HHMI Newsgroup Archives

From:          "Root & Branch Association, Ltd." <rb@rb.org.il>
Subject:       Torah/Commentary:  Parashat Beshalach -- (Exodus 13:17-17:16), Commentary on the Weekly Torah Reading for 15 Shvat, 5760 (January 22, 2000) by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin

Please visit our Website at http://www.rb.org.il


************R&B OMNIBUS************

The ROOT & BRANCH INFORMATION SERVICE distributes news, features and commentary on Jews, Judaism and Israel.  Views expressed in items that we distribute are those of the authors alone.


************NOTICE*****************

Readers are welcome to re-publish this Root & Branch Information Service story in newspapers and magazines, post it on web sites, bulletin boards and news groups or redistribute it through email lists PROVIDED THAT they include the following notice --

Reprinted from the Root & Branch Information Services
http://www.rb.org.il
rb@rb.org.il
 
           ***********************************


Torah/Commentary:  Parashat Beshalach -- (Exodus 13:17-17:16)


Commentary on the Weekly Torah Reading for 15 Shvat, 5760 (January 22, 2000)


by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin


EFRAT, ISRAEL,  Yom Revii (Fourth Day - "Wednesday"), 12 Shvat, 5760 (Christian Date:  January 19, 2000) (Muslim Date:  12/10/1420), Root & Branch:  Action and Prayer.  How does Judaism orchestrate these two often contradictory directives?  It has often been said that when one acts, one must act as if everything depends on us, and when one prays, we must pray as if everything depends on G-d. But what does this mean in theological terms?

This week's portion presents a terrifying picture.  After Pharaoh has supposedly freed the Israelite slaves, the Egyptian charioteers relentlessly pursue them.  If they continue their flight, the Red Sea will drown them.  If they stay put, the chariots will crush them.

The Bible records:  "Vayitzaku, and they cried out in prayer"  [Exodus 14:10].

Rashi, the primary commentator adds: "tafsu omanut avotam", "they grabbed onto the artistry of their ancestors", a poetic reference to the prayers established by Abraham, Isaac and Jacob whose "art" is apparently the "art of prayer".

Moses then confronts G-d, who we should think would be desirous of prayer and whose response is therefore rather strange:

"Why do you cry out in prayer for Me?  Speak to the children of Israel and let them start moving"  [Exodus 14:15].

Here Rashi is even more explicit than in the previous verse.  He comments, "...This teaches us that Moses too stood and prayed.  G-d said to him, 'It is not the time now, when Israel is in danger, for you to engage in lengthy prayer (l'ha'arikh batfilah)'"  [Rashi on Exodus 14:15].

Rashi is telling us that the Almighty is not chiding Moses and the Israelites for praying.  He is rather chiding them for their overly lengthy prayer, for their prayer without action in a situation which calls for both prayer and action.  All of life requires a combination of prayer as well as action, a realization that history is the unfolding of a magnificent partnership between human action and Divine intervention.

There is a fascinating Talmudic passage which may well be the source for Rashi's condemnation of lengthy prayer devoid of action:

"Rabbi Yosi said:  once I was travelling on the road and I entered one of the ruins of Jerusalem in order to pray.  Elijah...appeared, and after I finished my prayer, he said to me, 'My son, why did you go into this ruin?'  I said 'To pray'.  He said 'You ought to have prayed on the road'.  I answered, 'I feared that a passerby would interrupt me'.  He said 'You ought to have prayed a short prayer'.  I learned three things from him: One must not go into a ruin, one must pray on the road, and when one recites a prayer on the road one recites a short prayer"  [Babylonian
Talmud, Tractate Brachot 3a].

In effect, Elijah, the herald of Israel's ultimate redemption, is teaching R. Yossi, a Talmudic sage who is suffering the aftermath of the destruction of the Second Temple, the true act of Jewish prayer:  stay on the road of action towards redemption, do not get side-tracked by wallowing in the ruins, pray while you are engaged in achieving your goal, and when you pray on the road make it a short prayer so that there is adequate time and energy for human initiative.

The Talmudic passage continues, illuminating one of the most popular and poignant of our prayers, the Kaddish:  "I heard in the ruins a divine voice mourning like a dove and saying, "woe to my children, because of whose sins I have destroyed My house".  And (Elijah) said to me, 'Not only then, but whenever Israel enters their synagogues and study houses, and responds 'May His great name be blessed' the Holy One blessed be He shakes His head in assent and declares 'Happy is the King who is praised in such a manner'".

The reference is to the Kaddish prayer, a central feature of our liturgy and a liturgy recited by mourners at the grave-site of their loved ones.

"May (G-d's) name become great and holy," it begins, referring to the prophetic work of Ezekiel and Zeharia who teach that as long as the world is not yet redeemed, as long as tragic suffering and death remain an integral part of the world's landscape, G-d's name and essence are diminished, G-d is not yet manifest in the fullness of His greatness and sanctity.

