9 passagesc. 11th-12th century CEHebrewHebrew Otzar Midrashim 1915 public domain; English original beta translation
Individual passages from Midrash VaYosha, indexed for close reading, source verification, and myth source-checking.
The Knife That Wept When the sea roared before them and Pharaoh's chariots thundered behind, Israel trembled like a dove who flees the hawk only to find a serpent in her nest. They...
"Speak to the children of Israel that they go forward," God told Moses. "And I, what shall I do?" Moses asked. "Take My staff. Go to the sea as My messenger and command it to open....
When the moment came to drown Egypt in the sea, a voice rose up in heaven to defend the drowning. Uzza, the celestial prince of Egypt, stepped before the Throne. "You are called ri...
"Then Moses sang", and at the brink of song, courtesy. Israel turned to Moses: you begin, and we will follow. He turned it back: you are many, your honor outweighs mine; you begin....
"The LORD is a man of war." The Sages read this verse as the campaign log of a king putting down a rebellion. When a province revolts, a king does not strike all at once. First he ...
Why six hundred chariots at the sea? Because in Egypt the taskmasters demanded six hundred bricks a day, and when a man fell short, they walled him up in place of the bricks. Measu...
Why these ten blows and no others? The Sages teach that each plague answered an Egyptian cruelty measure for measure. They barred the daughters of Israel from immersion, so their w...
Hear how the Song of the Sea hides a war fought above the waves. As the Egyptians drowned, two sorcerers, Yochani and Mamre, told Pharaoh: if angels work this wonder, we can shake ...
"The Lord shall reign forever and ever", with these words, says the Maggid, Moses turned to Israel at the sea and lifted their eyes past the drowned chariots toward the end of days...
