BESHALACH 13:17-17:16
This week's Parshah is Beshalach.
Among other things:
Pharaoh chases after us, and we are trapped at the Sea of Reeds
The sea is split and we pass on through
Songs of praise and gratitude are sung
Moshe sweetens the bitter waters; we get manna; we get quail
We rest on Shabbat.
Moshe produces water by striking a rock
Someone forgot to post a rearguard and we are attacked by the Amalekites
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In Parshat Beshalach Hashem says (14:4):
"And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will pursue them".
וְחִזַּקְתִּ֣י אֶת־לֵֽב־פַּרְעֹה֘ וְרָדַ֣ף אַֽחֲרֵיהֶם֒
Instead of "harden" substitute the word "strengthen" because the root of ְחִזַּקְתִּ֣י is חַזֵק which means strengthen.
And if "heart" means the intellect, then Hashem is causing Pharaoh to mentally focus on losing million of his slaves who for 100's of years have supported the Egyptian economy and are now leaving with the wealth of Egypt.
Slaves are property; they are things, not human beings. And Pharaoh wants to take back his “property” which he believes belongs to him. It could be that this system of national servitude started 100’s of years before, during the famine years. This was the time when starving Egyptians sold everything they had in order to buy grain from Pharaoh. Perhaps, some sold themselves into slavery.
Did Joseph have a role in this?
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In Parshat Beshalach we are entering into a new phase for the Jewish people. We are on our way to becoming a tribal nation. We are becoming conscious of our autonomy, unity, and our exclusive attachment to Hashem, the one God. I think Rav Kook some would say that as individuals and as a nation we are acquiring a spiritual, national soul. We are already in possession of a rich legacy of memories and hopefully the desire to live together.
But in order to be truly free, there is a time to stand up and take that first step:
Trapped at the Sea of Reeds, with the Egyptian Calvary breathing down our necks, Hashem orders us to stand up for ourselves, and go forward. This is a lesson for Jews for all time and all places.
At 14:15:
וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה אֶל-מֹשֶׁה, מַה-תִּצְעַק אֵלָי; דַּבֵּר אֶל-בְּנֵי-יִשְׂרָאֵל, וְיִסָּעוּ.
“Hashem says to Moshe: Why do you cry out to Me? Speak to the children of Israel and let them journey”.
And so we took the plunge!
Anyone living outside the Land of Israel, consider also taking the plunge.
It is all part of your journey.
וְיִסָּעוּ is translated as “journey”, meaning traveling from one place to another. But since the journey turned out to be a long arduous one, and largely on foot, “trek” would have been a better choice.
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What is special about the last day of Passover? On 15 Nissan, the Children of Israel left Egypt. Actually, the moment of liberation was the night before. While the Children of Israel were in their homes in the middle of the night, God struck the Egyptians with “the plague of the firstborn” – all the Egyptians’ firstborn died. This plague drove the Egyptian king, Pharaoh, to tell the Israelites – “Get up and get out from among my people!”
The nation left Egypt the next morning, and for six days it wandered through the Sinai desert until it reached the shores of the Red Sea. Meanwhile, the Egyptian king had a change of heart and led his army of chariots as it chased after the liberated nation. As the Israelite nation stood on the banks of the sea, the Egyptian army came up behind it. The nation was caught between the sea and the pursuing army, with no reasonable chance of salvation.
During this confusing and despairing time, there were those who turned to prayer and cried out to God for salvation; others attacked Moses and accused him of leading them into this dangerous adventure; there were those who despaired and wanted to surrender; and those who preferred to jump into the sea and commit suicide, just not to return to the horrific slavery in Egypt.
Then the surprising Divine directive was given:
This is the initial description of the event known as the Parting of the Red Sea. If we look carefully, from the order of things, it seems that the Children of Israel were commanded to walk into the sea even before it split. They were told to enter the sea and only then the sea split. The Children of Israel were being asked to partner in a Divine act.
Indeed, God is omnipotent, but He demands that man be an active partner, taking part in progress. When the Children of Israel stood on the banks of the sea, the active role they were asked to take was entering the sea with faith that God had not abandoned them, and He who had taken them out of Egypt would save them from the current adversity as well.
We commemorate the Parting of the Red Sea when celebrating the last day of Passover. We remember these great moments when the nation had the courage to confidently enter the sea. And then the wondrous event occurred: the sea split into two and the Children of Israel passed through it.
In the Parshah at 15:20-21 we find Miriam, leading all the Jewish women:
וַתִּקַּח מִרְיָם הַנְּבִיאָה אֲחוֹת אַהֲרֹן, אֶת-הַתֹּף--בְּיָדָהּ; וַתֵּצֶאןָ כָל-הַנָּשִׁים אַחֲרֶיהָ, בְּתֻפִּים וּבִמְחֹלֹת.
"And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbral in her hand; and all the women went out following her with timbrals and with dances."
Is there some significance to the verse “and all the women went out following her…” in the sense of emphasizing that all the Jewish women went out from Egypt...that is leaving idolatry behind, but maybe not all the men doing so?
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MANNA AND THE FIRST SABBATH, 16:16-30
When the children of Israel saw [it], they said to one another, It is manna, because they did not know what it was, and Moses said to them, It is the bread .
16 Gather, an omer for each person. The omer is equal to about 3.64 litres.
22 It came to pass on the sixth day that they gathered a double portion of bread, two omers for [each] one, and all the princes of the community came and reported [it] to Moses.
23 So he said to them, That is what the Lord spoke, Tomorrow is a rest day, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. Bake whatever you wish to bake, and cook whatever you wish to cook, and all the rest leave over to keep until morning.
