Category Archives: Beshalach

5784, AI art, Beshalach, Exodus, Kli Yakar 2, Parsha

Bitter Prescription (Beshalach)

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Print version: Kli Yakar Beshalach

Bitter Prescription (Beshalach)

 No matter how bad things get you got to go on living, even if it kills you. -Sholom Aleichem

“S’iz shver tzu zain a Yid” a popular Yiddish saying, meaning “It’s tough to be a Jew,” gave little solace to those confronting whatever difficulties their Judaism brought them. Throughout most of Jewish history we have accounts of how tough and bitter it is, from harrowing stories of death, destruction, and persecution to the less dramatic existential issues of Jewish practice.

After the Children of Israel leave the enslavement of Egypt and cross the miraculously split sea, they walk in the desert for a few days. Thirsting for water, they are thankful when they reach a stream, only to be further disheartened to find the water bitter, undrinkable. Moses is commanded to take a tree (apparently also bitter) and place it in the stream. Miraculously, this combination turned the water sweet and drinkable.

Rabbi Shlomo Ephraim of Prague, the Kli Yakar (1550-1619), on Exodus 15:26, believes that God wanted to teach the new nation a particular lesson from their bitter (pun intended) experience. He wanted to teach that He is ultimately a healer, and that medicine and the healing process is not always sweet. The medicine is His Torah, His commandments to the people of Israel, and it is filled with challenges and strictures that at first may seem tough, bitter. But just as we must trust our doctors when they prescribe something distasteful, so too, we must trust God that at the end of our following His instructions, even if we don’t fully understand them or how it works, there will be healing, happiness and a sweet reward.

May we trust the heavenly doctor, learn his prescriptions, and may all our bitterness be turned to sweetness.

Shabbat Shalom,

Ben-Tzion

Dedication

To the memory of our 21 soldiers who were killed in Gaza this week, including Yuval Lopez hy”d of Alon Shvut and originally Peru.

5783, Bat Ayin, Beshalach, Exodus, Parsha

Sinful Doubts (Beshalach)

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Sinful Doubts (Beshalach)

At the beginning of every act of faith, there is often a seed of fear. For great acts of faith are seldom born out of calm calculation. -Max L. Lucado

God has pummeled the Egyptian Empire with the Ten Plagues. The nascent Jewish nation has now been freed by its oppressors. It has one stop to make, at Mount Sinai, to receive God’s law, before journeying to the Promised Land of Canaan.

It seems there is a short, direct route to get to their destination, through the land of the Philistines. However, God doesn’t take the Jews through the land of the Philistines. The verse tells us:

“God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although it was nearer; for God said, “The people may have a change of heart when they see war, and return to Egypt.”

The Bat Ayin on Exodus 13:17 wonders why, after the Jews witness such momentous miracles, would they have any concerns about war and having to return to Egypt. He answers that in fact, there wasn’t a serious threat. God would not have let them come to harm nor would have allowed them to return to Egypt. Nonetheless, in God’s outpouring of love for the Jewish people, He wanted to keep them far from not only any potential harm, but even from thoughts and fear of harm.

He compares the love of God for the Jewish people to that of a parent for their child. God would go to great extremes to protect the Jewish people at this juncture. God wanted the Jewish people’s complete faith in Him and the security He would provide. For them to have any doubts or lack of faith would be a deficiency. Not only would it be a deficiency, but it would also be sinful. In order to prevent this sin of the mind, the sin of doubt in God, God took the Jewish people the long way out of Egypt. He didn’t take them through the land of the Philistines so they would not even contemplate the possibility of war and so not even a sliver of doubt in God would enter their minds in this formative stage of the nation.

May we strengthen our faith in God and remove doubts of His love for us, even when it’s not always so clear.

Shabbat Shalom,

Ben-Tzion

Dedication

To the memory of the terror victims murdered this past Shabbat in Jerusalem.

