Overview
of the Torah Reading
To be read on Shabbat Beshalach, Shabbat Shira,
17 Shvat 5784/Jan. 27
Torah: Exodus 13:17-17:16; Haftorah: Judges 4:4-5:31
(Song of Devorah / Song by the Sea)
Beshalach is the 4th Reading out of 11 in Exodus
and it contains 6423 letters, in 1681 words, in 116
verses
Beshalach opens with the Jews taking Yosef's remains
with them upon leaving Egypt. G-d split the Red Sea for the Jews to pass
through, but the waters fell on the Egyptians drowning them. Moshe and
the Jews sang a song of praise to G-d for this miracle. Also, Miriam and
the women sang and played music. In the desert, the Jews reached a place
where the waters were too bitter to drink. G-d showed Moshe a tree which
sweetened the water. The Jews complained that they didn't have meat to
eat. G-d gave the Jews quail and manna to eat. The manna could not last
overnight and on Shabbat it did not fall; instead Friday's portion for
each Jew was double. An urn was filled with manna which would last for
all generations. Again, the Jews complained about lack of water. G-d told
Moshe to hit a certain rock with his staff, and it would bring forth water.
The Amalekite nation attacked the Jews. Yehoshua fought them, and as long
as Moshe's arms were raised, the Jews victory was assured. With G-d's
help, the Jews are required to obliterate Amalek.
An
Essay from
Rabbi Shaul Yosef Leiter, Director of Ascent
(for a free weekly email subscription, click
here)
In the beginning of the portion, the verse says (Bereshit
13:18), "They [the Jewish people] left the land of Egypt, chamushim
(literally 'fived')". There are different opinions about the
meaning of the word chamushim. Rashi teaches that they left Egypt
armed. Traveling through the desert, the Jewish people needed to be able
to protect themselves. Rashi explains that chamushim, from the
Hebrew root for the word "five" (chamesh), refers to
the standard five weapons that are mentioned in the Mishnah (Shabbat chapter
6). They are: the sword, the spear, the bow, the shield and the club.
Each Jewish person is supposed to see himself as though each day he or
she, personally, came out of Egypt. We stopped being slaves to Pharaoh
and became servants of the Almighty. Just like our forefathers were armed
in order to protect themselves, we must also be armed. What is the spiritual
significance of the five different weapons that will protect us today?
A sword (cherev) is used for cutting. One of the Hebrew words that
means to cut is lezamer. The word zamer is connected to
the general name used for the Psalms (Tehillim) we say at the beginning
of our daily prayers - the section called Pesukei d'Zimra. Pesukei
d'Zimra can mean "verses of praise" but can also be translated
as "verses that cut". Each morning when a person says these
verses, he is not only praising G-d and meditating on His greatness as
the Creator, he is also cutting away at his evil inclination and weakening
it, while strengthening his connection to the Divine. There is a hint
to this in the Psalms (#149) "The greatness of G-d is in their throats
[and through this] a double-edged sword is in their hands".
A spear (romach) can also be spelled raish mem chet. The
numerical value of these three letters is 248, the number of words in
the Shema that we say in our prayers morning and evening. By saying the
Shema as it should be, understanding the words and with full intention,
we are able to eradicate all the evil lurking in and around us. The Shema
is like a spear, keeping our perimeters protected.
The bow (keshet) is the power of the silent prayer, the Amidah
prayer of eighteen blessings, the central and most important of our prayers.
Just as with a bow, the more you pull it towards yourself, the farther
the arrow goes, so too, the more we infuse ourselves with the words of
the silent prayer, the further up in heaven our prayers are able to reach.
The shield (treese) also shields us. When we wear our tallis
and tefillin at the same time that a person invests his energy
and concentration in prayer (this means not to just say the words but
to connect to them in a personal way), one's evil inclination often comes
and tries to disturb, confuse and distract us with inappropriate thoughts.
The tallis and tefillin shield us from these bombardments.
(For women this can be their modest clothing. Clothing is also a shield,
both physically and spiritually. Editor/translator).
Finally, the club (alah). A club is used for hitting things that
are close by. What is the additional advantage of a club? Spiritually,
when a person is involved in his personal routine of serving G-d, there
are some situations where bad habits slow us down and interfere with our
Divine connection. Chassidim say that when you slap your evil inclination
it thinks you are petting or stroking it. If we are easy on ourselves,
we will lose the game. Sometimes we have to really tell ourselves the
truth, be tough, relentless and demand correct behaviour even if it is
not easy. The Talmud expresses this (Brachot page 5) by teaching that
a person must always "enrage" his positive inclination against
his evil inclination. Soft talk will not influence our dark side.
On a more subtle level, when dealing with ourselves, sometimes the weapons
we need are the sword and the spear. These are to eradicate the evil completely.
Sometimes it is enough to use the club, which is just to hit or beat something.
What is the rule? When we are drawn to things forbidden you need to use
the sword and spear. There is no place in our lives for what the Torah
forbids. When dealing with desires for things that, although permissible,
are inappropriate, it is much more effective just to "beat up"
our negative inclination.
The Lubavitcher Rebbe. Sefer HaMa'amrim : Chassidic Discourses. 1944
Shabbat Shalom, Shaul
(for a free weekly email subscription, click
here)
For last year's essay by Rabbi Leiter on this week's
Reading, see the archive.
FROM
THE SAGES OF KABBALAH ON KabbalaOnline.org
Specifically, for
an overview of the recommended articles in the columns:
Holy Zohar, Holy Ari, Mystic Classics, Chasidic Masters, Contemporary
Kabbalists, and more, click to Beshalach
one sample:
The Zohar
Leaders
of People and of Time
From the teachings of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai; translation and commentary
by Shmuel-Simcha Treister, based on Metok MiDevash.
The Zohar teaches that the spiritual leader of the Jewish people is the
equivalent of the entire Israelite nation. If he is righteous and worthy
as Moses was, then all the people are deemed worthy in his merit. However,
if he is not worthy, then the entire people are punished.
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