PARSHA SUMMARY
Parshat Beshalach opens as the Jews begin to leave Egypt. Pharaoh - who in last week’s portion demanded that the Jews leave Egypt - changes his mind and decides to pursue them. His armies advance on the Jews and trap them at the banks of the Red Sea. G-d instructs Moses to raise his hands; when he does so, the Red Sea miraculously splits. The Jews are able to cross to the other side. When the Egyptians enter the split sea, G-d tells Moses to raise his hands once again. This time the sea comes crashing down and the Egyptian army is destroyed. Led by Moses, the Jewish People sing the Az Yashir song, an expression of gratitude to G-d for redeeming them from slavery and for protecting them from the Egyptian armies.
Soon after, the Jews complain that there is no food. G-d responds by sending manna, a miraculous food that falls from the sky six days a week (a double portion for Shabbat falls on Friday). The manna engenders a continuous awareness of and belief in G-d, as each day the Jews know that they can rely only on Him for their sustenance.
The portion concludes as the Jews are maliciously attacked by the nation of Amalek, whom they defeat. G-d promises that all traces of the Amalekites will eventually be erased.
The Little Miracles
The Jews were on a “high.” They had seen it all: they went through the Red Sea as it split, and had witnessed their Egyptian tormentors perishing in the water. Finally, they knew they had no more reason to ever worry about the Egyptians. They were set free. They didn’t want to leave the Red Sea; they wanted to soak up this special moment for as long as possible, until Moshe forced them to travel on. They then arrived at Marah, a place that had bitter water. They came complaining to Moshe; G-d told him to throw a specific piece of wood into the water to make it palatable.
Why after witnessing such unbelievable miracles and salvation did Jewish people have to undergo such a test?
Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch explains that the Jews saw how G-d performed great miracles at the Red Sea. They saw how G-d could save an entire nation in miraculous fashion. But what they learned at Marah was how G-d also performs miracles for the ordinary things in life. He can make bitter water sweet. He’s there for us all the time, in big and small circumstances, taking care of everything we need, on a day-in, day-out basis.
The Jews were taught this concept again with the manna, the heavenly food that they received each day. Each family received precisely what they needed. It was irrelevant how much or little they actually took each morning. If they deserved more, they found more, even if they took little; if they deserved little, they got only that, even if they had taken a lot. And anything left over for the next day rotted away.
This taught the Jewish nation that man’s sustenance isn’t entirely of human origin. Surely, we must work for a living, but the amount we earn isn’t totally dependent on that. Those who deserve a lot will get that, no matter how little they work; conversely, those who deserve a little will get that, no matter how much they work or how many corners they try to cut. And anything they wish to leave over for later years, i.e., when they’re gone, doesn’t stay with them. As with the leftover manna, it gets left behind.
The Talmud writes that each person’s sustenance is set from one Rosh Hashana to the next. G-d allocates to each person what they will need for the year on that auspicious day. The Rabbis explain that trying to overwork won’t change that amount; extra expenses will deduct from that earning. Since we aren’t privy to these calculations, our objective is to work as earnestly as possible with the understanding that ultimately, as the manna indicates, we look to G-d to help us.
King David writes in Psalms, “You [G-d] open your hand and provide all living beings their needs.” When we live with this in mind, suddenly our concerns with how much others make or scheming to get the extra dollar, are minimized. For our fate rests in G-d’s hands, the Ultimate Sustainer of the entire world.