Torah · Weekly Parasha VideoParashat BeshalachRabbi Uri Nahum · June 19, 2017 · Beshalach · בשלח · 15 Min Parasha RoundupSave⌄ShareParasha class with Rabbi Uri Nahum, from BSD Productions’ 15 Min Parasha Roundup.Transcript0:05Parashat Beshalach. This week's parashah has 116 pesukim.0:10The parashah is known for Kriat Yam Suf, where Torah tells us about the splitting of the0:14Yam Suf, and of course the parashah of the man, how Hashem gave us the food in the desert.0:19Also, Parashat Beshalach is known as Shabbat0:22Shirah, and it usually falls out around the week of0:25Tu B'Shvat, sometimes before, sometimes on Tu B'Shvat, sometimes also a little bit afterwards.0:30We divided the parashah into four different topics.0:32The first part of the parashah, Torah speaks about Bnei Yisrael's journey out of0:37Mitzrayim. Second part of this week's0:40parashah, which is the main part of the parashah, Torah tells us about0:43Kriat Yam Suf, the splitting of the Yam Suf, and the shirah, the song at the sea.0:48Third part of the parashah, Torah tells us about the food and the water0:51and the drinks of the Jewish people in the0:52desert. And finally, Torah concludes with Parashat Amalek,0:57where Torah tells us about the first war of the Jewish people.1:00One mitzvah in this week's parashah, it's1:05a mitzvat lo ta'aseh of techum Shabbat, and it's number 24 in the sefer haChinuch's list of mitzvot.1:11We come to the parashah, the first part of the1:13parashah, a short part that Torah tells us Bnei Yisrael's journey out of1:16Mitzrayim. The first travels of the Jewish people happened when they came out of1:20Mitzrayim. Torah tells us that they traveled, they left from Sukkot,1:24they went to Etam, and from Etam they came to a place called Pitom,1:28which is the famous Pitom and Ramses that they built.1:30At this time, though, however, it was called Pi1:34HaChirot. Now, Torah tells us why they took such a travel.1:37How come they didn't go directly into Eretz Yisrael?1:40Hashem was scared that maybe the Jewish people might see war1:43when they come to Eretz Yisrael. All the non-Jewish people are not going to give up the land easily.1:47They're going to fight for it.1:48So Hashem didn't want to put the Jewish people in the war right away,1:52so therefore He took them around and He made them travel in a roundabout way1:56in order to avoid war for the meanwhile.1:59Meanwhile, when they landed, when they stayed by Pitom,2:02Pitom was really backwards.2:04It was not towards the journey of the Jewish people.2:06They had to go back because Pitom and Raamses were pretty much right by2:10Mitzrayim. At this point, what happened is,2:15Paro gets a message that the Jewish people seem to be lost.2:18However, the Torah tells us, obviously, that the Jewish people were not lost;2:21they were traveling with Hashem.2:22They had a pillar of cloud that directed them in the daytime2:25and a pillar of fire that directed them in the evening.2:29And Torah also tells us that the Jewish people traveled armed, hamushim.2:33So the word hamushim translates as armed,2:36and another explanation, based on Midrash,2:38hamushim comes from the word one out of five, and that is 20%.2:43Sadly, only 20% of the Jewish people traveled out of2:46Mitzrayim. And Torah also points out that the body of Yosef was taken by Moshe,2:51just as Yosef made the Jewish people promise that they should take his body to be buried in2:56Eretz Yisrael, and the Midrash adds that the bodies of all the other eleven tribes, twelve tribes,3:01were also taken out of Egypt with each of their shevatim to be buried in3:05Eretz Yisrael. We come now to the second part of this week's3:08parasha, the Kriat Yam Suf and Shirat3:12Hayam. Kriat Yam Suf, this part of the parasha takes up 523:17pesukim, 52 out of the 116 pesukim. It's the main part of the3:22parasha, and the Torah tells us right in the beginning of this part3:24that Hashem wanted to set up Paro that he should come and drown into the ocean,3:32because this is when Hashem wanted to take out the revenge on the3:37gezeirah, on the decree that the Egyptians had on the Jewish people.3:44Kol haben hayilod, laYeor tashlichuhu. Any boy that's born, you have to send him and throw him into the water.3:47Now Hashem wanted to pay them back,3:50midah keneged midah, and throw them back into the water.3:52So therefore, the message came back after three days of travel to3:56Paro that the Jewish people are lost.3:58So therefore, Paro now... Taises, the Jewish people,4:02he gets all of his people to come with him,4:04and Chachamim tell us that, even you don't