Quick Thoughts on the Parsha

In the third aliyah of Parshat Beshalach, Hashem responds to Moshe in a surprising way. After Moshe tells B’nai Yisrael that Hashem will fight for them and that they just need to be silent, ואתם תחרשון, God challenges Moshe, מה־תצעק אלי, “Why do you cry out to Me?” (Shemot 14:14-15). We know that redemption came to be because God heard the cries of B’nai Yisrael, so why is God now chastising Moshe for doing just that-- crying out to Him? Rashi explains that in this moment Moshe was praying and God turned to him and said, לא עת עתה להאריך בתפלה שישראל נתונין בצרה, “Now is not the time to pray at length when Israel is in distress”. Instead of praying to Me, now is the time to speak and act with those around you, דבר אל־בני־ישראל ויסעו, “Speak to B’nai Yisrael and let them travel” (Shemot 14:15). Here Hashem is teaching Moshe, the person who struggled to speak, that there is a time to turn inward in prayer and there is a time to engage with others in dialogue. Both are equally needed to bring about redemption. For while tefillah effects Hashem’s heart (kivyachol) as well as our own, words and deeds address immediate human suffering in a way that prayer cannot. As God’s people, it is our responsibility to discern between moments when personal prayer is required and moments when speech and action will be more effective, whether for ourselves or for those around us. Today may we recognize when others are בצרה, in distress, and may God give us the courage to speak and act in the way needed so that we can all move forward on our journey of redemption together, ויסעו.

--Rabbanit Alissa

In the fourth aliyah of Parshat Beshalach, we see the famous Shirat HaYam, the Song of the Sea. On a Pshat level, Moshe and all of B’nai Yisrael sing this song together after the Egyptian army has been destroyed. But the Midrash tells us that this is not entirely the case. According to the Midrash, the people who sang this song were התינוקות אותן שהיה פרעה מבקש להשליך ליאור, “the same babies whom Pharaoh had sought to cast into the Nile” (Shemot Rabbah 23:8). The Midrash teaches that when the Hebrew women would give birth in Egypt, they would leave their children in the field for God to care for because they were not safe in Egypt. When the children grew up, they would return to their parents and say that a young man (kivyachol) had taken care of them. At the sea, those same children who had been raised by God in the field recognized Him and said זה קלי ואנוהו, “This is my God and I will glorify Him” (Shemot 15:2). What the Midrash is teaching us here is that the people who were able to sing Shirat HaYam were the people who were able to recognize God as their personal God, the One Who saved each of them and cared for each of them individually. Redemption, which is what this song celebrates, was not only communal but deeply personal. Thus, every morning when we say Shirat HaYam, we are called to place ourselves in that same position, standing on the shore recognizing the One Who saved us. Ask yourself,  ‘How can I say and really mean זה קלי ואנוהו, “This is my God and I will glorify Him”’? Reflect on moments when God saved you, when God supported and raised you against all odds. We are all children who have been nurtured and saved by God (though perhaps not in an Egyptian field). It is therefore our job to recall our own personal moments of redemption so that we say Shirat HaYam in the way it was meant to be said.

--Rabbanit Alissa

In the fifth aliyah of Parshat Beshalach, B’nai Yisrael complain to HaShem that they are starving and miss the meat and bread of Egypt. In response, HaShem doesn't just provide manna, but He tests B’nai Yisrael as to whether they are able to gather דבר יום ביומו, what is needed for the day on that day (Shemot 16:4). Why this need to test us? Rashi explains that HaShem was making sure that B’nai Yisrael would not gather היום לצורך מחר, today what is needed tomorrow. It seems that this delay of gratification or focus on the current moment is essential to our role as Hashem’s chosen people going forward. This is because in this test, Hashem is requiring not only that we cultivate the ability to be present in our daily lives, but also that we have faith. We may be satisfied right now, but can we be content with not knowing what tomorrow will look like? This is the core of what it means to live a life of faith, to be willing to trust in Hashem despite the fact that we are often in the dark about what will be. But just like in any human relationship, this unconditional faith is the pathway to true intimacy and love. Ask yourself, ‘Am I gathering today only what I need to focus on today?’ ‘Or am I surrounding myself in the details of tomorrow?’ Living in the moment is a continual expression of faith in Hashem.

--Rabbanit Alissa

This year, Tu B’Shvat falls on Shabbat Shira when we read Shirat Hayam. The splitting of the sea is perhaps the most miraculous moment in our collective history, the moment when Hashem defied nature in order to redeem us from Mitzrayim. Tu B’Shvat, on the other hand, is the holiday when we celebrate not a miracle that transcends nature, but nature itself. It may seem odd to celebrate the fact that rain falls and trees grow to produce fruit. According to the Mishnah in Rosh HaShanah, Tu B’Shvat is one of four heads of the year and is the New Year of the Trees. What meaning can we then derive from Tu B'Shvat coinciding with our reading of Kriyat Yam Suf, Hashem’s ability to defy nature? The Sefat Emet teaches, אין נס גדול ונפלא כמו הטבע, ‘There is no miracle as great and as wondrous as nature’ (Sefat Emet on Parshat Behar). We do not live in a world where physical miracles like Kriyat Yam Suf happen on a daily basis. The miracles of the midbar are part of our history, but not physically part of our present. So when we read about Hashem’s biblical miracles, we might feel distant and saddened that Hashem’s Presence is not as obvious today as it was for our ancestors. But almost as though in response to this feeling, Hashem gives us Tu B’Shvat-- as the Sefat Emet taught-- the day when we celebrate the greatest and most accessible miracle of all: nature. Nature is not just trees, dirt, and fruit. Nature means the cycle of life, the regular day to day, the mundane and continual growth that surrounds us. As we remember the miracle at the sea, let’s also reflect on the miracles in nature and in our lives. Though it might not seem as grand as the splitting of the sea, the cycle of life and nature is the greatest miracle of all.

--Rabbanit Alissa