5771 פרשת בשלח

 In this week’s Parsha the Torah describes to us how God told Bnei Yisroel how to travel when they left Egypt after the plague of the death of the firstborn. The Torah describes how when Bnei Yisroel left Egypt they traveled in what would be considered a very disoriented way.

 The Siforno explains what changed Pharaoh’s mind that he decided after chasing Bnei Yisroel out of Egypt after the ten plagues to chasing after them to bring them back. He explains that when Bnei Yisroel was in the Midbar they positioned themselves in such a way that they were standing between Egypt and the Yam Suf. This, being a very precarious position for Bnei Yisroel to be in, caused Pharaoh to think that it was their idol Baal Tzfon that caused Bnei Yisroel to take this wrong turn where it would be easy for the Egyptians to go capture and kill them. That further gave them the confidence to believe that their idol Baal Tzfon could defeat God.

 If we look at this Siforno a little more closely, we can ask the following question. The Egyptians had just gone through 10 of the most horrific plagues that could be imagined which culminated with the death of the first born in Egypt. Egypt was in a total shambles. During the time of the ten plagues the Egyptians did not stop worshipping their idol, Baal Tzfon and nevertheless they suffered these tremendous afflictions brought by God. If Baal Zfon could not stand up to God during the ten plagues then why would the Egyptians suddenly think that Baal Zfon was going to help them instead of logically assuming that there was some other reason why Bnei Yisroel went where they did.

 The answer can be that the Egyptians had a long held belief that Baal Zfon was a very powerful God (as crazy as that might seem to us). For them to recognize that everything they believed in was wrong was so difficult that it was more natural for them to believe that Baal Zfon was still powerful and there must have been another explanation why he didn’t help us during the ten plagues. This is why the second that they had something that would seem to indicate that Baal Zfon was still powerful they naturally jumped at it and assumed it to be the case which is why they felt so confident that they would be victorious chasing after Bnei Yisroel.

 This is a very important lesson for us in our lives also. God is always involved in our lives and by impacting our lives in specific ways, He is trying to encourage us to repent our sins and help us grow closer to Him. However, our natural tendency is to assume everything is normal and whatever happens to us is coincidence. This tendency is very difficult to change even when things in our lives do change which should clue us in that we should be looking at the events more closely to see what we should be learning from them. We must work on ourselves to remember to always look at what is happening in our lives with an understanding eye so we won’t miss out on the messages that God is constantly sending us so we will be able to improve our service of God.

 5770 פרשת בשלח

 In this week’s Parsha the Torah describes to us the events leading up to the splitting of the sea and the drowning of the Egyptians. When Bnei Yisroel first left Mitzrayim, the Torah tells us that God took them in a roundabout way and had them camp right outside Pisom, a city in Mitzrayim facing the sea.

 Rashi explains that the reason God told Bnei Yisroel to camp there was in order to trick Pharaoh into thinking that Bnei Yisroel was lost in the desert.

 The Ohr Hachayim asks, why would God need to trick Pharaoh into chasing Bnei Yisroel? God throughout the period of the ten plagues consistently hardened Pharaoh’s heart to prevent him from letting Bnei Yisroel go free, so God obviously could have made it so Pharaoh would chase Bnei Yisroel without tricking him.

 The Ohr Hachayim answered that God certainly could have gotten Pharaoh to chase Bnei Yisroel without tricking him. However, the purpose of having Bnei Yisroel camp outside of Mitzrayim was for their benefit. God wanted as much as possible to prevent Bnei Yisroel from being afraid and complaining against him, (a great sin showing a lack of trust in God), and saying that God brought them to the Midbar to die. To try and minimize this test God had Bnei Yisroel camp outside Mitzrayim so they should realize that God was actually instigating Pharaoh into chasing Bnei Yisroel and it was not Pharaoh who was chasing them because he thought he could kill them.  In the end this did not completely work and some of Bnei Yisroel still complained against God.

 If we look at this Ohr Hachayim more closely we can ask the following question.

 It would seem that if not for this action of putting Bnei Yisroel in front of Mitzrayim, Bnei Yisroel would have all panicked and complained against God. However, this is hard to understand. Bnei Yisroel had just seen all the plagues in Egypt to the point that Pharaoh himself came to send them out of Mitzrayim, how could they not have trusted that God would protect them in the Midbar from the Egyptians?

 The answer could be that the natural tendency of a person is for the emotion of fear to rule over a person. This would prevent them from looking at the situation intellectually and seeing what is really happening.

 However, if this is the case, why would having them camp outside of Mitzrayim help the situation? Their natural fear should have gotten the best of them also.

 The Ohr Hachayim himself seems to answer this question the following way. Since Bnei Yisroel themselves were doing the action that was causing Pharaoh to be tricked into chasing them that should have been enough to get them to come to the realization that God was causing Pharaoh and the Egyptians to chase them in order to punish them.

 We see from here the tremendous power of being actively involved in a situation to get us to properly focus intellectually instead of just relying on our emotions which can easily cause us to make mistakes.

 The question is how can we channel this tremendous power to see God’s hand in our lives which can bring us closer to God?

