Parshas Beshalach - True Tests and Calculated Conclusions

Parshas Beshalach

True Tests and Calculated Conclusions

By: Daniel Listhaus

וַיְהִי בְּשַׁלַּח פַּרְעֹה אֶת הָעָם וְלֹא נָחָם אֱלֹהִים דֶּרֶךְ אֶרֶץ פְּלִשְׁתִּים כִּי קָרוֹב הוּא כִּי אָמַר אֱלֹקים פֶּן יִנָּחֵם הָעָם בִּרְאֹתָם מִלְחָמָה וְשָׁבוּ מִצְרָיְמָה: וַיַּסֵּב אֱלֹקים אֶת הָעָם דֶּרֶךְ הַמִּדְבָּר יַם סוּף וַחֲמֻשִׁים עָלוּ בְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם: וַיִּקַּח משֶׁה אֶת עַצְמוֹת יוֹסֵף עִמּוֹ כִּי הַשְׁבֵּעַ הִשְׁבִּיעַ אֶת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל לֵאמֹר פָּקֹד יִפְקֹד אֱלֹקים אֶתְכֶם וְהַעֲלִיתֶם אֶת עַצְמֹתַי מִזֶּה אִתְּכֶם

“It happened when Pharoah sent the people that Hashem did not lead them by way of the land 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 Egypt.' And Hashem took the people around toward the way of the Wilderness to the Sea of Reeds. And the Children of Israel were armed when they went up from Egypt. Moshe took the bones of Yosef with him, for he had made the Children of Israel swear, saying, 'Hashem will surely remember you, and you shall bring my bones up from here with you.'”

-Beshalach 13:17-19

After experiencing the deterioration of civilized Mitzrayim due to the makkos (plagues), it was time for the B'nei Yisroel to leave Mitzrayim. This week's parsha opens by giving us insight into Hashem's thought process, so to speak, when He was deciding which route to take B'nei Yisroel into Eretz Yisroel. The passuk (verse)¹ describes that although it would have been logical to take the shorter route, Hashem chose to lead B'nei Yisroel in a roundabout way through the midbar (desert). The passuk explains that Hashem did so because He thought to Himself that if He were to take them on the shorter route, B'nei Yisroel may reconsider and return to Mitzrayim. Rashi² comments that we know that even the way that Hashem ended up taking us – through the midbar – B'nei Yisroel still complained and obnoxiously announced numerous times that they wanted to return to Mitzrayim. So, Rashi concludes, imagine how much worse it would have been if we would have taken the shorter path, which would have made it even easier for B'nei Yisroel to reconsider and turn around.

This passuk and Rashi are difficult to understand. First, let us remember that at this point the B'nei Yisroel had just exited Mitzrayim. There were no complaints yet and the miracles of the makkos Mitzrayim were still fresh in their heads. At first thought, it would sound more sensible to go straight, directly to Eretz Yisroel at top speed without leaving any room for thought of returning. Additionally, as Rashi himself points out, the B'nei Yisroel ended up complaining anyway and threatened Moshe many times that they wanted to return to Mitzrayim. So, what was even accomplished by taking the long path to Eretz Yisroel? Seemingly, it did not even result in nay better outcomes. Either way the Jews would have complained to go back to Mitzrayim, so why didn't Hashem just take B'nei Yisroel through the land of the P'lishtim? And what lesson is the Torah trying to teach us by offering this insight into Hashem's thought process, so to speak?

The game of life presents itself with all sorts of difficult challenges. Sometimes we are challenged with inter-personal struggles, such as difficulties with family or trouble with friends. Other times we are challenged with personal struggles, such as personal aspirations, goals, or expectations which we set for ourselves but are then met with various obstacles that get in the way. No one is immune to the hardships which affect every aspect and dimension of human life. We are challenged financially, we are challenged physically, and we are challenged mentally. However, the thing we must always keep in mind is that every test and challenge does not come to us accidentally. Rather every challenge is calculated and hand-picked for us by Hashem Himself. Hashem intricately knows the different measures of the various middos (character traits) He injected in each person individually. Each person has his or her own breaking point, level of patience, degree of frustration and anger, etc. All of these aspects are taken into account and used to create the perfect test for us to grow in the areas we struggle in. Hashem sends us these purposely and they are only meant to help us. The key to it all though is the understanding that Hashem never sends us something that is impossible for us to overcome. Yes, things may be extremely difficult, and yes we will fail many times. However, Hashem never sets us up for guaranteed failure. Every nisayon (test) is with the trust and hope that we will make the right decisions and overcome it.

Perhaps this is the lesson being conveyed in these opening passukim. The Torah is telling us that Hashem knew that taking us on the shorter route through Eretz P'lishtim would not be a fair test for B'nei Yisroel because the probability of being able to overcome that nisayon of not returning if they were to reconsider, would be far too high for a proper test. Instead, Hashem took us through the midbar with the hope and trust that B'nei Yisroel would have the perfect environment necessary to be challenged with what Hashem wanted to challenge them with. Despite the Torah's many recordings of the non-stop complaining of B'nei Yisroel in the midbar, it still remained as the proper place for their nisyonos, where they had the capacity of conquering their struggles – something which Hashem knew would be at too much of a disadvantage taking the shorter route.

Besides for being a general lesson in life to think about when going through tough times and working on our relationship with ourselves and Hashem, this idea is something which could be applied in a how we deal with other people as well.

The Torah tells us that on the way out of Mitzrayim, Moshe took the bones of Yosef with him. The passuk³ reminds us that Yosef made them swear to take his bones out with them. Rashi⁴ is troubled with the double expression that the Torah uses to describe when Yosef made the B'nei Yisroel swear. The Torah says “hash'bay'ah hish'bee'ah”, which is seemingly redundant. Rashi explains that the double expression is because Yosef made all his brothers swear to make their children swear to take his bones out of Mitzrayim. Rashi continues and asks why did Yosef not just make his sons swear just like Yaakov had made Yosef swear to bury him in Eretz Yisroel? Rashi answers that Yosef realized that his father Yaakov was able to make him swear because he knew that as second-in-command of Egypt, Yosef would be able to carry out his request. However, Yosef could not make his children promise the same for him because he knew that for his sons, the Egyptians would not just let them carry him out. Instead, Yosef made his generation swear to pass on the message to the next generation until the time would come to leave Mitzrayim and the B'nei Yisroel would be able to take his bones out with them.

Yosef learned from Yaakov that it is proper to only ask people for favors that are reasonable and that will not be too much a hassle, and certainly not impossible. Sometimes we could get so caught up in something we would like to get done that we do not spend the time to delegate properly. Instead we throw tasks on people and are then harsh when they are not done properly; when really the only thing not proper was the set-up for disaster.

We are not perfect and certainly cannot make calculations like Hashem to understand clearly what any given person is capable of. But we could at least learn from the middos of Hashem, like Yaakov and Yosef did, to be more sensitive and think twice before asking favors or assigning tasks to others to make sure that it is reasonable and will not lead to embarrassment, a disadvantage, and certainly not to result in guaranteed failure.

1Shemos 13:17

2Rashi Ibid.

3Shemos 13:19

4Rashi ibid.

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