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Good morning. Today, in synagogues around the world, we’ll be reading a section of the Torah, the five books of Moses, which includes the great songs sung by Moses and Miriam and the people during the Exodus from Egypt. The story goes that, after Pharaoh had hardened his heart several times after Moses had asked him to let the people go, the Israelites succeeded in crossing the Red Sea, which parted for them miraculously, whilst the pursuing Egyptians were defeated, many of them drowned as the waters closed over them. The songs are magnificent, and still often sung to special tunes. There’s an air of celebration, and the whole section takes us into the next stage of the story, with the people liberated from slavery, now learning what to do with freedom.

It is the first time, too, that Miriam, Moses’ sister, is described as a prophetess in the text, when she sings and dances. …Indeed, she’s the first person to be called a prophet in the Hebrew Bible at all, giving her a higher status than people usually imagine women had in the Biblical period. And she is certainly the leader of the celebratory singing and dancing in today’s section.

But some of the later rabbis got upset about the implications of the story. As the Egyptians were drowning in the sea, it was said that the ministering angels wanted to sing a song of rejoicing. But God rebuked them, saying: "The work of my hands is being drowned in the sea, and you want to sing songs?" …… So let us remember, even when we rejoice in our enemies’ defeat, not to rejoice at their suffering. For we are all human, all part of the same creation. And everyone’s suffering, whoever they are, should matter to us all. Amen.