I shared this great story Friday night and as promised, here it is. It is so important to fill our seders with fun, engaging stories….this one is perfect for all ages! Enjoy….
Taken from Does God Have a Big Toe by Rabbi Marc Gellman
When the children of Israel escaped from Egypt, they found the dolphins of the Red Sea waiting for them, chirping their happy dolphin chirping sounds and splashing the blue waters of the Red Sea with their flat tails.
Suddenly, the people heard the terrible sounds of Pharaoh’s great army chasing them from Egypt– “We’re trapped!” They cried. But Moses raised his arm. And God zipped the Red Sea right down the middle!
The sight of the Red Sea split in half was amazing and confusing to the children of Israel. But can you imagine just how amazing and confusing this was for the fish of the Red Sea?
A Red Sea fish would be swimming along minding his or her own fish business when, suddenly, it would be swimming in midair–which is nowhere if you’re a fish.
The dolphins tried chirping a warning to the fish: “Don’t go there!” But the fish would ask, “What do you mean don’t go there? Where is the there?” And the dolphins would answer, “There in the air!” And then the fish would say, “Huh? We don’t see any air there.” And by the time the conversation was over because the fish were already there–in the air–which is nowhere if you are a fish.
And fish in the air was not the only problem the dolphins had to face. The children of Israel left Egypt with some flocks of sheep and goats and a few cows. And on their way across the Red Sea, some of those flocks walked right through the walls of water and right into the bottom of the Red Sea–which is nowhere if you’re a sheep or a goat or a cow!
So the dolphins would quickly swim down to the bottom of the Red Sea and shoo the sheep and goad the goats and carry the cows back into the air, which is somewhere if you’re a cow or a sheep or a goat.
As if fish in the air and sheep in the sea were not enough to handle, the dolphins saw that the army of the Pharaoh was gaining on the children of Israel.
The dolphins tried to slow down the Pharaoh’s army by flicking their tails through the walls of water and showering the wheels of the Pharaoh’s war chariots so they stuck in the mud.
When the walls of water came crashing together, the children of Israel were happy because they were free at last. The fish of the Red Sea were happy because there was no air anywhere near there. The sheep and the goats and the cows were happy because there was no Red Sea anywhere near there. But most of all the dolphins of the Red Sea were happy because they could go back to doing what they liked best–chirping their dolphin sounds and splashing the blue waters of the Red Sea with their flat tails.*
