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Beit Midrash
- Torah Portion and Tanach
- Shmot
- Beshalach
"And when Pharaoh drew near, the Children of Israel lifted their eyes, and, behold! The Egyptians were marching after them, and they were terrified, and the children of Israel cried out unto the Lord." 1
Ba’al Hatoldot learns a unique lesson from this pasuk. He says, "Sometimes after people have already gotten into trouble they try to run away from it as if it doesn’t exist in the place they're escaping to. To explain how wrong this act is, he says it's like a pregnant woman suffering from pain and running somewhere as if the pain has any connection to the place where she's standing, misunderstanding that the pain is inside her body and stays with her wherever she goes.
This pasuk gives us a better solution. The people of Israel had already left Egypt. However, they got to the Red Sea, looked backwards, and guess who was there? The Egyptians! Suddenly the People of Israel started to feel as if they weren’t able to get rid of the Egyptians who were chasing them everywhere. Then they realized that the right solution was to pray to God so that he will remove the threat, and not for them to keep running away from it without success
And many evils and troubles shall come upon them; so that they will say in that day: Are not these evils come upon us because our God is not among us? 2
The Ba’al Hatoldot brings this pasuk and then he explains: "It has to be clear to everyone that God is among them. When a person gets to a point where he asks himself if God is with him, the trouble starts. How does it work? It's simple. If you believe, and live your life feeling that God is with you, He takes part in your trouble and then you are never alone. If someone is sharing it with you, and it is God, it then becomes his problem too and he will find the solution.
This is exactly what we see at the end of our weekly portion:
[7] And the name of the place was called Massah, and Meribah, because of the striving of the children of Israel, and because they tried the Lord, saying: 'Is the Lord among us, or not? [8] Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Refidim. 3
Chemdat Yamim Moreshet Shaul: Twin Foundations
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 690
Rabbis in Midrash
Lessons
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P'ninat Mishpat P'ninat Mishpat: Complaints about Contractor’s Work – part II
(based on ruling 83037.1 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts)
(based on ruling 83037.1 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts)
Chemdat Yamim Moreshet Shaul: Twin Foundations
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 690
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 690
D'varim Judaism’s Social Vision
Re’eh
Giving is more than an act of generosity—it is an essential part of human dignity that belongs to everyone, rich and poor alike. The ultimate goal of help is to empower others to stand on their own.
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 9 - "Seeing is Believing" (parag. 21-30)
These paragraphs elaborate on the theme that seeing and knowing is better than any attempt to prove logically, and begins explaining the difference between Israel and gentiles.
Ein Aya Various Universal Stages of the Geula Process
Rav Kook examines the various stages of redemption, explaining how (in addition to the obvious oft-mentioned stages of ingathering the exiles, reviving the Hebrew language, army, state etc.) the messianic dream of world prosperity, the State of Israel and world unity can and are realistically and logically gradually coming true.
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 8- "Answering Questions on the Kuzari's Proof from Mass Revelation
How do we know that the "claim" of mass revelation to 2,000,000 witnesses at Mt. Sinai is really true? This important class answers all of the questions skeptics ask about this claim of the Kuzari.