5782, Beshalach, Chidushei HaRim, Exodus, Parsha

Everyone Gets Saved This Time (Beshalach)

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Everyone Gets Saved This Time (Beshalach)

Man is born free, yet he is everywhere in chains. -Jean Jacques Rousseau

Against all conceivable odds, the tyrannical Egyptian Empire is brought down to its knees by The Ten Plagues and Pharoah finally tells Moses that the Jewish slaves are free to go worship God in the desert as they requested. Moses leads the Jews out of Egypt, but with a further destination in mind. The text states that the Children of Israel left Egypt “Chamushim”, normally translated as armed or equipped. However, there is a chilling Midrash that explains the word comes from the root of “Chamesh” which means five, and that the verse is hinting that only a fifth of the Jewish nation left Egypt.

The Midrash asks the reasonable next question that if only one fifth of the Jews left Egypt, what happened to the other four fifths? What happened to eighty percent of the Jewish people in Egypt? The Midrash answers that the overwhelming majority of the Jewish slaves had no interest in leaving Egypt. They refused to accompany Moses into the desert and to freedom. God struck down those four fifths. According to the Midrash, God destroyed those Jews during the plague of Darkness. He used the cover of darkness to hide the fact from the Egyptians. Only twenty percent of the Jewish slaves escaped and accompanied Moses into the desert. Only their children would eventually make it to the Promised Land a generation later.

The story doesn’t end there, however. In a certain sense the Exodus and the redemption from Egypt was a prelude to the future prophesied Messianic redemption. Some have imagined that in that future event there will likewise be a parallel culling of those who “don’t make the cut,” of those who refuse to leave their version of Egypt, however one might define that.

The Chidushei HaRim on Exodus 14:11 states that in the future redemption, as opposed to the Egyptian Exodus, everyone will be included. Every member of the Jewish people will “make the cut.” Every Jew will be included in whatever God has in store for the days of the Messiah. That the Messianic era will be grander, stronger and more powerful than the Egyptian Exodus, not only in its scale, but also in the fact that all Jews will be included this time. The event itself will serve to somehow free or redeem those of us who are still enslaved or unredeemed, one way or another.

May our freedoms and redemptions come soon.

Ben-Tzion

Dedication

To the memory of my teacher, Rabbi Dr. J. Mitchell Orlian Z”L.

5781, Beshalach, Chidushei Netanel, Exodus, Parsha, Pharaoh

Subconscious Thoughts by Netanel Spitz

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Subconscious Thoughts by Netanel Spitz

A man’s life is what his thoughts make of it. -Marcus Aurelius

In this week’s parsha, parashat Beshalach, once Pharaoh hears that the Jews had turned around it says “וחזקתי את לב פרעה” that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart to chase after them.

In the next sentence it says “ויהפך לבב פרעה” that Pharaoh’s heart was flipped.

This distinction is very interesting, because as the main understanding of “וחזקתי” is that Pharaoh was coming to a decision but wasn’t sure with himself, and God helped him feel secure about his decision. On the other hand “ויהפך” seems to imply that Pharaoh wanted to do one thing and God made him do something completely different.

So what is going on here? 

To answer this question we need to first look at how the brain works. Science has figured out that we don’t come to a decision when we think we do, rather it’s preceded by subconscious activity that we are not aware of, and that turns into a conscious decision. 

In my opinion, the distinction between the two words are two different perspectives on the situation, one from the perspective of Pharaoh and one from the perspective of God.

Simply God took a subconscious thought of Pharaoh to chase after the Jews and pushed it into his conscious thought.

So, from the perspective of Pharaoh it felt like his “heart was flipped”, a completely different idea that he never thought about entering his mind.

But, from God’s perspective, it was a thought that Pharaoh always had but wasn’t aware of.

In Life we come to thoughts or ideas, that feel like they simply appear out of thin air, as if blown in by the wind because someone left the window open.

But I think that we can understand from this, that thoughts come from a subconscious part of us that we don’t know so well, our deeper selves.

May we all find time to listen and learn are true selves.

Shabbat Shalom,

Netanel.

5781, Bechor Shor, Beshalach, Exodus, Moses, Parsha

Preventative Spiritual Medicine (Beshalach)

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Preventative Spiritual Medicine (Beshalach)

By two wings a man is lifted up from things earthly: by simplicity and purity. -Thomas Kempis

After the Ten Plagues, after the miraculous parting of the Sea of Reeds and crossing on dry land within the sea, after the drowning and destruction of the Egyptian forces, Moses leads the freed Jewish nation into the desert. They walk for three days without finding water. On the third day, they find a stream, but its waters are bitter. Then, the Jewish people start what is to become an ongoing occurrence throughout their desert journey: they complain. Under God’s direction, Moses places a nearby piece of wood into the water, thereby sweetening the water and making it drinkable for the Jewish nation.

