Four Camps at Sea – Four Fundamental Interactions
On the penultimate day of the Passover Holidays (which is called Shvii shel Pesach – the Sevenths Day of Passover), we read in the Torah about Kriat Yam Suf – splitting of the sea. The Talmud (Yerushalmi Pesachim) and Midrash (Pirka deRabeinu Hakadosh) tells us that at that dramatic moment, when the Jews, who just escaped Egypt, were trapped between the sea and the Egyptian army pursuing them, the Jews were divided into four camps (so many Jews and only four opinions?!), each advocating a different course of action: one group proposed to wage a war with Egyptians; the other group wanted to jump into the sea; the third group advocated prayer and the fourth insisted on returning to Egypt. "The Crossing of the Red Sea", Nicholas Poussin Classical commentators [...]