Rabbi Yossi interprets a verse from Psalms that adds an astonishing dimension to the Song of the Sea. "From the mouths of olelim and yonkim You have founded strength" (Psalms 8:3). The two Hebrew words — olelim and yonkim — refer to the youngest and most helpless members of the Israelite community, and Rabbi Yossi identifies exactly who they are.
Olelim, he explains, are infants still in their mothers' wombs. His proof text comes from Job: "Why was I not like a buried stillbirth, like olelim who never saw the light" (Job 3:16). The word olelim here clearly refers to the unborn — those who exist but have not yet seen daylight. These are fetuses, not yet breathing on their own, still enclosed in the darkness of the womb.
Yonkim are those who seek their mothers' breasts — nursing babies who have been born but are still dependent on their mothers' milk for survival. The proof comes from the prophet Joel: "Gather olelim and suckers of the breasts" (Joel 2:16), where the term yonkei describes infants at the breast.
The implication is extraordinary. When the Israelites crossed the Red Sea and sang the Song of praise to God, even the tiniest participants joined in. Babies too young to speak and infants not yet born opened their mouths and sang. God's salvation was so overwhelming, so undeniable, that it bypassed every natural limitation. You did not need language to recognize what had happened. You did not even need to have been born yet. The miracle spoke for itself, and every soul in Israel — born and unborn — responded.