Beshaalach 

The sicha on Parshas Beshaalach is in Volume I of Likkutei Sichos, and there the Rebbe begins that twenty years ago on Acharon Shel Pesach, the Fredeicker Rebbe said a sicha concerning the Haftorah of this Shabbos and he mentions in the name of his zeide, the Tzemach Tzedek, who told the story about his zeide, the Alter Rebbe, that the Alter Rebbe once asked the question why is the Haftorah of this Shabbos, Shabbos Shira, where we read about the crossing of the Red Sea, why is the Haftorah the Song of Devorah, the song of a woman, and not the Song of David. We find for the Haftorah for Shvii Shel Pesach, where we again read about the crossing of the Sea that we do read the song of David. Also in Parsha Beshaalach, in the parsha itself, we read about two songs, the Song of Moshe and the Song of Miriam, where Miriam led the women in song with musical instruments.

The question is, in Parshas Beshaalach when we read about the splitting of the Sea, why is it the song of Devorah and not the song of David, nor a combination of a man and woman’s song but only the song of Devorah, the song of a woman? The Alter Rebbe answered that when Jews came out of Mitzraim, and crossed the Sea, the women were more enthusiastic than the men - they accompanied their song with tambourines. Their joy was greater and that’s why the Haftorah of Shabbos Shira is that of a woman.

We need to therefore understand why is it that the men were not as excited about the crossing of the Sea as the women. We see in human nature that when we receive a gift for which we didn’t work, for which we didn’t agonize over, we can’t have the same appreciation and the same joy as that which we struggled, shed tears over and finally achieved. As the Gemorrah says the greater the pain, the greater is the reward. The more we invest in something, the greater is the pleasure we receive when we finally succeed.

So when Jews were singing the song of the Shira because they saw that Pharaoh was finally destroyed and they were free forever of the Egyptian exile, Moshe Rabbeinu and the men could not feel the same degree of joy as the women did. Because the most difficult part of the exile, the worst of the decrees that Pharaoh made was not so much the hard labor, it was more the suffering over the children. The torment that the decree to throw all the baby boys into the Nile caused their mothers does not compare to the backbreaking work of slavery. And it was because of this, that the women rejoiced greater than the men, because they had invested so much pain and so much agony over their children when the children suffered from the decrees of Pharaoh. Therefore when it was all over, the women celebrated more than the men. And this is a lesson for all generations, as the Torah says, that when Miriam sang, all the women joined her, meaning all the women of all generations. And the message of her song is that which belongs to G-d has to be raised up higher and higher, to the highest - and that which is unholy should be brought down to the lowest of the low.

What is the meaning of the decree that every boy should be thrown into the Nile? The Nile represents the source of livelihood for the Egyptians. So the king of Mitzraim comes along and says that when a child is born the first thing you have to do is set him on his path to parnassa, towards making a living. You have to throw him immediately into the Nile, into the source of livelihood, so that when he gets married he should have a way of providing for himself and his family. And when you ask, what is going to be with his Jewish education, what about his Torah and Mitzvas, for this Pharaoh says, Sunday is a good time for Jewish education. Because then the banks are closed, and the parents want to sleep a little later, so the night before, they take the child to a movie, or other such places, and then in the morning, they send the child off to Sunday school in order to allow them to sleep a little later.

And they don’t mind in the Sunday school that in addition to teaching Hebrew songs that they should actually teach them Chumash or Torah, but the parents during this time are spiritually asleep. And then when the child comes home from Sunday school, then the day is filled with television, or movies or baseball. This is the way of Pharaoh.

So instead of teaching a child to be connected to G-d, and to base his life on Torah and Mitzvas, Pharaoh says throw the child into the Nile, take him away from his spiritual life, and instead throw him into the world of business.

And this is true also in golus in general. All the other decrees did not compare to the danger and the damage of throwing the Jewish children into the Nile. And so it is in our golus, all the suffering that happened in this long golus after Matan Torah, doesn’t compare to the danger and the damage caused by throwing children at a very young age into the world of business, and burdening them with such concerns.

