Parsha Beshalach: Experiencing Our Brother’s Difficulties
by, Moshe Burt
Our Parsha opens by stating; “It happened when Pharoh sent out the people that Hashem did not lead them by the way of the Philistines, because it was near, for Hashem said, ‘Perhaps the people will reconsider when they see a war, and they will return to Mitzriyim.'” (Sefer Sh’mos, Perek 13, posuk 17)
Torah Gems cites a vort from R’ Baruch Abba Rakowsky on words of the posuk; “Perhaps the people will reconsider when they see a war, and they will return to Mitzriyim.”
Rav Rakowsky asks why, after escaping from such a terrible enslavement, would the first problem they faced drive them to return to Mitzriyim? He reasons that all that the B’nai Yisrael had wanted was to be freed of their terrible physical work. They never dreamed of liberation from the enslavement. Because of the absence of such a dream, there was ample reason to fear that at the first sign of difficulty they would return to Mitzriyim. (Torah Gems, Aharon Yaakov Greenberg, Volume 2, page 100)
Then, a little further into our Parsha, “Hashem said to Moshe; Why do you cry to me, speak to the B’nai Yisrael, that they go forward.” (Sefer Sh’mos, Perek 14, posuk 15)
Torah Gems then brings a vort from Sefat Emet; “Why do you cry to me …” (Sefer Sh’mos, Perek 14, posuk 15) “Didn’t Moshe know that Hashem would keep his promise and smite the Mitzriyim? Rather, Moshe’s love for his fellow Jews was so great that when he saw how much they were suffering, he lost his patience and was unable to prevent himself from expressing how he felt.” (Torah Gems, Aharon Yaakov Greenberg, Volume 2, page 107)
Torah Gems also cites one of history’s greatest Mussar Rabbanim, R’ Yisrael Salanter who also asks why Moshe’s impatience regard Hashem’s promise. “Did Moshe, Heaven Forbid, doubt that Hashem would fulfill his promise? Didn’t he trust Hashem? Rather, when it is at the expense of the Jewish people, one should not live on trust.” (Torah Gems, Aharon Yaakov Greenberg, Volume 2, pages 107-108) Torah Gems adds as well, that R’ Yisrael Salanter often said “that a Jew has to be a heretic to a certain extent and if someone comes to him [a Jew], he should not trust Hashem to help the person. Instead he [the Jew] must do whatever he can to help a person in need. He was also accustomed to say; ‘One should worry about the other Jew’s body and one’s own soul, and not vice-versa.'” (Torah Gems, Aharon Yaakov Greenberg, Volume 2, pages 108)
Near the end of our Parsha, we read “And the hands of Moshe were heavy and they took a rock and placed it under him and he sat on it.” (Sefer Sh’mos, Perek 17, posuk 12)
Rabbi Pliskin in Growth Through Torah cites a Rashi which states “that Moshe did not sit on a comfortable pillow, but a rock. There was a battle going on with Amalek and Moshe wanted to feel the suffering of the people. This, said Rabbi Yeruchem Levovitz, is a lesson in feeling for another person’s suffering. Not only should we mentally feel their pain, but it is proper to do some action in order to feel some of the discomfort yourself when someone else experiences pain. This way [through empathy] you actually feel his pain.” (Growth Through Torah, Rabbi Zelig Pliskin, page 177, citing from Daas Torah, page 152)
What these three citings from our Parsha indicate is that Moshe Rabbeinu was as one with the entire B’nai Yisrael. He made himself to feel what the B’nai Yisrael was feeling in order not to lead from aloof or afar, and to beseech Hashem on their behalf, knowing what suffering they were undergoing.
For those of us who were not in Amona on the day of the violence, of the uprooting, of the expulsion, or for that matter, also not in Gush Katif on the days of their expulsion; those of us who undertook various actions to help our brethren along the way, but who were not clubbed, thrown or violated can yet still feel as one with them. We can still feel the pain, torment and violation that those in the confrontation experienced.
We can feel the conversion of pain, torment and violation into righteous indignation, into getting our backs up and preparing chas v’chalila if there should be another such confrontation. And we can confront by doing what needs to be done; to make sufficient noise and bring sufficient pressure to bear to insure that the facts of responsibility for the recent police actions is made known to every last Israeli, and to insure that a despicable rasha, and group of rashayim, is utterly routed and discredited for all time in the elections slated for the end of March.
May it be in this year and beyond, that our brethren; the refugee families from Gush Katif and the Shomron (may they soon be restored to new homes and neighborhoods, Bati Knesset, Yeshivot in Gush Katif and the Shomron and only happiness and success for all time), as well as our dear brother, Jonathan Pollard (may he soon know freedom and long life in Eretz Yisrael) be central in our thoughts, prayers, chassadim and actions. May this abominable period of history called hitnatkut be as a bad dream.
May we be zocha in this coming year to take giant steps toward fulfilling Hashem’s blueprint of B’nai Yisrael as a Unique people — an Am Segula, not to be reckoned with as with “the nations” and may we be zocha the Moshiach, the Ge’ula Shlaima, “Yom Hashem V’Kol HaGoyim”, the Ultimate Redemption, bim hay v’yameinu — speedily, in our time”, — Achshav, Chik Chuk, Meiyad, Etmol!!!
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Moshe Burt, an Oleh, is a commentator on news and events in Israel and Founder and Director of the Sefer Torah Recycling Network. He lives in Ramat Beit Shemesh.
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