Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Beshalach – Tu BiShevat And he took six hundred picked chariots And all the chariots of egypt (Shemot 14:7)   Picked chariots – Important and chosen chariots. (Rashbam, ibid., ibid.)   And all the chariots of Egypt – And from where were the beasts? Should you say they were of the Egyptians, it is written (Shemot 9), "and all the livestock of Egypt died". And should you say, they were of the Israelites, does it not say...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Beshalach – Tu BiShevat The waters piled up, The floods stood straight like a wall; The deeps froze in the heart of the sea. (Shemot 15,8)   "The breath that issues from both nostrils"­­­­. Scripture speaks, if it were at all possible, of God in the same manner as it does of a human monarch, in order to make human ears hear the facts in accordance with what usually transpires, so that they may understand the matter:...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Beshalach – Tu BiShevat When, in the evening, the Lord gives you meat to eat and bread to satiety in the morning, as the Lord hears your complaints that you complain against Him – for what are we? – not against us are your complaints, but against the Lord! (Shmot 16:8)   Not against us are your complaints – You directed the complaint against us when you said that we brought you out . But it...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Beshalach – Tu BiShevat Pharaoh drew near, and the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold! the Egyptians were advancing after them. They were very frightened, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord.   And behold! the Egyptians were advancing after them – Nosim is not written here, but rather nosei'a . This tells us that they all formed squadrons marching as one man; from here...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Beshalach The children of Israel said to them, "If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by pots of meat, when we ate bread to     our fill! For you have brought us out into this desert, to starve this entire congregation to death." (Shemot 16:3)   It may be that at first they had thought that after a few days they would come to the...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Beshalach THEN THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL CAME INTO THE MIDST OF THE SEA ON DRY LAND, AND THE WATERS WERE TO THEM AS A WALL FROM THEIR RIGHT AND FROM THEIR LEFT. (Shemot 14:22)   And the Lord led the sea with the strong east wind – as described in the Torah, the splitting of the Red Sea was a miracle combined with natural elements, since if God had not wished to make any use...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Beshalach JOSHUA DID AS MOSES HAD TOLD HIM, TO FIGHT AGAINST AMALEK; AND MOSES, AARON, AND HUR ASCENDED TO THE TOP OF THE HILL. IT CAME TO PASS THAT WHEN MOSES WOULD RAISE HIS HAND, ISRAEL WOULD PREVAIL, AND WHEN HE WOULD LAY DOWN HIS HAND, AMALEK WOULD PREVAIL. NOW MOSES' HANDS WERE HEAVY; SO THEY TOOK A STONE AND PLACED IT UNDER HIM, AND HE SAT ON IT. AARON AND HUR SUPPORTED HIS HANDS,...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Beshalach AND THE ISRAELITES WENT INTO THE SEA ON DRY GROUND, THE WATERS FORMING A WALL FOR THEM ON THEIR RIGHT AND ON THEIR LEFT. (Shemot 14:22) BUT THE ISRAELITES HAD MARCHED THROUGH THE SEA ON DRY GROUND, THE WATERS FORMING A WALL FOR THEM ON THEIR RIGHT AND ON THEIR LEFT. (Shemot 14:29)   Is Faith for Everyone, or Does it Require Courage? And rebelled at the sea, at the Red Sea (Psalms 106:7)...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Beshalach THEY CAME TO MARAH, BUT THEY COULD NOT DRINK THE WATER OF MARAH BECAUSE IT WAS BITTER; THAT IS WHY IT WAS NAMED MARAH. AND THE PEOPLE GRUMBLED AGAINST MOSES, SAYING, "WHAT SHALL WE DRINK?" SO HE CRIED OUT TO THE LORD, AND THE LORD SHOWED HIM A PIECE OF WOOD; HE THREW IT INTO THE WATER AND THE WATER BECAME SWEET. THERE HE MADE FOR THEM A FIXED RULE, AND THERE HE PUT...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parashat Beshalach AND IT CAME BETWEEN THE ARMY OF THE EGYPIANS AND THE ARMY OF ISRAEL. THUS THERE WAS THE CLOUD WITH THE DARKNESS, AND IT LIT UP THE NIGHT, SO THAT ONE COULD NOT COME NEAR THE OTHER ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT. (Shemot 14: 20)     Rejoicing Upon One's Rescue Does Not Require Rejoicing Over the Enemy's Downfall Does God rejoice over the fall of the wicked? It is written: as they went forth...