 The answer could be to put in the energy and the effort to not just read about the events that are occurring in the world and to us in Eretz Yisroel but to look at them more closely and try to see what God is trying to tell us by speaking to Rabbanim and to act on those events to do Teshuva and come closer to God.  

פרשת בשלח 5769 

 In this week’s Parsha the Torah describes to us the exodus of Bnei Yisroel from Egypt as well as the miracles relating to the splitting of the sea and the drowning of the Egyptian army. The Rabbeinu Bechai on the first Pasuk brings down the following Midrash:

 The mouth that spoke the words “I will not send Bnei Yisroel to freedom” was also the mouth that said “I will send out you and your children”. What was his reward? It was the fact that Egyptian converts could marry into Bnei Yisroel unlike their counterparts from Amon and Moav. The Midrash continues and says that the mouth that said “I do not know God that I should listen to him” was also the mouth that said “God is righteous and I and my people are evil” What was his reward? It was that the Egyptians who drowned during the Krias Yam Suf merited a burial.

 If we look at this Midrash a little bit more closely, it seems to be very difficult to understand. The Midrash seems to be saying that there was a special reward given for Pharaoh for repenting and taking back his original statements that basically denied God.

 However, if we look at the context of the “statements of repentance” the actions that followed those statements would seem to belie the words.

 The first statement of repentance was made in the midst of all the plagues and at that point in time Pharaoh had not yet actually let Bnei Yisroel out of Egypt. Furthermore, even once he did let Bnei Yisroel out of Egypt he still chased after them into the desert where the Egyptians were finally destroyed. It doesn’t seem that this statement should engender any type of reward.

 The second “statement of repentance” was also said in the midst of the plagues. After Pharaoh admitted that he was evil, he continued to go in his evil ways. Again, the question is why would this statement engender any reward?

 There is another question that can be asked here which is that if the whole idea here is that the repentance of Pharaoh enabled him to merit specific reward, why not mention the concept of repentance? The Midrash seems to focus on the fact that the same person that said the bad thing also said the good thing. It seems to be missing the point.

 The answer could be that every action that a person does merits reward. Even in the case of Pharaoh where he surely was not repenting his actions and the good words that he said were only a response to the suffering he was enduring as a way to make it end, nevertheless the fact that he reversed himself even in speech only was enough to merit the Egyptian nation with burial and having converts being able to marry into Bnei Yisroel.

 We see from here an incredible idea in how we must view our actions. With few exceptions, most of the mitzvos we do are not done with a full heart and the proper kanavos. Many times we might think what are our actions really worth anyway if we are doing them by rote. However, we must realize that every action that we do is taken into consideration by God even if it is not done perfectly and it can have a tremendous impact on us and all of Bnei Yisroel. On the flip side, we should realize that if the merit for an action done with little or no thought can bring such merit then surely if we put in the extra effort to do a mitzvah with an extra amount of thought and care how much greater its potential impact.

פרשת בשלח 5768 

  In this week’s Parsha the Torah describes to us the exodus from Egypt as well as all the miracles of splitting of the sea. The Torah tells us that God did not take Bnei Yisroel through the land of the Plishtim because it was close.

 The Mechilta explains what the Torah meant by saying that Goddid not want to take Bnei Yisroel through the land of the Plishtim since it was close, the following way:

 God didn’t bring Bnei Yisroel to Eretz Yisroel the straight route because if God had brought them in directly, they would immediately start working in their fields and their vineyards and they would not spend all their time learning Torah. However, God took them in a round about route so they can eat manna and drink from the well of Miriam so that the Torah will be absorbed in their bodies. Rabbi Shimon learned from here that only the ones who ate the Manna and their descendents who eat Treumah should be Doreish the Torah.

 If we look at this Midrash we can ask the following three questions:

 1.         Due to the fact that Bnei YIsroel stayed in the midbar for 40 years, they transgressed several great sins including the meraglim, the episode with the daughters of Midyan etc. In fact we know the generation who left Egypt died in the midbar and only their children merited to enter Eretz Yisroel. What was so important about having theTorah absorbed into their bodies for God to have put Bnei Yisroel in the situation where they were put into situations that caused many of them to transgress sins?

 2. What does it mean to have the Torah absorbed in their bodies? From the Midrash it doesn’t appear that if Bnei Yisroel would have entered directly into Eretz Yisroel that they wouldn’t learn at all, rather they wouldn’t learn it all the time since they would also be involved in their livelihood, so what was lacking in that type of learning that was so important that is was necessary to take Bnei Yisroel through a roundabout route toEretz Yisroel?

 3. What does it mean that the Torah was only given to be Doreish to the Kohanim and the generation that ate manna in the midbar, we know the Torah was given to all Jews for all generations to learn?

 In order to answer this question, the first thing we should try to understand is, what does it mean to have something absorbed into the body? When something is absorbed into an object, it becomes part of that object, while something that is poured on but not absorbed will eventually separate from the object. This is what the Midrash means when it says that God wanted the Torah to be absorbed into the body. It means that the Torah must become a part of the person.

