parshat Beshalach

When there is a multiplicity of miracles occurring all at the same time, like the candle lit in a room with floodlights, its brightness is hardly noticeable. The individual miracle has lost its power of influence and is already discounted by human beings.

The Amalekites attacked Israel during the lifetime of Moses just once. The Egyptians oppressed the Israelites over an extended period, starting a slow genocide by killing every male Israelite child. The whole thrust of the narrative would suggest that if any nation would become the symbol of evil, it would be Egypt. But the opposite turns out to be true.

The Torah portion of this week, Beshalach, can be called the Portion of Faith. It is filled with tests and trials that the Children of Israel must undergo on their way out of Egypt, and each one increases and strengthens its faith – emuna - in G-d in a different way. Let us list them and possibly see how they each teach a different lesson in faith:

In honor of both this week's Torah portion recounting the falling of the Manna from Heaven, and Tu B'Shvat

Looking at the holiest, most heavenly food that the Israelites ate while in the wilderness. Why did they not receive this special food after they entered the Land of Israel?

we read in the Torah the final chapter of the liberation of the Jewish people from Egyptian bondage and slavery. Yet, the Torah goes to great lengths to point out to us that freedom as a concept cannot exist in a vacuum.

The contrast between before and after the Red Sea could not be more complete. Facing the approaching Egyptians, do nothing. In the case of the Amalekites, however, go fight.

Just when they thought it was safe to leave Egypt, they would again face an existentialist danger at the banks of the Reed Sea. Why did Paro change his mind once again?

The sedra of Beshalach teaches us how one should Deal with the difficulties in our life.

The splitting of the Yam Suf, retold in our parasha, was one of the most important events in the story of our Exodus from Egypt. Did David also split the Jordan river?