But when we don’t listen to Pharaoh, when we are not impressed with these arguments even when it’s coming from the neighbor next door, when the neighbor says how can you possibly send your child to a yeshiva or to a cheder where they study Torah, which is already three and half thousand years old, a Torah that was given in a desert under very different circumstances from the circumstances in which we find ourselves - there was no radio there, no telephone, no newspaper - so then, when this argument is given they say, that in those days, before there were all this developments, then a Jewish education was appropriate and proper, but today, when we find ourselves in the twentieth century, and when we have all the progress and all the culture, so now it is very inappropriate to maintain this old-fashioned behavior.

And sometimes Pharaoh even takes on a religious argument and he says, you want your child to give a lot a tzedaka, you want your child to be a philanthropist, you want him to be able to support yeshivas and Jewish institutions, how do you expect him to do this if he doesn’t make a good living. So throw him into the waters of the Nile, changes his name to an English name, not a Jewish one, and then he will be able to succeed and be able to support all the Yeshivas.

But when we realize that all this is coming from someone who basically is not interested in Jewish survival, on the contrary, wants to make sure that Judaism and Jews do not survive, then we reject this idea completely and we fortify ourselves with the ancient Jewish strength to overcome this temptation and this decree, and we stop looking for ways to involve a five-year old, a seven-year old, a thirteen-year old or even an eighteen-year old, in concerns of livelihood, in concerns of business, and instead trust in G-d that He will provide. As it says in Tehillim, we have many schemes and we try many things but we can’t rely on them, it’s is G-d’s plan, a single united plan, not many thoughts, but one thought that prevails, and that’s what will see us through successfully. G-d is the Master of the universe, not only of heaven but also of earth, and everything that happens on earth is in His hands. Knowing this, we can trust in G-d and not be intimidated by this arguments, that if we don’t start worrying about our children’s livelihood when they are five or six or seven years old, that we will be denying them success in their life.

Just as in the times of Moshe Rabbeinu and Miriam, the joy of the women was greater than the joy of the men, because this decree affected the women more than the men, so it is true today as well. This Pharaoh thought, this Pharaoh mentality affects the women more than the men, so the women’s joy is greater when they get past this decree, since women are more at home than men. Even when the men are at home, they don’t apply themselves as much to the growth and the development of the children as do the mothers. So the mother is in there, in the battle, more personally, more intimately involved in the development of the child, therefore the victory of bringing up children properly, and setting them in the right path, brings her more joy than the father. Now we are prepared to go into the next parsha, which is the Giving of the Torah, and the Torah was only given on the promise that our children will be the guarantors for the observance of the mitzvahs.  And when our children have the proper introduction to Yiddishkeit, and the proper values of Yiddishkeit, then we can receive the Torah with joy and with confidence knowing that our children will continue in the ways of their parents.

With this we will also understand the Midrash, which says that Miriam responded to them and said let us sing. It would seem that she was addressing the women, however the word “them” is in the masculine form. The Midrash  says that  when  the  Jews  crossing the Sea  began  to  sing
G-d’s praises, the angels came along and said they wanted to sing. So G-d told the angels that they should wait until the Jews finished and only then could they sing. And that’s why it says “ az yashir Moshe” when it should say “ az shar Moshe” in the past tense – yashir sounds like a command – being told to sing. G-d said to Moshe, you sing first and then the angels will sing.

But then before Miriam and the women sang, the angels said again that they want to sing first. And for this the Midrash has two versions, that they did in fact sing before the women and the other version is that they were told to wait for Miriam to finish singing. So according to the version that they didn’t wait, they still couldn’t do it without permission from Miriam, and that is the “ them” that Miriam responded to, in the masculine form, and gave the angels permission to sing.

So we see that the power of the joy of a mother who praises G-d for the success of her children, growing up to be proper Jewish kids, that this is greater even than the praise of the angels. 

And so this is the lesson for all time, that we should not be intimidated by Pharaoh or by the Nile or by all these decrees, and we should continue on our own path, without distraction, to raise our children in the ways of Torah, and through that we bring them a blessing not only spiritually but even physically that their life in the physical will be a peaceful life, and a calm life and a blessed life. And when we can see that our children can grow up saying “ this is my G-d and I will glorify Him, the G-d of my fathers and I will praise Him” which is part of the shira that Moshe sang, that the G-d is the same for the children as He is for the fathers, then we know that we will have true nachas, true pleasure and pride in our children because they are continuing in the ways of Torah.