have to go to4:07the Chachamim, Torah almost says it directly,4:09that Paro really was debating if he should go or not,4:12and Hashem was mechazek his heart.4:15He strengthened his heart. That means he pushed him to go.4:17He was debating maybe4:18shagos, now we already had enough from the Jewish people, but he pushed him to go,4:22and Paro gathers all of his people.4:24And the pasuk says that he took 600 of the choicest chariots with him and the head of his army.4:30The Sefer HaYashar adds that really all the Egyptian men4:34left Mitzrayim to go with Paro to chase after the Jewish people,4:37and only the women and children stayed back.4:39And on the way going to get the Jewish people,4:42there were three groups, or three groups of thought, three philosophies4:45of what they should do with the Jewish people.4:47Some wanted to kill all the Jewish people.4:50Some wanted to just take the money.4:51And the third group said, you know, let's kill them and take the money as well.4:55And finally the Jewish people look back and they see that on the sixth day already,5:00they see already after they came out of5:02Mitzrayim, they see that the Egyptians reached them by Pi HaChirot, which we said is5:07Pithom. The Jewish reaction was, first thing that they say is,5:10we find the first sakas in the Torah.5:12They turn to Moshe and they say, Moshe,5:14what, there's a shortage of graves in5:17Mitzrayim? You took us to be buried here in the desert?5:19I don't understand. We could have died easily in5:22Mitzrayim. And at that point, the Torah tells us that the Jewish people,5:25the Midrash actually tells us that the Jewish people divided into four groups.5:28The first group, which was Shevet5:31Reuven, Shimon, Yissachar, they wanted to just throw themselves in the5:34ocean rather than die in the hands of the Egyptians.5:36The second group consisted of Shevet Zevulun, Binyamin, and Naftali.5:40They wanted to just go back to Mitzrayim, forget it, no more fighting,5:43let's just go back to Mitzrayim to become slaves.5:44The third group, which consisted of Dan and5:47Yosef, they wanted to fight against the Egyptians.5:50And the fourth group, which was Levi,5:53Gad, and Asher, they just wanted to— Confused the Egyptians,5:56maybe just yell out as if we were ready for war,5:58and maybe hopefully we'll scare them away.6:00Moshe responded to all the four groups,6:02and he, as the pasuk over there explains, you see Rashi,6:05that he told them to just calm down. He calmed everybody,6:08and he strengthened their faith in Hashem.6:10And he told them, just wait and you'll see Hashem's war. Hashem will battle for you.6:15You just wait and see.6:16Meanwhile, Moshe turns his attention to Hashem,6:18and he starts praying to HaKadosh Baruch Hu,6:21and Hashem responds to Moshe, tells him, This is not the time to pray.6:24This is the time to take action.6:26Tell the Jewish people to start traveling towards the sea6:28and to continue walking to the sea.6:31Let them show that they have full trust in Me.6:33Let them walk into the ocean.6:35Meanwhile, Hashem sets up the scene for Kriat Yam Suf, for the splitting of the sea.6:41Right in the beginning of that evening,6:43already now, this evening is the beginning of the seventh day6:47after Bnei Yisrael came out of6:49Mitzrayim. Now, usually the cloud, the pillar of cloud, guided the Jewish people in the daytime,6:54and when the daytime finished, the cloud of fire came.6:57In this time, however, the pillar of cloud didn't go away;7:01rather, it just shifted and went behind the Jewish people.7:04So therefore, you had the Jewish people in the front,7:06behind them was the pillar of fire,7:08and then the pillar of clouds was behind them.7:11Pillar of clouds is very cloudy.7:12You ever see in the day when it's foggy and it's very dark?7:14So the pillar of clouds made a tremendous amount of darkness for the Egyptians.7:18They couldn't see anything,7:19but they could see the pillar of fire,7:22they could see the Jewish people,7:23and they could see how the Jewish people continued to7:25travel, and they saw all these miracles.7:27What happened right afterwards was, at Hashem's command,7:30Moshe raises his hand with his stick,7:33and with the other hand he spreads it over the ocean,7:36and Hashem brings a strong eastern wind that freezes up the water.7:40You ever see when you have those freezing cold temperatures7:42and how the water freezes?7:43It pretty much appeared that way.7:45It appeared as if the water froze because of the wind.7:49And meanwhile, the Jewish people continued walking,7:52and when they saw