Immediately after this incident, God makes the following statement:

“If you will heed the Lord your God diligently, doing what is upright in His sight, giving ear to His commandments and keeping all His laws, then I will not bring upon you any of the diseases that I brought upon the Egyptians, for I the Lord am your healer.”

The Bechor Shor on Exodus 15:26 tries to dig deeper into what God is referring to regarding the contrast between the diseases brought upon Egypt and preventing those same diseases from afflicting the Jewish nation, as well as the relationship between health and observance of the commandments.

He explains that it has to do with what we often call ritual purity. There are certain foods, creatures, situations, and people that we are commanded to avoid. The Egyptians paid no heed to such things and the Jewish nation got to witness firsthand the plethora of plagues and diseases that struck Egypt.

It seems that the many ritual commands, among other things, can also provide some measure of protection against those diseases. The Bechor Shor explains that the foods we are prohibited from eating are intrinsically foul and have the potential to corrupt not only our spiritual being but also to harm our physical bodies. All the laws of ritual purity, of the need to physically distance ourselves from those who are even temporarily ritually impure, are meant to prevent the transmission of some disease, that we currently can’t perceive nor understand.

May we take appropriate precautions to safeguard our health and that of those around us.

Shabbat Shalom,

Ben-Tzion

Dedication

To Tu B’Shvat, our annual tree holiday.

5780, Beshalach, Exodus, Meshech Chochma, Parsha

Deserving of Miracles (Beshalach)

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Deserving of Miracles (Beshalach)

Where there is great love there are always miracles. -Willa Cather

There is a well-known Midrash that has the angels standing by God’s side as He famously splits the Sea for the Children of Israel while at the same time He drowns the pursuing Egyptian army:

“God,” the angels asked, “how can you spare the Hebrews and kill the Egyptians? These are idol worshipers and these are idol worshipers!”

As we know, idol worship is among the most severe sins in the Torah, punishable by death, so the angels’ question is entirely reasonable.

The Meshech Chochma on Exodus 14:29 states that idolatry is indeed quite severe, especially as compared to such sins as infighting, gossip, slander or even theft, none of which carry the death penalty. Nonetheless, he indicates that the divine judgment is reversed when it comes to “group” sin, based on the Jerusalem Talmud (Tractate Peah 4b).

It is true that if an individual commits idolatry, he is deserving of the death penalty, while if he commits one of the “lesser” sins, his punishment (if any) is less severe. However, according to the Meshech Chochma and the Jerusalem Talmud, the tables are turned when we are talking about the entire people of Israel. He brings two examples: In the times of King David, the population was relatively pious, faithfully worshipping God and correctly averting idolatry. However, because the people were talebearers, God would strike the Jewish people down in their wars.

On the other hand, In the times of King Ahav, who leads one of the most idolatrous generations ever, there were no talebearers, and as a result, they emerged victorious and unscathed from their battles. The lesson being, that a community that is kind to each other, that does not bear tales about each other, even if they are idolaters like the generation of Ahav, not only are they not punished, but they merit salvation and victory in their wars. But even a generation of righteous people like those in the time of King David, if they don’t look out for each other, God’s wrath is not far behind.

Therein lies the answer to the angels’ question about the Jewish people at the splitting of the Sea. Even though they were idol worshippers, they behaved well towards one another and that merited not only salvation but outright miracles.

May we ever be deserving of miracles.

Shabbat Shalom,

Ben-Tzion

Dedication

To the complete and rapid recovery of all those stricken by the coronavirus epidemic.

5779, Berdichever, Beshalach, Exodus, Parsha, The Times of Israel

Articulating Joy (Beshalach)

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Articulating Joy (Beshalach)

Joys divided are increased. -Josiah Gilbert Holland

The Egyptian Empire has been pummeled by the devastating ten plagues. In a panic, after the Death of the Egyptian firstborns, Pharaoh and the Egyptian people beg the Israelite people to go; to go to the desert to worship as Moses had been requesting from the first time he confronted Pharaoh.

