BESHALACH 1997

In the Torah portion Beshalach we learn how the Jewish people, after witnessing the great deliverance of the Red Sea, believed in G‑d and in Moshe, His servant.  After they leave the Red Sea, they go for three days without water and complain bitterly.  They also complain against Moshe later on saying, "Oh, that we would have died by the hand of G‑d in the land of Egypt when we sat on pots of meat and ate bread to satiety because you have taken us out to the desert to die from hunger."  G‑d then promises to give them the manna, which He does do.  Afterwards they again are without water, and they even proclaim, "Is there a G‑d in our midst or not?" How could the Jewish people go from such faith to, after a few obstacles, even doubting whether or not G‑d was among them?

What's more, why is it that at the beginning of this Torah portion we learn how G‑d did not take them the most direct route to the land of Israel, which would lead through the land of the Philistines because He said, "Lest the people will see war and return to Egypt."  After all, at the end of this Torah portion the Jewish people did see war; they fought Amalek.  Why couldn't G‑d have just caused a miracle to happen with the Philistine army as He did with the Egyptian army so the Jewish people could have taken the more direct route?

Finally, why, after all the plagues in Egypt, did Pharaoh think he could chase after the Jewish people and bring them back to Egypt?  The rabbis tell us that the reason Pharaoh thought he could pursue the Jewish people and bring them back to Egypt was because, as the text said, "And it was told to the king that the people had fled."  The Jewish people had not left Egypt in order to pursue a higher ideal.  They had just fled persecution.  They were not going toward anything.  They were just escaping from something.  We all know that many times when people face problems, even simple problems, they completely fold and stop trying.  They just cannot seem to handle any adversity.  On the other hand, there are people who can handle adversity easily and overcome all sorts of serious and difficult problems.  Why do certain people collapse immediately in front of the simplest problem, while other people overcome huge problems easily?

The answer, the rabbis tell us, is because the first group has no vision of the future.  They do not know where they are going.  All they know is that they are running away from something, and that is not enough of a motivation to allow you to overcome your problems.  It is like children who run away from home, even abusive homes, but when they wind up on the streets, they find that street life is ten times worse, even a hundred times worse than the homes from which they fled, and most of them return unless they have a goal, unless they are fleeing to something instead of from something.  The Jewish people did not have a goal.  As the prophet tells us, without a vision the people perish.  The first encounter with trouble will confuse them, demoralize them, and cause them to go back to Egypt.  They still did not have the faith in the future that they needed to pursue position goals.  This faith was only gained at the Red Sea after they saw the destruction of the Egyptian army.  However, a dream of the future, a goal is not always sufficient.  We also need to have the economic means to fulfill our goals.  If you are without water and food, you cannot pursue your goals.

That's why when the Jewish people complained about water and food in this Torah portion, they were not punished or even reprimanded seriously because they made a good point.  Without food and water, how could they pursue their faith?  When the Jewish people questioned Moshe about G‑d taking them out in the desert and killing them there, they were merely repeating an old Jewish question which goes back to the Akedah, the binding of Isaac.  How could G‑d have promised Abraham that from his seed would spring a mighty nation who would instruct the world about morality and goodness, while, at the same time, he was commanded to kill his only son from Sarah?  We Jews know that we have a mission to perform, but how can we perform it if we are bereft or all resources and persecuted and hounded?  There is probably a touch of lusting over material things in the Jewish people's complaint, too, but the main thrust of their complaint was, "Moshe, how can we have faith if we have no food and water'?" Even in this country, when the first immigrants came they were confronted with a terrible choice.  Most of the immigrants were religious, although there were non-religious among them, but their choice was, if I do not keep Shabbat, I can earn $10,000 a year, and if I do keep Shabbat, I will earn zero per year.  That's a hard choice.  Without Parnoso, without earning a living, how can Jews maintain their vision of the future?

At the beginning of this Torah portion the Jewish people had no vision, but at the end they did.  That's why they could face Amalek.  The rabbis tell us that there are three elements that are needed in order to survive as a people and as an individual.  One is that we must have a vision, faith.  That's why it says Boker three times at three critical junctures in Jewish history.  First it said that toward morning the waters came cascading down upon the Egyptian army.  The second time it says, "And in the morning he will see the glory of G‑d," referring to the manna, and the third time is when the Jewish people would receive the Ten Commandments.  It says, "And it was on the third day in the morning," when they got the Ten Commandments.  We must have faith, a vision of the future.  We must have a way of economically supporting ourselves, and we must know how we can implement our vision in a moral and practical way in the world.  There are people who have a vision, but the vision is so impractical that the person who holds this vision does not even take it seriously, like the ideal of turning the other cheek.  Nobody has ever done that except maybe the Jewish people during the Middle Ages.  We must have goals and vision, things which we believe we can attain, and we must have an economic base from which to operate, and we just have firm moral guidelines on how to attain our goals, otherwise our idealism can turn into the terrible cruelty of the communists, who had ideals but perverted them by not following the Ten Commandments.

Why is it that certain people can overcome their problems?  They can overcome their problems because they know that adversity cannot beat them.  They will always try to overcome everything because they have a vision, and they have some economic means, and they know they can implement their vision in practice.  Other people will not even try to face their problems because they do not know where they are going or if they know where they are going, they have no means to get their, or their ideals are so other-worldly that they have no confidence that they can attain them in this world.  When people ask advice on how to overcome their problems, people tell them, "Try, try," but they cannot try because they really have no goals or means to reach their goals.

I am reminded of the story they tell about a boy who asked his father, "Daddy, would you please help me with my homework?" The father said, "Son, I can't."  The boy said, "Why not, Daddy?" His father replied, "Because, Son, I don't think it would be right."  His son looked at him and said, "But, Dad, try anyway."  We should all try to overcome our problems, and if we have a vision of the future and a basic livelihood and ideals which we know can be implemented in this world, we will overcome our problems.  Let us all hope that we will overcome our problems so the Mashiach will come quickly in our day.  Amen.