the ocean,7:53they continued walking, led by7:56Nachshon ben Aminadav. They walked into the ocean,7:57and finally, when the water got up to their necks,8:00Hashem ripped open the ocean, and the Jewish people would walk into the ocean.8:05Now, before we get to a little bit of the details of Kriat Yam Suf, of how the ocean, how the sea split, we should know8:11that the Yam Suf is debatable. It's debatable which ocean was it.8:16Some say it's what we call today the Red Sea, and some say it's actually the Mediterranean8:20Sea.8:21In any case, we'll refer to it as the Yam Suf.8:24The Yam Suf in the evening already starts to split, and the Jewish people walk in.8:28And the Midrash says there were ten miracles that took place for the sake of the Jewish8:32people in the Yam Suf.8:33We'll just mention a few points that maybe we should highlight. We don't have time to8:37go through all the details of Kriat Yam Suf.8:41Number one is that the water divided into twelve different tunnels,8:44and it was a tunnel. It wasn't just open on the top; it was actually a tunnel, as8:47Rabbeinu Bachye explains. And each of the tunnels was custom-made for that specific tribe that8:54they went in.8:54The twelve tribes walked into twelve different tunnels,8:57and also, as the Or HaChaim and the Rosh, Rabbeinu Asher, point out, that the water didn't completely9:04split.9:05The water actually, only the top third of the ocean split, and the bottom9:10two-thirds remained water.9:11Hashem made that freeze in order that the Jewish people shouldn't have to walk all the9:14way down to the bottom of the ocean.9:17They would just walk, and then they would be able to walk on top of the9:21ocean. And that's the meaning, Kafu Tehomot בלב ים. The waves froze in the heart of the ocean, the heart of the person,9:28in the person's body, is in the upper third of his body.9:31So too, the upper third of the waters are the only ones that froze to allow the Jewish people9:36to walk.9:36And also, the Jewish people, when they walked into the ocean, they didn't go from one side9:41to the other side; rather, they made like a9:43U-turn. They pretty much came out from the same place that they came in.9:46Meanwhile, the Egyptians are watching from the other side.9:49They can't see amongst each other, but they could see the Jewish people, and that9:53they're walking into the ocean.9:54And the Egyptians started running after them.9:57And the Ramban says, in fact, that's why Hashem made the wind blow, to make it appear to the10:02Egyptians as if the wind is the one that split it open.10:04It's not some godly, supernatural power,10:07and therefore the Egyptians chased after the Jewish people inside.10:10And already by the third shift of the night, the Gemara in Berachot says that the three parts10:14of the night, we'll call them shifts, Ashmoret.10:17By the beginning of the third shift, Hashem already— Started taking out the punishment10:21against the Egyptians.10:22First of all, the chariots, the wheels melted, and they were being led by the horses.10:29The horses kept on coming.10:30Hashem made the horses kept on running into the water or into the ocean,10:34and they were dragged along with their horses and chariots.10:39And by dawn already, close to dawn, right before dawn came, Hashem tells Moshe to spread10:43his hand back over the ocean and allow the water to tumble down.10:47Can you imagine the tsunami, the power of the water, how it swept away and it was able10:52to knock buildings?10:53Can you imagine? That's how the water fell on top of the Egyptians.10:57In fact, some mefarshim explain, based on the Midrash, that the water didn't fall as11:02water.11:02It fell down as frozen ice blocks,11:05and that's how it came and knocked and killed the Egyptians inside of the water.11:10And the Egyptians died in three different ways based on their wickedness.11:13The worst of the Egyptians died as if you would throw a stone inside the water.11:18The stone would float around.11:20Likewise, those Egyptians died by suffocating tremendously.11:25They didn't completely die right away.11:26Hashem made them drown by floating up and down with the water, that they felt the pain11:30of suffocation.11:32The medium-sized wicked people, I mean to say not so bad wicked people, they drowned11:39like a11:40stone. A stone will drown, will go down to the bottom of the ocean, but takes time to go down.11:45And the best of the wicked people, the Egyptians, the way they sunk, they sunk immediately,11:51ka'oferet, like lead all the way to the bottom of the ocean. They had an immediate death