24 So they left it over until morning,
25 And Moses said, Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord;
26 Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day [which is the] Sabbath on it there will be none
30 So the people rested on the seventh day.
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The Haftarah portion comes from the Book of Judges, Chapters 4 and 5. It is the story of Deborah. She is the only woman called a Judge, שופטת and also the only Judge to be called a Prophet. For the most part a Judge was a military leader. Judges were chosen by God to rescue the people of Israel from their enemies and to establish justice. As per 4:5, Deborah also settled disputes:
וַיַּעֲלוּ אֵלֶיהָ בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, לַמִּשְׁפָּט
“And the children of Israel went up to her for judgment”.
Deborah is described as אֵשֶׁת לַפִּידוֹת, translated as a “woman of torches” or a “fiery woman” or if you are a misogynist and cannot stomach having a woman with an independent value of her own then make her “a wife of a man named Lapidot”. This is the take of someone none other than Rashi.
Deborah is a case in point of how a woman is often treated in male dominated society. Instead of praising her prowess in co-commanding 10,000 warriors from the Tribes of Naphtali and Zebulun, a Midrash relegates the fiery Deborah to making candle wicks for the Sanctuary in Shilo.
I prefer to see this amazing woman as a catalyst an enabler for Barak her partner in destroying Israel’s enemies. She lit his fire. I picture her standing over Barak vis a vis The Doors saying: "
Deborah sings a song regarding the heroics of Yael who slays Sisera. As to Yael: She is not an Israelite. Yael is a Kenite. They live in the south of Canaan. Her husband Heber, who is not at home, is an ally of the northern Canaanites. Because the Israelites give chase to the Canaanites who are fleeing northward, Sisera is able to cover his escape by fleeing southward seeking shelter in the tent of an ally, and well out of the fray.
Why Yael murders him is another question: what was in it for her?
It is interesting to note that the Israelites were low tech, no chariots for them in this tale or for that matter in the Book of Joshua at Chapter 11. Joshua not only burns captured chariots, but cripples all the captured horses. Is the lesson here not to put your trust in horses, and not to ascribe victory to your own strength, but wholly to God, whose power alone enables you to subdue your enemy?
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THE REASON WHY JERUSALEM WAS DESTROYED
When we were slaves in Egypt, Hashem heard our cry and started a lengthy process whereby Pharaoh would release his Hebrew slaves from slavery. And it worked!
However, a thousand years later when the Babylonians were breathing down our neck, we were asked by Hashem to free our Hebrew slaves. We went into Hashem’s House, His Temple, the Bais HaMikdash and pledged before Him that we would give our Hebrew slaves their freedom. Then, fools that we were, we reneged on our promise. What do you then think Hashem said and did? (Jeremiah 34:8-17):
“Therefore, so says the Lord: You have not listened to Me to proclaim freedom, everyone to his brother and everyone to his neighbor; behold I proclaim freedom to you, says the Lord, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine, and I will make you an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.”
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At the Burning Bush, Moshe is told by Hashem that he will lead the Israelites out of Egypt into the land of Canaan. Hashem tells Moshe that He had made a promise to the Patriarchs to give them the land of Canaan and it is time to fulfill that promise.
Fulfilling the promise is easier said than done. But Hashem has a plan:
He demonstrates his mastery over nature with the onset of the Ten Plagues.
He bolsters the self-worth of the Israelites by having them slaughter sheep, an animal worshipped by the Egyptians, and there is no retribution.
At Hashem's bequest the Israelites obtain much gold and silver from their Egyptian neighbors. For the Israelites this has to be a WOW moment: "We are not only being paid to be freed, but are leaving with great wealth. Does it get better than that"
The Israelites do not have much time to reconsider. We are hustled out, .chick-chock Reality has not yet began to set in. But when it does, starting at the Red Sea, oy vay. And as Parshas Beshallach shows, this is only a beginning:
In order for us to cross over, the Red Sea needs splitting,
We are pursued by the Egyptian army who will be drowned,
We lack of food.
We lack water. There was no shortage of water in Egypt.
There is water, but it is bitter and Moshe has to sweeten it.
Hashem sends us food in the manner of Manna and quail.
Mosses again has to miraculously produce water from a rock in order to quench our thirst. In Egypt with its Nile River there was no shortage of water.
We do not know how to protect ourselves against from an attack at our rear.
There is a pitched battle where finally learn the rudiments of protecting ourselves.
We ask ourselves some questions:
Was being a slave in Egypt really so bad?
Will the Canaanites roll over and let us take their land?
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Moshe is our leader and as such he has responsibilities as to
our welfare.
How does Moshe rate in terms of his leadership skill?
How much help from Hashem does he need?
Leadership definition:
The ability of an individual to influence or guide other
individuals or organizations.
A process of social influence in which a person can enlist
the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common and ethical
task.
An influential power-relationship in which the power of one
party, the leader, promotes movement or change in others.
Moshe needed help in carrying out his responsibilities, and he
often got it, as we did too:
Parting of the sea.
Destruction of the Egyptian army.
Avoiding the Philistines.
After three days We are thirsty. There is water, but it is
bitter and Moshe through has to sweeten it.
After one month We are hungry and Hashem provides manna and
quail.
Sometime later we encamped in Rephidim, and again there was
no water. At Hashem’s instruction Moshe
obtains water from a rock.
This raises a question as to why Hashem chose the arid land of Canaan to be the Holy Land for His people.
There are instances when Moshe did not live up to his responsibilities, and did not receive Hashem’s help:
Deuteronomy 25:18 - Amalek attacked our rear ranks on the way
to Rephidim. He killed all the stragglers.
Moshe did not protect them.
At Rephidim we fought the Amalekites. When Moses was not able
to keep his hands raised, we suffered losses.
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