At what point can we truly say that the Exodus came to an end? Was it on the night of Pesach, when our ancestors physically left Egypt? Was it when they crossed the Sea of Reeds on dry land, or when they saw the Egyptian army lying lifeless on the shore?

I would suggest that the Exodus reached its conclusion only when the Israelites lifted their voices in song at the sea.

First, God had taken the people out of Egypt—but Egypt had not yet been taken out of them. In the moments of terror as the Egyptians pursued them, the Israelites cried out to Moses: “Was it for want of graves in Egypt that you brought us to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us, taking us out of Egypt? Is this not the very thing we told you in Egypt, saying, ‘Let us be, and we will serve the Egyptians, for it is better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness’?” The repetition is striking. Five times in a few short verses, the word “Egypt” is invoked. The people were no longer physically enslaved, but Egypt still occupied their........

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