Parshat Beshalach
Overview
Pharaoh finally sendsBnei Yisrael out of Egypt. With pillars of cloud and fire,
After three days' travel only to find bitter waters at Marah, the people complain. Moshe miraculously produces potable water. In Marah they receive certain mitzvot. The people complain that they ate better food in Egypt.
When the Jews again complain about a lack of water, Moshe miraculously produces water from a rock. Then Amalek attacks. Joshua leads the Jews in battle while Moshe prays for their welfare.
PARSHA INSIGHTS
The ABC of Ecology
"This is the thing that Hashem has commanded: 'Gather from it, for every man according to what he eats - an omer per person - according to the number of your people, everyone according to whoever is in his tent shall you take.'" (16:16)
The world gets smaller every day. One of the fears of living in a global village is that the village store is going to run out of food. Will we wake up one day and find our planet can no longer support its population? For years, science fiction has dwelled on highly imaginative schemes to "farm" the solar system. Here's the good news. You can relax and stop planning your trip to Andromeda. It isn't going to happen. Although waste is certainly wrong, there is no need to worry about the nourishing bounty in our world.
The letters of the Hebrew language are the building blocks of Creation. When
There's a prayer we say three times a day called Ashrei (Ashrei is the first word of this prayer.) Ashrei is a combination of two of the Psalms of King David. But what is so important about these particular Psalms that we say them three times a day?
If you open a siddur you'll notice that the first letters of each line of Ashrei go in alphabetical order. The first line starts with aleph, the second with beit, etc. Ashrei also contains the verse, "You open Your hand and satisfy the desire of all life." This is a promise that
With that same aleph-beit that
"This is the thing that Hashem has commanded: 'Gather from it, for every man according to what he eats - an omer per person - according to the number of your people, everyone according to whoever is in his tent shall you take.'"
In this week's Torah portion we learn of the manna, the miraculous food that sustained the Jewish People for 40 years in the desert. Manna is the prototype of
You don't have to worry. The "village store" is never going to be "out of bread."
- Sources: Rabbi Sholem Fishbane in the name of Rabbi Uziel Milevsky from Rabbeinu Bachye