Hence G-d's name is yet to become great and holy and that achievement of redemption depends in no small measure upon our return:  our return to our land, our return to morality, our return to our G-d of ethical monotheism. The Talmudic passage just cited pictures the Almighty as mourning when the Israelites merely pray on the road, turn their ruins into Synagogues and study houses and recognize their role in making the G-d of justice and compassion manifest throughout the world.       

What we gather from this parallel is that there are times when lengthy prayers are simply not suitable.  What then does G-d want?  The Torah tells us:  G-d wants us to keep moving, to take the step, to start the journey.

Further evidence linking this theme of prayer and action is found in two giants of Jewish thinking --Maimonides and Nahamanides.

Turning to Maimonides, in the very opening halacha (law) in his section on prayer, he writes, "To pray is a positive commandment, as it says, 'And you shall serve the Lord your G-d'"  [Exodus 23:25], Laws of Prayer, Chapter 1, Halachah 1].

Examining the section in the Torah from which Maimonides quotes, we discover that the verse appears in a sequence dealing with conquering the land of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanittes, the Hivites and the Jebusites, and a warning not to bow down or worship their gods, "...but you shall utterly overthrow them, and break into pieces their pillars.  And you shall serve the Lord your G-d"  [Exodus 23:23-25].

Maimonides is teaching us that prayer must be linked to the very concrete action of combating the evil of idolatry in the world.

Nahmanides has, as his very source for prayer, a verse placed in the context of obligatory warfare against a nation rising up to destroy Israel:  "And when you go to war in your land against the nation that is oppressing, then shall you sound the alarm with the trumpets and you shall be remembered before the Lord your G-d, and you shall be saved from your enemies"  [Numbers 10:9, and Nahmanides' Strictures on Maimonides Book of Commandments, Positive Commandment 5].

In our own times we can see an example of this tension between prayer and action in the following vignette. The city of St. Petersburg was blessed with a saintly scholar as its rabbi, Rav Isaac Blazer, affectionately called Reb Itzele Petersburger.  But one day a rumor spread that he was a Zionist, and a delegation announced that he was to be fired for heresy.

The community leaders argued, do not our prayers recited thrice daily -- "...Blessed art thou O' G-d, builder of Jerusalem" -- declare quite explicitly that any return to Zion must depend solely on G-d!  How dare Reb Itzele attempt to build Jerusalem with his own hands - and with the help of non-religious Jews at that!    

Rabbi Itzele greeted his accusers with a smile, "You're right," he said, "but then what about you Reb Shmuel," he said to the Judge (dayan) of the city.  "Me", the judge responded, aghast at the suggestion that he too was a heretic.  "I'm not a Zionist".

Countered Reb Itzele, "But when your daughter recently had an asthma attack, didn't I see you take her to a doctor, a non-religious Jew at that!  And do we not pray thrice daily, 'Heal us O G-d, and we shall be healed...Blessed are you O G-d, who heals the sick among your people Israel'".

And then Reb Itzele turned to Reb Moshe, the president of the congregation, "You're also a heretic.  Didn't I see you keep your business open till ten o'clock last night?  And yet you also pray three times a day, "Blessed are you G-d who blesses the years with good sustenance".

Apparently, as in health and sustenance, prayer can only begin after we have done whatever it is possible for humans to do.  What G-d is teaching Moses and Israel must be the rule for all challenges of life!

Shabbat Shalom from Efrat,

Rabbi Shlomo Riskin

**********************************************************************

From  Judean Voice  ( jsid@dorsai.org)
Subject: Parshat BeShallach

PARSHAT BESHALLACH  (by Binyamin Ze'ev Kahane)

"DON'T CRY TO ME, GO FORWARD!!"  (written 9 years ago)

Last year the Gulf War broke out and scud missiles landed in Israel. Then, too, it was Parashat BeShallach, and it became quite popular to quote the verse in our parsha: "The Lord will fight for you, and you shall remain silent" (14:14). Indeed, so many religious Jews found this verse both appropriate and symbolic of the Gulf War. After all, here were Israeli cities getting bombarded by Iraqi missiles, and the official government policy was one of  "self-restraint", or as the Hebrew term goes, "havlaga". Jews equipped with gas masks and cages for their small children sat crouched in their sealed rooms, as missiles rocked the country. "Everything will be O.K." they proclaimed. "Hashem will fight for us". That is, America and its then president George Bush will take out those scud launchers and save us. Today as well, we see bumper stickers, banners and songs with the verse, "The Lord will fight for you, and you shall remain silent", implying that we need only to say "Tehilim", and Hashem will do the rest.

But a closer look at what the Torah and sages tell us regarding this verse reveal that those who interpret this verse in the aforementioned manner are taking the words entirely out of their true context, and by doing so completely distort the awesome lesson that is to be learned regarding the splitting of the Red Sea.

