Hello and greetings from a very snowy Iowa. This is Torah Thoughts from Adas Israel, the Jewish Congregation of Northern Iowa based in Mason City. Because of the projected snow we have made the decision to cancel services for Friday the 14th as well as our in-person Midrash. However because of technology we will hold our 10:00AM Midrash via Zoom. Tracy Smith has been kind enough to offer to host the session. The link is in our email version of Torah Thoughts. If you are not on our list but wish to join us please send your information to us: [email protected] should work. OK? Let's go!
Parsha Beshalach
This week we read Exodus 13:17 - 17:16. It is called Beshalach after the second word in the reading. Beshalach means "when (he) let go". "It happened when Pharaoh sent out (let go) the people that G-d did not lead them by the land of the Philistines, because it was near."
That begs an interesting question. Why would G-d wish the Jewish people to take the "long way" to Israel? The answer is that G-d knew the people would "backslide" and when faced with the possible battle against the Philistines they would want to go back to Egypt. By diverting them in a "round-about" manner it was more difficult for them to flee. So he sent them on a big detour. What is stunning is they had been witness to all the miracles in Egypt but yet they were not sure. Oh, people of little faith...right?
Pharaoh's Heart
Now it's getting interesting. We read in Ex. 14:4 that G-d says, "I shall strengthen the heart of Pharaoh and he will pursue them (the people), and I will be glorified through Pharaoh and his entire army and Egypt will know that I am Hashem." For all of Egypt to know that G-d is...G-d there had to be yet another amazing event. That event would cement in the minds of all who is in charge. The event was the splitting of the sea and the drowning of the Egyptian army.
But, of course, before we get there the people see the army coming and they panic. They even tell Moses that they were better off when they lived in Egypt...at least they would not be run down by the great army. G-d once again tells Moses that it's going to be alright. Stay strong even in the face of this...
Money, Money, Money
We now come to a very interesting part of the parsha. The Egyptian army is so sure of victory that they take with them gold and jewels to decorate their chariots. When they drown in the sea what happens to all the money? The rabbis say that G-d caused it to rise from the bottom of the sea and for the gold and jewels to wash up on the beach where the Jews stood.
Surprise!
If you read Ex. 15:22 this is how we know. It says, "Moses caused Israel to journey from the Sea of Reeds..." The rabbis say that Moses had to force the people to leave the shore because they were busy collecting the wealth that washed up on the beach.
Roll Back
Let's roll back a bit. Rabbi Zweig "G-d decreed that Abraham’s descendants were to go to a land that was not their own and become slaves for four hundred years (Gen. 15:13) In the next verse, G-d promises Abraham that when his descendants leave the land of their bondage they will do so bearing great wealth. How did G-d fulfill this promise?"
G-d pleaded with Moses that the Jewish people should ask their Egyptian neighbors for fine jewelry and clothes so that when they left Egypt they would have wealth (Ex. 11:2). They did so and managed to accumulate significant going away presents. Yet according to our sages, all that they managed to get from the Egyptians as they were leaving paled in comparison to the booty they seized from the Egyptian soldiers who came to slaughter them but instead were drowned by G-d in the Red Sea.
Court Fight
Here is an interesting story from the Talmud and it has to do with a court case with Alexander the Great. It seems that the Jewish people were summoned to appear in court to answer a charge of theft for taking money out of Egypt and not returning it. And the Egyptians had proof. After all it was written in the Torah.
A sage who appears only one time in all of the Talmud tells the court that indeed the Egyptians were not wrong: “You have a legitimate claim, for the Torah records that we left Egypt with much of your gold and silver.”
But, he went on: “But the very same Torah says that we were slaves for four hundred and thirty years (Ex. 12:40) – so in fact, we have a counterclaim! Pay us the wages for 600,000 slaves who labored day and night for four hundred and thirty years; for those wages surely exceed anything we might have taken when we left Egypt!” Alexander the Great turned to the Egyptian plaintiffs and demanded that they answer the counterclaim. “Give us three days to answer” the Egyptians pleaded. He granted them the time and they promptly disappeared and never returned.
The Lesson
Back to our story at the sea. Moses had to push the people to leave even in the face of them collecting more wealth than they could imagine. But why would Moses care if they stayed and collected more?
There is a very deep message here. G-d promised our forefather Abraham that the Jewish people would leave Egypt wealthy. But at what point can you consider yourself wealthy? At what point are you satisfied with what you have?
The answer is when you leave gold, silver, and precious jewels laying on the ground in front of you and you just walk away. That is what Moses was trying to teach them: You are wealthy now and you do not need any more. When they realized that they had so much that they could simply walk away from more they finally understood that they were in fact wealthy and left the seashore. So, G-d fulfilled his promise to Abraham.
When a person can look at what he/she has and say, "I have enough" they can then we are free from the pressure to gain more and can now spend time in service to others including our family. That is true enrichment.
Midrash
Once again, we'll be holding our Midrash on ZOOM. If you do not get our weekly email newsletter that will have the link. Please send us your name and email and we'll include you.
Shabbat Shalom and stay well.
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