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Beshalach 3 Shabbat Shira Every year on Shabbat Parshat Beshalach, the Maharal of Prague would instruct the teachers to gather their students (and their parents) in the courtyard of the synagogue to tell them the story of how the birds sang and danced during the splitting of the Sea. As related in the Midrash, the Jewish children plucked fruit from the branches of the trees that sprang up on either side and fed them to the birds. After the story was told, kasha (groats) was distributed to the children to scatter about for the birds and chickens in commemoration of this event. The Maharal would then bless the children and their parents that they raise them to a life of Torah and good deeds and lead them to the marriage canopy. (Sefer HaSichot 5702 of the Rebbe Rayatz Zt"l of Lubavitch) Hashem did not lead them the way through the land of the Philistines, because it was near. The Jewish people were led on a roundabout way to the Promised Land to afford their future descendants the strength to overcome and succeed even when the path is rocky and full of obstacles. (Sefat Emet) "Then Moses and the Children of Yisrael chose to sing this song to Hashem" (15:1) In the normal course of events, we fail to perceive the hand of G-d at work. We wonder how most of the seemingly unrelated, daily phenomena that surrounds us could be part of a Divine, coherent plan. We see suffering and evil, and we wonder how they can be the handiwork of a Merciful G-d. Rarely-very rarely-there is a flash of insight which illuminates the whole picture and we see how all the pieces of the puzzle fit into place-we realize how every note and each instrument and player harmonize in Hashem's symphony of Creation. This realization is what the Torah calls a song-when all the apparently unrelated phenomena meld into a coherent, merciful and comprehensible whole, singing in unity. (Adapted from the Artscroll Stone Chumash) See, the L-rd has given you the Shabbat (Ex. 16:29) Some things are beyond man's ability to control, but the extent to which a person feels the sanctity of Shabbat is dependent on his own service. The more a Jew prepares and invests his efforts, the more the holiness of Shabbat is felt. (Likutei Torah) "It happened that when Moshe raised his hand Yisrael was stronger, and when he lowered his hand Amalek was stronger." (17:11) There is a force in this world that seeks to imprison reality within the confines of Man's understanding; a force that defines what is beyond human reason as non-existent; a force that seeks to bind all existence within the hollow skull of man. That force is called Amalek. The Jewish People stand immutably in opposition to that idea. The Jewish People are eternal witnesses that existence is not limited by Man's understanding of it. The Jewish People put action before words. We are the people who said at Sinai `Na'aseh V'nishma'-"We will do and we will hear." We commit ourselves to Hashem before we understand or even attempt to understand the meaning of His Torah. What other option could possibly be intellectually honest? When Moshe's hands were raised above his head the Jewish People were triumphant. When action-hands-precede the head-intellect-then the Jewish People are triumphant in their battle against the force of Amalek. But when the head is above the hands, Amalek dominates. (Adapted from `Worldmask') The primary redemption, says R' Yaakov Moshe Charlap, zatzal (1883-1951; student of R' Kook and his successor as Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat Merkaz haRav), is too great to be brought about through other nations. This is why, after Pharaoh had given Bnei Yisrael permission to leave, he had to change his mind. The same will be true of the final redemption. The nations of the world will control Eretz Yisrael and will give us the right to settle there. Before the redemption can be complete, however, they will have to regret their decision, so that it will be clear that Hashem alone has redeemed us. (quoted in Ohr haTehiyah p.24) |