A Time To Do - Not a Time to Pray

Firstly, let us see what the Torah says. Immediately following the verse, "The Lord will fight for you and you shall keep silent", is the verse, "And the Lord said unto Moses, Why do you cry unto me? Speak to the children of Israel, that they go forward"! Already, without even delving into any of the commentaries, we see that the picture has changed entirely. The verse is not telling us that G-d will fight for you and so in the meantime you can "kick back" and let Him "worry about it". What is said here is that the Lord will fight for you if you prove to Him that you truly believe in His Omnipotence, and so instead of crying to Hashem, simply obey his commandment and "go forward" into the stormy sea.

The commentator the "Iben Ezra" writes the following: " 'You shalt keep silent' -  to counteract the (verse) 'And the children of Israel cried (to Hashem)'!" For those whom this is not clear, the commentary on the Eben Ezer explains: "Do not cry anymore (to Hashem) because He will fight for you. And the meaning is not that you should refrain (keep silent) from fighting". Yes. The exact opposite of the distorted interpretation constantly given, where the verse "and you shall keep silent" means self-restraint and inaction. The Iben Ezra comes to tell us that "and you shall keep silent" means to stop crying to Hashem. What should you do instead? Act! - with "Bitachon" in Hashem. This is in essence the idea that Rashi brings down: "This teaches us that Moses was standing and praying. The Holy One Blessed Be He said: 'Now is not the time to prolong in prayer, when Israel is placed in distress'. This is also the meaning of the Gemorah in Sota, page 37: "Moses was engaged for a while in prayer, so the Holy One Blessed Be He said, "My beloved ones are drowning in the sea, and thou prolongst in prayer before me? He (Moses) spoke before Him, "Lord of the Universe, what is there in my power to do?"  He replied to him, "Speak unto the children of Israel that they go forward. And lift thou up thy rod and stretch out thy hand, etc."

Nachshon: Faith Expressed Through Action

The sages tell us that the children of Israel stood trembling by the shores of the Red Sea until G-d commanded them that they "go forward". They remained paralyzed with fear and did not move. Only Nachshon did not hesitate to carry out Hashem's commandment. He lunged forward into the raging waters, but nothing happened. Nachshon was not taken aback. He descended deeper into the water - up to his ankles, knees, stomach - and still nothing happened. Nachshon continued until the water reached his neck, and then he cried to Hashem, "Oh God, save me
because the water has come into my soul. I sink deep in mire where there is no standing." Only then did the miracle of the splitting of the sea occur.(Ibid.)

The lesson is crystal clear. Together with prayer, Hashem demands maximal effort, for it is only through actual deeds where one's faith is tested. Was Nachshon's faith put to the test when he recited psalms on the seashore? No. Even jumping into the stormy waters was not sufficient, for he still had an opportunity to back out. Only by going all the way in fulfilling G-d's will did he prove he is a true believer. Nachshon understood that saying, "I believe" and then waiting for the salvation is not authentic faith. G-d demands of us that we prove our faith by way of our actions, and not just with our mouths. Only by being willing to fulfill difficult, and what may appear to be "dangerous" mitzvot, do we prove our faith is genuine.

This is the mistake of those religious Jews who sanctified the self-restraint policy during the Gulf Crisis. He who saw the Chosen People scurrying like roaches into their sealed-off closets while the modern day Goliath blasphemed Hashem and His people for 40 days (and 40-1 missiles), and viewed it as a positive thing, self-righteously proclaiming that "G-d will help" does not begin to grasp the Jewish concept of what faith is all about. Genuine faith is active participation in the historical processes. It is the  performing of actions that seem to cry out danger but which we do in full trust and faith and certainty of His power to preserve us.

Not only did we lose our deterrent factor and our dignity during the Gulf War, but we also proved our lack of faith. It is this same lack of faith that has prevented us from expelling the Arabs, annexing the territories, and settling all of the Eretz Yisrael. It is only a lack of faith that has brought us to the pathetic and desperate situation we now find ourselves in today.

DARKA SHEL TORAH
Weekly Parsha by Binyamin Zev Kahane
Translated by Lenny Goldberg
http://www.kahane.org

    ISRAEL                          UNITED STATES
Center of the Jewish Idea       Kahane Memorial Fund
POB 34445                       218 Rockaway Turnpike
Jerusalem                       Suite 265
Phone: 02-9976777               Cedarhurst, NY 11516                 
                         Phone:516-902-3102

**********************************************************************


Commentary from Eddie:

In James 2:26, it is written:

" ... so faith without works (action) is dead also"

As you can see from the Orthodox Jewish commentaries, this scripture is Hebraic in thought and principle.

Eddie Chumney
Hebraic Heritage Ministries Int'l

**********************************************************************

Return to Newsgroup Archives Main Page

Return to our Main Webpage


©2011 Hebraic Heritage Ministries International. Designed by
Web Design by JB.