However, shortly after the Jews depart their homes and Egyptian cities, Pharaoh realizes that this is not a temporary religious excursion. The Jews have indeed headed to the desert, but they have no intention of ever returning to the slavery of Egypt – it was a sham. They have escaped the bondage of Egypt and mean to make way towards their ancestral home, the land of the Patriarchs, the land then known as Canaan. In a frenzy, Pharaoh organizes his army of six hundred chariots and pursues the fleeing slaves.

The Egyptian army traps the Israelite slaves between their mighty chariots and the sea. However, God is not finished with His miracles or pouring His wrath onto the Egyptians. The sea splits, the Jews enter, to come out unscathed on the other side. The Egyptians follow, to find the miraculous walls of water collapsing on them, drowning every single Egyptian soldier. The Jews, filled with joy over the miraculous salvation, break out in song, the famed Song of the Sea.

The very first line of the song states:

“And then they will sing, Moses and the Children of Israel, this song to God, and they said to say.”

The Berdichever wonders as to the repetition of the verb “to say,” and takes the opportunity to explore an aspect of joy. He states that the primary feeling of joy is in one’s heart. Joy is an internal emotional state. Why the need to sing? Why the need to outwardly exhibit this internal feeling?

He explains that there is an added enhanced component to joy when it is articulated. When we voice our joy, the joy itself is expanded. By speaking of our joy, by sharing the feelings of joy with others, the joy itself grows and multiplies beyond the original feeling.

Hence the repetition of the verb “to say.” They multiplied their articulations, their “sayings”; they repeated and expanded verbally expressing their feelings of joy. That formulation, that repeated articulation of joy, was so heartfelt, was so joyous, was so powerful, that it remains an eternal part of our heritage to this day, more than 3,000 years later.

May we always have causes for celebration with dear friends and family to articulate them together and multiply joy.

Shabbat Shalom,

Ben-Tzion

Dedication

On the wedding of Esti Spitz to Meir Hess. Mazal Tov!

To the memory of a dear family friend, Efraim Steinmetz. May God console the family among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.

5778, Beshalach, Exodus, Moses, Parsha, Rabbeinu Bechaye, The Times of Israel

Four Parts of Faith (Beshalach)

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Four Parts of Faith (Beshalach)

 In faith there is enough light for those who want to believe and enough shadows to blind those who don’t. -Blaise Pascal

The nation of Israel is born when they are redeemed from the slavery of Egypt. They have witnessed the ten plagues that God brought down upon the Egyptians while sparing the Jewish nation. Pharaoh and his people beg the Israelites to leave. They leave on the night of Pesach (Passover) which would henceforth be eternally commemorated by the Jewish people.

However, Pharaoh changes his mind. He pursues the freed slaves. His powerful chariot army has them trapped, with their back against the sea. God intervenes once again. He keeps the sides separated by a pillar of cloud and fire. He directs Moses to lift his hand and split the sea. The sea splits, the Jews cross over on dry land. The Egyptians are allowed to follow, only to be completely drowned. The entire armed forces of the Egyptian empire are obliterated in one fell swoop. Moses lowers his hand and he and the people of Israel break into song, the Song of the Sea.

The Torah declares that at that point the nation “believed in God and in Moses His servant.” Rabbeinu Bechaye on Exodus 14:31 (Beshalach) quotes Rabbeinu Chananel who explains that proper Jewish faith can actually be split into four distinct elements:

  1. Belief in God;
  2. Belief in the truth and validity of our Prophets;
  3. Belief in an afterlife that will include rewards for the righteous;
  4. Belief in the coming of the Redeemer.

The reward for sustaining these beliefs is that one will enjoy them when the time comes. The punishment for lack of belief is somewhat self-fulfilling. The unbelievers will not live to experience the afterlife that they don’t believe in. Seems appropriate.

Somehow, the conscious beliefs that we sustain and develop actually create our spiritual reality and fate. By denying God, prophetic truth, reward and punishment, an afterlife or the coming of the Messiah, we cut our very souls off from the future, eternity and destiny of the Jewish people. When we affirm our beliefs in the above, we link ourselves, our destiny, to the unbroken chain of tradition of the eternal people. Our beliefs shape our souls and our souls are intertwined, that is, until we reverse our default ancestral settings and take ourselves out of the communal belief system and the spiritual community itself.

