Weekly D'var

Shabbat Shira: Beshalach 2025 BS”D
Reeven Earl Nathan

Shabbat Shalom and thank you for helping me celebrate my 19th bar mitzvah anniversary. I wouldn’t want to spend it anywhere else.

But first, a little joke relating to this week’s parsha:
Bnei Yisrael complains: “We are so thirsty that we are about to die!! Is G-d in our midst or not?!”
Moshe cynically retorts: “Guys…. We literally just left Egypt 30 minutes ago.”
If you find this relatable, you must be Jewish 😊

And now, to my first Dvar I’ve given in a synagogue since my Bar Mitzvah.

We are the People of the Book. We are not, nor have we ever been, a people of War, Chaos, and Destruction. We see this in the opening Perek of Parshat Beshalach: “Pen Yenachem Ha’Am, B’reotam Milchama V’Shavu M’zrayma.” – “The People [of Israel] may have a change of heart when they see War, and return to Egypt.” Bnei Yisrael was complacent living in Goshen, but Hashem compelled us to leave so we could arrive in Jerusalem and worship Hashem as He wants to be worshipped. We were forced out of our comfort zone, Hashem’s People of the Book, for a paramount purpose: to Freely Worship Hashem. The People of the Book cannot serve their intended purpose while shackled by the physical and spiritual confines of Mitzrayim and idolators.  

On a comparable level, we felt the same way leaving the Death Camps in Nazi Europe, fleeing the Pogroms, Crusades, and other genocides targeting Jews. If the purpose of life is to be the best version of ourselves while aspiring to fulfill all Mitzvot to the best of our abilities, how can we imagine living in a world devoid of Hashem, Torah, and Mitzvot? It seems futile. Hashem guided us out of Egypt for a Divine purpose: to be free to worship G-d. If this sounds familiar, maybe you’ve heard of Pesach!!

Upon exiting Egypt, we felt a closeness to the Creator we hadn’t experienced since Yoseph and the 12 Shvatim. We sacrificed the Korban Pesach, i.e. the world’s first Mezuzah, and practiced Milah just as our ancestors had. At the Yam Suf, when all of Paroah’s chariots and soldiers pursued us to the brink of the Sea, Hashem splits the Sea and we sing Shirat HaYam – “The Song of the Sea”– the pinnacle of joy, connection, and Hakarat Hatov – pure, unadulterated, gratitude to the Almighty.

However, as history has shown us, after certain periods of complacency, we get dissatisfied. We begin feeling glimmers of doubt: why did we leave Egypt to die in the desert? We’re hungry and are bored and want to eat meat! We can’t “touch” Hashem, so we’ll erect a Golden Calf idol and pray to it instead. Is this how the People of the Book should behave? Is this the precedent that Hashem’s chosen people should pursue? 

Once we cast doubt upon Hashem, He removes His presence and protection towards His Chosen People. After crossing the Yam Suf, ascending to one of the highest spiritual realms on Earth, singing the Shira, and witnessing other Divine Miracles, we were attacked by Amalek while sojourning in Refidim. How and why could this happen? The Ananaei HaKavod, the Clouds of Glory, were penetrable only because of idolatry committed by Bnei Yisrael. At their first chance, Amalek (Esau+Ishmael’s prodigal anti-Zionist Warmongering Offspring) mounted its first of what would be many attacks to come. We see here that we had Hashem’s unbridled support, yet because we turned to idols, we lost favor in the eyes of Hashem, and we caused our protector’s Clouds of Glory to vanish. Throughout our history as the Israelites and now referred to as Jews, we see our biggest enemy: Doubt. Just because we neither murder, steal, nor eat treif does not permit us to pick and choose other mitzvot, take idolatry or Sinat Chinam – baseless hatred. We must stay true to ourselves and be an Or LaGoyim – a Light upon the Nations. This is another reason Moshe was tasked to appoint judges via the Shoftim v’Shotrim mitzvah: The 176th mitzvah is that we are commanded to appoint judges to implement the Torah's commands; to force those who have turned away from the path of truth to return to it; to command the performance of good and the avoidance of bad; and to carry out the punishment of transgressors, so that the positive commandments of the Torah and their prohibitions should not be dependent on the desire of every individual. 

We are the People of the Book.

What we have witnessed throughout history is nothing new and shouldn’t be a surprise: when the Jewish People are faithful to Hashem and caring towards each other, the world experiences bliss: we have Prophets, a Holy Temple in Jerusalem, divine revelations, Manna in the dessert, Ananei HaKavod, prosperous periods, and we are untouchable. However, when we forsake Hashem and the commandments, we reap what we sow, and we get a “whack” to make us fall back in line.

Upon leaving Egypt, Bnei Yisrael took nearly the longest route and traveled South to go North. Sure, we avoided the Philistines, but aren’t the Amalekites worse? Why avoid one and not the other?

I’ll offer this answer accredited to Rabbi Yoseph Yitzhak Schneerson that requires some Gematria, so please bear with me:

“The numerical value (gematria) of the Hebrew letters that spell Amalek (240) is equivalent to that of the letters that spell safek, “doubt.” All things holy are certain and absolute... Amalek is doubt: baseless, irrational doubt that cools the fervor of holiness with nothing more than a cynical shrug.”

As such, we must face both our inner and outer doubts daily and that is the beauty of being a Jew with free will: we have the free will to defeat our doubts we know we will encounter and instead pursue a meaningful life in pursuit of Hashem, Torah, and Mitzvot.

Life will have ups and downs, and many will be based on doubt: Who am I supposed to be? What life shall I live? How shall I manifest my opinions as actions? 

Hashem gave us the Torah: the playbook for how every Jew should live his or her life. The playbook is our guarantee, our eternal covenant between us and Hashem. However, the Jews only experience prosperity when we follow the playbook. When we do adhere, we experience Nevuah, Nissim, Korbanot, and a direct line of open communication between us and Hashem. Nonetheless, when we forsake the Torah and stray from the will of Hashem, He turns his back on us and casts us out as if we were another Nation, one that adheres to the Laws of Nature, not the Laws of Hashem – the ones that exceed what is “rationally” possible. When we forsake Hashem’s Torah, we experience War, Chaos, and Destruction; however, we were gifted the playbook and recipe to triumph and to ensure that only the Truth will reign.

We are the People of the Book. We are not, nor have we ever been, a people of War, Chaos, and Destruction. We have the guide; now, let’s use it!

Shabat Shalom and Am Yisrael Chai,
Reeven Earl Nathan