The place where Israel camped before crossing the Red Sea bore a name loaded with meaning. The Mekhilta offers multiple interpretations of "Chiroth" — and each one tells a different piece of the story.
One reading connects "Chiroth" to "cheruthan" — the place of Israel's freedom. This was the spot where their liberation became irreversible, where slavery ended and nationhood began.
Another reading says it was a "choice place" for the Egyptians — a site they valued highly. And a third identifies it as the place of Egyptian idolatry, a center of worship for their gods.
The Mekhilta then reveals something surprising about the location's history. In earlier times, this place was called Pithom — one of the treasure cities that enslaved Israel had built for Pharaoh, as recorded in (Exodus 1:11): "And it built treasure cities for Pharaoh, Pithom and Ramses."
But the Egyptians stopped calling it Pithom and renamed it Pi HaChiroth. Why the change? Because the word "chiroth" is linked to "me'achereth" — meaning "to disappoint" or "to delay." The idol worshipped there had failed its devotees. When Israel escaped, the idol did nothing to stop them. The very name of the place became a monument to the impotence of Egyptian gods — a city built by Jewish slaves, named for the failure of the idols that were supposed to protect their masters.