Shabbat BeshalachRead on for articleWomen at the SeaRashi, commenting on this week’s amazing events at the Red Sea, quotes the Midrash (Mechilta 15:22) that at the Red Sea, God was seen by the humblest maidservant in a more powerful way than by even the greatest of the prophets. On one level it was the miraculous crossing of the sea that they celebrated with that magnificent poem (or song, it is the same word in Hebrew) we read on this Shabbat. And I think these all represent the female spiritual strength within the Israelite people and their religious culture. Everyone could achieve the summits of religious experience. By stressing female spirituality, the Midrash is conveying another dimension of religious experience, the feminine.