED SEA REFUSE TO PART
Moses stretched his hand over the Red Sea as God had told him to do. When the sea saw this, it said, “Why should I divide my waters?” Moses answered, “The Lord sent me to do this thing.” But the waters refused to be divided.
Then Moses lifted up his staff, with which he had performed miracles in Pharaoh’s court, and he said to the sea, “Behold the staff of God which is in my hand and do what the Lord has commanded you to do.” But the sea was stubborn and refused to be divided.
Then the splendor and majesty of the Lord appeared. And when the sea saw the Lord, it fled before Him.
Moses said to the sea, “You did not hearken to me until now. Why have you fled before me?” And the sea answered, “I have not fled before you, Moses, but before the Lord, the Creator of the world.”
This myth echoes, and was likely inspired by, midrashic accounts of the reluctance of the upper waters to separate from the lower waters when God created a firmament between them. See “The Upper Waters and the Lower Waters,” p. 104. Here the waters of the Red Sea refuse to part at the command of Moses, but when God appears they quickly do as they were told. The underlying meaning of this midrash may be that it was not Moses who accomplished the miracles associated with the Exodus, but God, whose power stood behind everything that Moses did. This interpretation follows rabbinic concern that Moses might be deemed a messianic figure and raised up to divine proportions. The rabbis may have been trying to avoid the kind of Moses fixation found among the Samaritans. To counter this, Moses was left almost entirely out of the Haggadah, despite his central role in freeing the people from Egypt, receiving the Torah, and leading them to the Holy Land.
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