A Tent of Dolphins
Gellman, Marc
A TENT OF DOLPHINS MARC GELLMAN (A midrash for Gloria Sturzenacker and all my students who are my teachers.) "And you shall make a covering for the tent of ram's skins dyed red (over the...
...Exutlu...
...down onto the sharp pointed hubs of Pharaoh's war chariots...
...The next day, among the junk of Pharaoh's army which washed ashore, many dead dolphins were found...
...In addition to warning the fish about swimming into the air, and keeping the flocks from wandering into the water, the dolphins also tried to slow down the great army of the Pharaoh...
...Long spears clanking, and horses' hoofs pounding the dry earth as they pulled the war chariots with the metal wheels and the pointed hubs...
...They flicked their tails through the walls of water over the army and caused such a shower that the dry Red Sea bottom turned to mud, and the mud clogged up the heavy wheels of the war chariots, and the great army of Pharaoh was stuck...
...When the great army of Pharaoh arrived at the Red Sea with their clanking spears and huge war chariots pulled by strong horses, they too were amazed and confused...
...God warned the dolphins to swim away from the walls of water which were to collapse as soon as the last of the children of Israel and their flocks, and their herd, and their wagons safely reached the other shore of the Red Sea, but the dolphins didn't listen...
...A TENT OF DOLPHINS MARC GELLMAN (A midrash for Gloria Sturzenacker and all my students who are my teachers...
...They swam quickly along the edge of the walls of water chirping a warning, in Fish, "Don't go there...
...Suddenly the people heard the terrible sound of Pharaoh's great army chasing them from Egypt...
...chirping their happy dolphin chirping sounds, and splashing the blue waters of the Red Sea with their flat tails...
...But very few fish were as smart as the dolphins, and many just kept swimming, right into the air...
...The fish would be swimming along, minding their own business, when suddenly they were in mid-air—which is nowhere—if you're a fish...
...Suddenly the walls of water came crashing together and the Red Sea was whole once again...
...The Pharaoh did not remember the Red Sea as having a hallway of dry land right down the middle, but when he saw the children of Israel and their flocks and their herds and their wagons almost across to the other side, he ordered his army to chase them and kill them...
...If we go forward, the Red Sea will drown us all...
...The sight of the Red Sea split in half was amazing and confusing to the children of Israel, but can you imagine just how amazing and confusing it was for the fish...
...Down onto the sharp spears of Pharaoh's spear carriers...
...Rabbi Marc A. Gellman is a contributing editor to MOMENT and is the rabbi at Congregation Beth Am in Teaneck, New Jersey...
...Many fish flopped to death, but some of the smarter fish listened and stayed away...
...So the dolphins gently nudged the animals back through the wall of water onto the dry land...
...Many of the dolphins were pulled down, down, down, to the bottom of the Red Sea...
...And you shall make a covering for the tent of ram's skins dyed red (over the Tabernacle) and above all a tent of dolphin skins...
...chirping their happy dolphin chirping sounds, and splashing the blue waters of the Red Sea with their flat tails...
...But about this they were quite wrong...
...This presented still another problem for the kindly dolphins of the Red Sea...
...Some asked, "Where...
...they screamed, "If we go back to Egypt, Pharaoh and his great army will kill all of us...
...But God commanded Moses to gather the dolphin skins so that they might be sewed together to make a large cover for the golden box which would hold the holy words which would be given in the middle of the desert of Sinai...
...Let's get out of here now...
...The children of Israel complained to Moses, saying, "This place stinks...
...This presented another problem for the kindly dolphins...
...When the children of Israel left the Red Sea and walked into the Sinai desert, the dolphins of the Red Sea were waiting for them...
...About this they were absolutely right...
...We are trapped...
...Fish, fish, and more fish just kept plopping through the wall of water and flopping around on the dry hallway of Red Sea bottom...
...Meanwhile, the children of Israel and their herds and their flocks and their wagons had started to walk down the hallway of dry Red Sea bottom between the two huge walls of water...
...God hoped that when people would see the tent of dolphin skins, they would remember that they did not leave Egypt and become a free people without a lot of help...
...But by the time they asked, they were already there—in the air—which is nowhere—if you are a fish...
...They just kept warning the fish, nudging the sheep, and flicking water on the army of Pharaoh...
...The dolphins tried to save their friends the fish...
...Moses raised his arm and God split the Red Sea right down the middle, so that two huge walls of water stood straight up with a narrow path of dry Red Sea bottom in between...
...26:14) Question: Why dolphin skins...
...orot t'chashim) One Version: When the children of Israel escaped from Egypt, the dolphins of the Red Sea were waiting for them...
...Occasionally one of the sheep or goats would wander through the walls of water and find themselves at the bottom of the Red Sea—which is nowhere if you are a goat or a sheep...
Vol. 3 • September 1978 • No. 9
