Parshas Beshalach 5765

Although Pharaoh had chased the Jewish people out of Egypt, his intentions were only that they leave for three days to offer sacrifices to G-d, and then return to slavery. This, however, was not the intention of G-d. As such, the Jews were by no means safe yet. There was still the danger that Pharaoh would pursue them to return to slavery.

G-d had another concern too. Were the people to leave by a route that was within easy access of Egypt, they would want to return at the first sign of difficulty. For this reason He led them on a roundabout path through the Sinai Desert, where it would be difficult for them to return to Egypt.

The nation encamped by the Red Sea. Pharaoh realized that the Jews were not returning, and began to pursue the nation, overtaking them at the sea. The people found themselves in a terrifying situation. The Red Sea spanned before them, a dangerous wilderness surrounded them, and the Egyptian armies were bearing down on them from the rear. G-d commanded Moshe to lead the people into the sea. The Jews trusted in G-d and marched directly into the Sea, which split before them. The Midrash describes how the sea actually split into twelve transparent walls. Each tribe crossed through their own section on dry land, in the midst of the water. Many other miracles also occurred at that time. The Egyptians followed the Jews straight into the sea, at which point the water returned to its original state. The Egyptian soldiers all drowned in he sea.

The people recognized G-d's great miracle, and they broke into a song of praise. The Talmud relates that at that time, the simplest Jew had a revelation of G-d that would not be experienced by the greatest prophets in later times. The song, called Oz Yashir, was later incorporated into the daily prayers. Shortly after their ascent from the sea, the Jews were attacked by the nation of Amalek. Although all of the other nations were in awe of the miracles at the sea, Amalek remained unmoved. When Moshe lifted his hands towards heaven, the Jews' faith in G-d was strengthened and they were victorious in battle. Because of Amalek's brazen antagonism towards G-d, the Jews were commanded to wipe out the memory of Amalek.

"... and what are we?..." (Ex.16:7)

The Talmud says that Moshe's humility ("What are we?") was greater than that of Abraham ("I am but dust and ashes"). Rav Meir Shapiro explains how we see Moshe's greatness with a story. Rav Yonasan Eybshitz visited a city for Yom Kippur and was impressed by an individual who was praying intensely, crying that he was worth nothing before G-d. He was thus surprised when he later heard the man complaining why he hadn't been called to the Torah, when he deserved it more than another man. Rav Yonasan asked the man, "I thought you considered yourself worthless!" The man replied, "Before G-d I might be worthless, but compared to that person...!" It's more difficult to be humble before man than it is before G-d. Moshe who expressed his humility before other people was greater than Abraham who expressed it to G-d.

Did You Know...

It is prohibited to transfer an object on Shabbos from a private domain to a semi-public domain such as from an apartment into the common hall or stairwell, or vice-versa. This applies whether the object is in one's hand or pocket, or even rolled or thrown from one domain to another. To avoid this prohibition one can make an eiruv chatzeiros, which involves taking a loaf of bread or the like, and requesting a second person to acquire the bread for all the tenants in the building. A blessing is also recited. The common ownership of the bread makes the apartment building a large private domain, thus allowing all the tenants in the building to carry from their apartments into the hall or into one another's apartment.