Maimonides famously elaborated and articulated the above basic belief system into the popular 13 Principles of Faith. In some synagogues and communities they are read on a daily basis and can be found in the back of many prayer books. They are worth reviewing regularly.

May our faith be strong and our souls ever linked to our nation and community.

Shabbat Shalom,

Ben-Tzion

Dedication

To Hilda and Jeremy Cohen, on their inspiring hospitality. And to the speedy recovery of Libi Yehudis bas Yochevet.

5777, Beshalach, Exodus, Hirsch, Parsha, The Times of Israel

Growing God

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Growing God

Why indeed must God be a noun? Why not a verb — the most active and dynamic of all. -Mary Daly

fibonacci-rose

The Children of Israel have finally escaped the bondage of Egypt. However, shortly after their escape, their Egyptian taskmasters pursue them with the entire might of the Egyptian military. The nascent Jewish nation is trapped with their back to the sea and the Egyptian army, 600 chariots strong, advancing upon them.

Then, miraculously, the sea behind them parts. They walk across the seabed, with a wall of water to their right and to their left, and exit successfully on the other side. Undeterred, the Egyptians follow their freed Hebrew slaves only to discover the sea closing over their heads. The entire armed force of the Egyptian empire is destroyed in one fell swoop.

Incredulous and exultant, Moses and the Jewish people break out in song. Exodus Chapter 15 is famously known as the Song of the Sea. It is so important to the Jewish narrative that the sages instituted the Song as part of the daily morning prayer. Its unusual poetic style is sometimes hard to decipher.

Rabbi Hirsch on verse 2 explains the phrase: “This is my God, to Him would I be a habitation, He was already my father’s God; I would raise Him higher still.”

“He has already proven Himself as the God of my father; even my fathers recognized Him as such and passed this knowledge to me. But I shall endeavor to add still more to the recognition of His greatness and His sovereignty. These words outline the mission of every subsequent generation in Israel: to continue to disseminate the knowledge of God, and allegiance to Him, in ever-growing intensity.”

We cannot rest on the educational, theological and religious laurels of our fathers. We must forge ahead, in every generation, to not only maintain, to not only continue, but to grow, to expand, and to make greater, wider, and stronger the knowledge of and the faithfulness to God.

It’s work that must be done on a daily basis.

Shabbat Shalom,

Ben-Tzion

Dedication

To the New England Patriots on their inspiring Super Bowl victory.

5776, Beshalach, Exodus, Parsha, Sfat Emet, The Times of Israel

Duality in Faith

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 Faith is a higher faculty than reason. -Henry Christopher Bailey

transcending-duality

Jewish philosophy is filled with duality. The Sfat Emet in 5633 (1873) highlights a whole string of related dualities in this week’s Torah reading. There is the classic differentiation between this physical, material world and the next metaphysical, spiritual world. There is the ongoing duality of man’s evil inclination which is constantly warring against man’s good inclination. There is the biblical duality of the ten plagues that led to the Exodus from Egypt versus the subsequent miraculous Splitting of the Sea which is considered an even greater level of divine involvement. The Sfat Emet sees all these dualities not necessarily as opposites, but rather more as complimentary stages, with a lower level and a higher level of the spectrum in question.

The Sfat Emet also explains that there is a duality in matters of faith. There is the faith of the person who doesn’t know anything about God’s divinity. Nonetheless, he believes in God, or perhaps even because of his ignorance, it allows him to have simple faith. That simple faith then enables the believer to learn more about God, to understand God more, to reach for God and connect with Him. This was the faith of the people of Israel as they leave Egypt.

The other faith, the more refined, sophisticated, developed faith, is one based on knowledge of God. That is the faith which Moses reached. Moses’ understanding of God gave him a much more serious, comprehensive and clearer connection to God. The classic analogy is that Moses was able to “see” God through a clear window, while the rest of us, including other prophets, can only perceive God through an opaque window.

May our faith, perception and connection to God carry us through difficult times.

Shabbat Shalom,

Ben-Tzion

Dedication

To Gila Weinberg on the publication of her excellent book, Not So Grim, Jewish Fairy Tales.