 Now that we understand that God wanted the Torah to be absorbed into their bodies, we need to understand why that was so important and why regular Torah learning in conjunction with their livelihood would not be enough. The answer is that the generation of the exodus had a very important mission that no one else at any other time could accomplish. They were the first generation that received the Torah and they had to ensure that the Torah would be transmitted by them to their children in a way that will ensure its continuity.

 There are two different ways something can be transmitted to someone else. If a person is teaching a subject in school, the information is given over and grasped by the students and most times by the time the test is over, it is at least partially forgotten. However, when the information that is being given over is so meaningful and permeates the person’s very being, those messages will stick with the person who heard them much longer. An example of this would be an idea that a parent feels very strongly about and tries to give over to the child, will stay with the child well into adulthood.

 In order for the generation who received the Torah to give the Torah over to the next generation in a way that it will last, the Torah had to be a part of them. The only way the Torah could become an integral part of them is only through being totally absorbed in its learning without any other distraction. It was this strong feeling of Torah that enabled the transmission to be as long lasting as it was.

 Since it was of paramount importance that the Torah never be lost to Bnei Yisroel, it was necessary for Bnei Yisroel to be in the midbar for an extended period of time no matter that some of Bnei Yisroel would end up failing some of the tests that they went through in the midbar.

 This also answers our second question by understanding that the learning of Torah without being absorbed in Torah would not have enabled the transmission to be strong enough.

 However, we still must answer why Rav Shimon learned from here that only the people who were absorbed in Torah with no distractions can be Doreish the Torah which we know was given to all of Bnei Yisroel to learn.

 In order to answer this question, we have to understand what the Midrash means when it says Doreish the Torah. Basing ourselves on what we said earlier, we can now understand that the concept of Doreish is to give over the transmission of Torah in a way where the transmission will be everlasting. Obviously, we understand that this was the job of the first generation who received the Torah, but what about the next generations where Rav Shimon said only the ones who eat the Teruma can give over this transmission?

 The answer could be that the generations at the time of the first Beis Hamikdash and earlier had to fight against a desire that we today do not know. They had a desire  for idol worship; and it had a tremendous ability to draw a person away from Torah and God. In order to combat this desire the love of Torah had to be very strong in Bnei Yisroel. In order to create that love, the Torah had to be taught by people who had Torah absorbed in them. In this case the Kohanim who didn’t have the distractions of making a livelihood were able to spend all their time absorbing and then transmitting that Torah.

 However, just because we don’t have the desire for idol worship these days, it doesn’t mean that we don’t have our share of things that can draw people away from Torah. Obviously, today when everybody has to deal with earning a livelihood, we don’t have the ability to spend all our time learning Torah; however it is very important that we take the time, even if it is only a few days a year to remove ourselves from the yoke of parnassah and be involved totally in Torah. This will enable us to, at least on some level, absorb the Torah so that when we transmit it to our children and grand children, it will be coming totally from our heart and not just rolling off the surface. If we can do this, we should merit to have all our descendents being true servants of God.

 פרשת בשלח 5767 

There is a very interesting מMechilta on the first Pasuk of the Parsha  that can teach us a very important lesson.

The first Pasuk says the following:

And when Paroh sent out the nation from Egypt.

The Mechilta explains that the word ”Beshalach”  means to accompany someone on their way.

The Mechilta then adds the following:

What reward did the Egyptians receive for this action? Their descendents would not be completely distanced from Bnei Yisroel.

Let us examine this Mechilta a little more closely.

First of all, let us look at the reward the Egyptians received. The Pasuk describing the mitzvah not to distance the Egyptians is brought down in Parshas Ki Teitzei when discussing which nations can marry into Bnei Yisroel. We know that Amon and Moav, because of their sins, were prohibited from marrying into Bni Yisroel. It seems from this Mechilta that if not for this action the Egyptians, due to their evil actions against Bnei Yisroel, would also be prohibited from marrying into Bnei Yisroel.

Now let us examine the action the Egyptians did to merit this tremendous reward which enabled their descendents to marry into Bnei Yisroel despite their evil actions.

Pharoh and the rest of the Egyptians accompanied Bnei Yisroel out of Egypt. Now the Egyptians did not accompany Bnei  Yisroel out of Egypt because they cared for their well being, but rather they were afraid that the longer Bnei Yisroel were in Egypt the more Egyptians would die. It was done totally for selfish reasons. This being the case, it seems strange that this action would have been so great that it would somewhat offset the evil actions of the Egyptians and would enable their descendants unlike those of Amon and Moav to marry into Bnei Yisroel.

We can learn an incredible lesson from this Mechilta not only for the person who did the action but also for that person’s descendents. This is the reward for an action of kindness that was not done lishma, can we even imagine the reward we receive for a kindness done completely lishma.

Sometimes when the opportunity arises to do a chesed, we find ourselves wavering and debating: is it really important, does he really need our help, someone else will help, and I just don’t have the time. When that happens, we should stop and consider the tremendous reward we will getting both in this world and the world to come and run to make sure we don’t lose out on this wonderful opportunity. If we do this God should treat us also with his trait of kindness nd we should merit a life where all our wishes our filled for good.