because11:55they were better than all the other wicked people.11:58Finally, the Jewish people come out.12:00They see how the bodies of the Egyptians were brought to12:05shore, and in the morning the Jewish people sing the Shirat Hayam, the famous Az Yashir Moshe uvnei Yisrael.12:14As Yeshua Moshe ben Yisrael, lachachamim tells us, was a song that we say, which we all say in our tefillah12:19every single day.12:20This was sung by all of the Jewish people together. They all came up with these words12:26on their own.12:26They all said it with prophecy.12:28It wasn't Moshe, just Moshe. It was, even though it was led by Moshe, he led it, he would say12:33it and everybody would repeat, but they all had a prophecy, as it says, Ze Eli v'anvehu. They were all able12:37to point and to see HaKadosh Baruch Hu.12:39They all had tremendous prophecy at that time.12:41Even the women had their own song, separate from the men, with music, so this way you12:46don't hear the kol ishah, led by Miriam, and they had a nine-word song, as it12:51says in the12:52parashah. And the theme of the shirah was, as the way ArtScroll brings it down, the Stone Chumash, there were five12:58parts of the12:58shirah. Number one was the praise of Hashem as being our Savior and His awesome power that nobody13:03is able to stand in front of Him.13:05Number two was the review. The shirah consisted of the review of the miracles that took place13:09by Kriat Yam Suf.13:10Number three, the shirah talks about Pharaoh's plan of chasing the Jewish people and how13:14he failed.13:15Number four was the non-Jewish people's reaction to the news of13:19the miracles of Kriat Yam Suf.13:21And finally, the last part of the shirah talks about the future of the Jewish people as a13:25nation of God in the land of Eretz Yisrael.13:27And finally, we conclude this part where the Torah tells us in a remez how the Jewish13:33people collected so much spoils at the ocean, much more than they collected even in the13:38land of13:38Mitzrayim. We move on now to the third part of the parashah, which is also pretty big. It13:42consists of 49 pesukim, the food and water of the Jewish people in the desert.13:46First, the Jewish people were traveling in Midbar Shur for three days and didn't have13:50any water.13:51The only water they found was very bitter, so Hashem shows Moshe a bitter tree, which13:55Moshe was commanded to throw inside of the water, and here was a double miracle.13:59A miracle tree, a bitter tree, turned the bitter waters into sweet waters and they were able14:03to drink.14:04And finally, and then the Torah tells us of how Hashem brought down the man, the heavenly14:09bread.14:09The Jewish people arrived at Midbar Sin on the 15th of Iyar, and that is exactly a14:16month after they came out of Mitzrayim.14:17And at this point, the Jewish people ran out of the matzah they took out from Mitzrayim,14:22and so therefore Bnei Yisrael complained, We don't have any food.14:24So Hashem tells Moshe that He will bring for the Jewish people breakfast and dinner.14:29For breakfast they'll have man, which is a heavenly bread, and for dinner they'll have14:33the quail that will come in the evening.14:36And the Torah tells us in detail exactly how the man fell, and it tells us also the man14:40came with commandments.14:41First of all, the man was white, and it had a taste of honey. It was like dough with honey,14:46and it came every morning in a package of dew, which means first dew fell down,14:51tal, and then the man would fall, and then on top it would be another tal, which would freeze.14:55The dew would freeze on top, and when the sun would rise, the Jewish people would wake14:58up and they'd see that the upper layer of dew would melt, and that's how15:03they were able to get the15:05tal. And the Torah tells us that every single day the man fell, what they needed.15:09On Friday it fell double the portion that they needed, and on Shabbat the man did not15:14fall at all.15:15The commandments that came with the man, we find three commandments the Torah tells us,15:21and it was done to test the Jewish people.15:22Number one is that they can only collect the exact amount for each household member. Everybody15:27must collect the same amount, and that is an omer.15:29Omer is 10% of an ephah, which is 43.2 beitzim, which comes out, the measurements of these sefaradim, the way15:37they come out, is 3.7 pounds.15:40Also, another mitzvah was you're not allowed to collect on Shabbat. The man, you're not allowed15:44to even go out to collect on Shabbat. And also, you might not have any leftovers from