Tehillim 114

Torat Imecha is dedicated by Mrs. Nechama Wolfson in memory of her grandmother, Riva Schwab, Rivka bat Alexander Sender. Visit the OU Women's Initiative to register for additional content!

Flint Stone. Meet the Flint Stone.

When Israel left Egypt, a foreign land whose language they did not adopt, G-d selected the Tribe of Judah for a position of prominence. (This was based largely on the actions of Nachshon ben Aminadav, leader of the Tribe, who placed his trust in G-d and led the charge into the Red Sea.) At the Red Sea, Israel left Egyptian servitude and started reporting exclusively to G-d. The Red Sea split, just as the Jordan would later do in the time of Joshua (see Joshua chapter 3). When G-d gave the Torah, the mountains around Sinai trembled. David asks what made the sea, the Jordan and the mountains act this way. It was because they were in awe of G-d, Who is Master of the entire world! G-d brings water from rocks, as He did for the Jews in the wilderness; He will likewise turn stones of flint into fountains of water.

The phrase for a nation that speaks a different language (referring to Egypt) is Me'am Loez. The phrase was used for an 18th-century commentary on Tanach by Rabbi Yaakov Culi, which was written in Ladino (and is the best-known work in that language).

Author: Rabbi Jack Abramowitz