Beit Midrash

  • Torah Portion and Tanach
  • Beshalach
קטגוריה משנית
To dedicate this lesson
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This week we read in the Torah the final chapter of the liberation of the Jewish people from Egyptian bondage and slavery. After centuries of servitude, the children of Jacob are finally freed from their Egyptian taskmasters and embark on their journey of building a civilization. Yet, the Torah goes to great lengths to point out to us that freedom as a concept cannot exist in a vacuum.

The people must have food to eat and water to drink. Though the Jewish people will live for 40 years in an unnatural environment in the desert of Sinai, they do not escape the constant necessities of human life. The Lord will provide these necessities through miracles – bread from heaven and water from the flint rock. These miracles, perhaps like all other miracles, will require human participation – the gathering of the heavenly bread that falls to the earth, and the striking of the rock to force it to give forth waters.

It can be asked that if Lord is performing miracles for the Jewish people anyway, then why aren’t the miracles complete, why are they always somehow dependent upon human action as well? The answer to that question lies in the question itself. The adage that God helps those who help themselves is a basic tenet and value in Judaism. Miracles provide opportunities, but these, like all opportunities, must be initiated by humans for them to be beneficial and effective.

It is difficult for the Jewish people over the 40-year sojourn in the desert of Sinai to appreciate their newfound freedom. People become accustomed to almost anything, and this includes slavery and servitude. An independent people create their own society, provide their own needs and continually jostle in a contentious world to retain that freedom.

A people accustomed to slavery will find this to be particularly challenging. Slavery induced in their minds and spirit a false sense of regularity that bordered upon security. The president of the United States once remarked that if one wants to be certain of having three meals a day, then one should volunteer to spend the rest of one's life in prison. He will receive this throughout his incarceration.

In the story of the Jewish people in the desert, when faced with difficult circumstances and upsetting challenges, there was always the murmur that they should return to Egypt and ‘go back to prison’, for at least then hey would be certain of having their three meals a day.

According to many Torah commentaries, this was the fundamental reason why the generation that left Egypt could not be the generation that would enter and conquer the land of Israel and establish Jewish independence in their own state and under their own auspices. Psychologically they were not ready to be a free people with all the burdens that accompany freedom and independence. They could accept the Torah, be intellectually religious, admire Moshe and believe in the Almighty. But they were unable to free themselves from the psychological shackles of Egyptian bondage. And there are no miracles that can do that for human beings. Only human beings can do that for themselves
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Lessons
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    3 min
    Shlach Lecha

    For God's Sake Don't Go To Israel

    Israel National Torah

    Clarifying the spies' argument for not entering the Land of Israel...and then clarifying why it's so important to enter the Land anyway.

    Baruch Gordon | Sivan 19 5780
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    Bemare Habazak - Rabbis Questions

    Serving as Chazan on the Shabbat Before a Yahrtzeit

    How important is it for someone to be chazan on the Shabbat before a yahrtzeit? Is it is just for parents, or also grandparents/in laws? Some people in my [the rabbi] shul feel that people use it as an excuse to “grab the amud.”

    Rabbi Daniel Mann | Tevet 2 5777
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    Bemare Habazak - Rabbis Questions

    How Many Eggs Should be Boiled Together?

    When making hardboiled eggs, may one cook one or two eggs or must there be at least three? Also, does it make a difference if there is an even or odd number

    Rabbi Daniel Mann
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    P'ninat Mishpat

    Introduction and Biography of the Noda B’Yehuda

    After an extended period of presenting ideas of the Chatam Sofer on monetary disputes, we move on to a shorter series on the works of Rav Yechezkel Segal Landau, often called the Noda B’yehuda. (Although Rav Landau served as a dayan for many years, poskim do not usually publicize their rulings on cases in which they served as a dayan, but on questions asked by other rabbis. The Noda B’yehuda did not include many such cases in his reponsa.) Many view the Chatam Sofer and the Noda B’Yehuda as two of a kind. They were in the same basic time period (Rav Landau was around 50 years older), they were important rabbis of important communities at critical times, and the works of each are among the most respected and quoted by Acharonim.

    Various Rabbis | Tevet 8 5776
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    Bemare Habazak - Rabbis Questions

    Working in a Non-Kosher Establishment

    Rabbi Daniel Mann | Sivan 14 5775
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    Prayer

    Birkot HaShachar – The Morning Blessings

    Chapter nine-part one

    Chapter nine-part one

    Rabbi Eliezer Melamed | 5775
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    Jewish Holidays

    The Twentieth of Sivan

    "I noticed that the back of my siddur contains a large section devoted to selichos for the 20th of Sivan, yet I have never davened in a shul that observed this day. What does this date commemorate?"

    Rabbi Yirmiyohu Kaganoff | Sivan 17 5780
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    Additional Lessons

    The Laws of Tumas Meis

    When the Beis Hamikdash is rebuilt, bimheirah beyameinu, the laws of tumah will affect us all, since we will be required to be tahor in order to enter the Beis Hamikdash, to eat korbanos and maaser sheini, and in order to separate challah and terumah.

    Rabbi Yirmiyohu Kaganoff | 5772
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    Various Subjects

    Redeeming a Firstborn Donkey!

    The Mitzvah of redeeming the first born Donkey - a long lost Halacha or a practical law for Donkey owners and riders in today's times ??

    Rabbi Yirmiyohu Kaganoff | 5770
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    Basics of Financial Laws

    How Does a Heter Iska Work?

    What is the prohibition of "Ribbit"? who does it apply on? How does the "Heter Iska" bypass the prohibition? and more...

    Rabbi Yirmiyohu Kaganoff | 5770
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    Marriage and Relationships

    Relationships during the Time of Engagement

    A young engaged man and his fiancée naturally have very strong feelings for each other. It goes without saying that these will be expressed after the wedding, but what expression, if any, is permitted in the meantime? And while we're on the subject, is the attraction of men and women to each other really a good thing to begin with?

    Rabbi Elyakim Levanon | 5770
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    Brachot on Food and on Smell

    Pizza, Pretzels and Pastry

    When is the Bracha Hamotzi and when is it a Mezonot?

    Rabbi Yirmiyohu Kaganoff
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