any15:49day.15:49That means whatever you eat that day, you must finish it. If you don't finish it, you must15:52throw it out and get rid of it.15:53You're not allowed to keep anything leftover. If you do keep anything leftover, it will become15:58spoiled and become wormy.16:00If you, incidentally, find by the man, Datan and Aviram, the wise guys of the Jewish people, the16:07reshaim, they kept over the man and they even went out on Shabbat to collect the man.16:11And the Torah tells us at the end of the parashat haman that Moshe commanded Aharon16:15to take a sample of the man to keep it in the Aron HaKodesh, in the aron which contained the luchot,16:21as a memorabilia for all future generations to see how Hashem was able to16:27sustain a full nation of millions in the desert for forty years.16:32And we move on now to the last incident in this section of the Torah.16:36Torah tells us about the incident by16:39Refidim. Bnei Yisrael come to Refidim, in a place called Refidim, and over there they didn't have any water and they complained to Moshe.16:45Not they just complained they don't have water, but they complained,16:47Is Hashem really amongst us or not?16:50At that point Moshe is commanded by Hashem to go and to take his stick and to strike one of the16:55rocks and water will come out of it. And Moshe does so in the presence of the elderly, of the17:00zekeinim, and the place is renamed from Refidim to Massa17:04u'Meriva. Massa because they tested Hashem, and Meriva because they fought, כביכול, against Hashem.17:08And then we move on to the final part of this week's parasha, Amalek.17:12The Torah tells us that Amalek came to battle against the Jewish people, and the Chachamim say there's a connection here,17:17because the Jewish people complained about the water and they tested Hashem,17:20Hashem sent Amalek to go and fight against them.17:23And when Amalek attacked, Moshe tells Yehoshua to gather to make an army,17:29and the army should consist of men who were born on the month of Adar17:34Sheni, because that month has no mazal.17:36And the Chachamim tell us that the war lasted one full day of 36 hours.17:41The sun stood in the sky and lasted more than normal, the 12 hours. It stood there for 36 hours17:47until the Jewish people were able to defeat Amalek.17:49Meanwhile, Moshe had a role in the war.17:52He went on the top of the hill with Aharon and Chur, and he would pray.17:54And he would raise his hands to Shamayim, and as long as his hands were raised,17:58the Jewish people were able to win, to be successful.18:02When Moshe's hands became weak, they were not successful.18:05So therefore they brought a stone for Moshe to sit on, so he should be able to pray and to keep his hands up.18:10And finally Hashem tells Moshe, after the war, He tells him... Two things.18:15Number one is, itazem macho em chezek hamelech, wipe out the memory of Amalek from this world,18:21and forever Hashem will have a war against Amalek, and that's how we finish the18:27parashah. So, much, much detail in this week's parashah. Not so many18:31pesukim, an average pesukim, but it's a lot of details, and therefore we'll have a quick lesson.18:35What can we learn from this week's18:36parashah? A quick lesson is we find that the two main subjects of this week's18:41parashah, Ki atyam suf and the manna, come right after each other,18:43and Chachamim tell us they're connected. As Chachamim tell us,18:48kashe parnasato shel adam ki Kriat Yam Suf. A person's livelihood, the way Hashem gives it to him, it's as if Hashem opens up the ocean.18:54And therefore the Chachamim tell us that we have to learn from Kriat Yam Suf.18:58What was the purpose of Kriat Yam Suf?19:00You look in the pasuk, Hashem says,19:03Veyed'u, people will know, everybody will know, ki ani Hashem, that I am Hashem. And in fact the Jewish people realized,19:09ze Eli v'anvehu. The Egyptians didn't realize by Hashem; the Jewish people did realize.19:11Likewise with our parnasah, with our livelihood,19:14we have to look to our livelihood, to our parnasah. Hashem gives us our19:18parnasah, and to see19:20ze Eli v'anvehu. That's our responsibility and our job in our19:23parnasah, not just to make money, but to see how this is my God,19:27and I will honor Him with beautiful mitzvot.19:29That's our lesson.19:31We shouldn't be like the Egyptians who don't realize;19:33they think it's the wind that causes the world to run.19:36It's not the wind; it's19:38ze Eli v'anvehu. And when we realize that, that we'll see the constant miracle of Kriat Yam Suf in our daily life.20:10Shabbat shalom.