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Thoughts on the Parsha ~
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 [from Egypt] 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. Rashi[2] 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 any 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 knows intricately
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 that
which Hashem wanted to challenge them. 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
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 passuk[3] reminds
us that Yosef made them swear to take his bones out with them. Rashi[4] 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.
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