Then at the end of the shira, we read how G-d will plant us in the mountains, in Yerushalayim, with the building of the Third Bais HaMikdash, speedily in our times. And even more than that, as the Midrash says, we can see how precious the Jews are to G-d that He didn’t wait until we were settled into the Land, before we could build the Bais HaMikdash, and have the presence of G-d dwelling among us, but even while we were still in the desert, He said, make Me a temporary dwelling and I will dwell in it and among you.

So it is now. In the little time left before the coming of Moshiach, we need not be intimidated or discouraged by what is going on in the world, and we should proceed to raise a generation of children, that are steeped in Yiddishkeit, and that is the best and truest form of a Mishkan, that every home is a Mishkan, every Jewish home is a place of G-dliness, and G-d dwells in every Jewish house, and because G-d dwells there, it therefore is self-evident that that is where the parnassa will be with a true blessing and true health, that we will have children and have nachas from them, for long and healthy years.

Also in this parsha, we read about two wars, the war the Jews had against Pharaoh at the Sea, and the war the Jews had with Amalek. And here we find a difference. In the war with Pharaoh we are told, G-d will fight the battle and we should remain silent. In the war with Amalek we are told, gather your forces and go out and do battle with Amalek, meaning engaging in physical battle. The difference in the wars is as follows. Pharaoh stood between the Jews and the good land, the good life. Pharaoh was saying, you can’t have the benefits of Egypt without being my slaves. What are the benefits of Egypt? Having the good life. So Pharaoh was an obstacle on the way to the Land of Israel, the good life, and the good land. And that’s why the response to Pharaoh was, let G-d provide the good life and you can remain passive. But in the war with Amalek, Amalek was standing between the Jews and Har Sinai. This was an obstruction to receiving the Torah. And when it comes to receiving the Torah, here it is not enough to let G-d fight your battles, but you have to do whatever is necessary in order to remove the obstacle so that we can come to Har Sinai and receive the Torah and become one with the Torah.

In fact the Torah was given in a desert, not in a good life, not in a good land, so the obstruction  here was not where Amalek was denying us the goodness of the land, the fat of the land. He was trying to deny us the Torah. And when there is an obstruction to Torah, and although as a general rule, using your hands in battle belongs to the hands of Esav, not to the world of Yakov, for Esav it says that he will live by his sword, but when it comes to fighting the obstruction to receiving the Torah, here all the rules are set aside, and you have to do whatever is necessary in order to get to the Torah.

And so with Amalek, we actually had to engage in physical battle, but we have to know that in this physical battle, it is not our own strength that brings victory, but that it is necessary for G-dliness that Amalek should be destroyed because Amalek is the opposite and the resistance to G-dliness and to Torah. And because the war with Amalek was in order to receive the Torah, that’s why the war and all its details had to be carried out by Moshe Rabbeinu, the one who received the Torah. And so Moshe had to gather the people, put together the army and lead them personally. It was through Moshe and Moshe’s people that the victory came in a miraculous fashion through Yehoshua, Moshe’s student.

The Gemarrah says that Amalek was a psychic, and he chose for battle those kinds of people who according to the stars were meant to live, and therefore felt confident that because the astrological signs showed that they would live, meant that they would win the battle. But when they engaged in battle with the people of Moshe, the victory came beyond nature, higher than the astrological signs, as a complete miracle from Above. It was a supernatural victory

The mitzvah of remembering Amalek and wiping out the memory of Amalek, which is a constant mitzvah, applies today in a spiritual sense, in that we have to destroy Amalek in the spirit. The spirit of Amalek is a coldness, an indifference to the miracles and the greatness of Torah. When the Giving of the Torah had moved everyone to awe in the world, Amalek came along and tried to cool the excitement.  So when we run across something that is diminishing our enthusiasm to Torah we have two instructions. Do everything necessary to get rid of it, to fight against it, and to overcome it – in order to be excited about Torah and to maintain the excitement in Torah. And we have to know that whatever success we will have is not coming from our own ability, from our own strength, but it is coming from the koach, the strength of Moshe and the koach of Torah.

And so it is today also, that when we go out to war against the spiritual Amalek, we have the strength that Moshe Rabbeinu gives us, the Moshe of every generation, so that we are affected even in Midian, because Yisro heard what was going on even in Midian, and he came to help prepare for the Receiving of the Torah, and this time it will be a preparation for the receiving of the pnimius haTorah, the teaching of Moshiach, Torah Hadasha, speedily in our days.
 

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