Beshalach

Pharoah drew close; the Children of Israel raised their eyes and – behold: Egypt was travelling after them, and they were extremely afraid, and the Children of Israel called out to Hashem *.

It seems to me that there is a practical lesson to be gleaned from this verse. In order to tease it out, let us begin with another passage, from later in this sidra.

During their trek through the wilderness, the Jewish People complained of a lack of water, to which Hashem responded with a miraculous provision from a rock. The narrative concludes with the naming of the site of that incident Masah u-Merivah, a reminder that it was there that the nation challenged Hashem with the question, היש ה בקרבנו אם אין, Is Hashem in our midst or not**?

In the passage that follows immediately thereafter, we are told of Amalek’s devious sneak attack against the nation. What is the meaning of this juxtaposition?

There is a well-known concept that all human suffering is shared in, so to speak, by Hashem. As a perfectly altruistic Being whose sole desire vis-à-vis His creations is to be beneficent unto them, any pain that they experience frustrates that goal, prompting a divine anguish of sorts. As such, we are taught, that when an individual suffers, their focus should not be on their personal ordeal, rather on that of Hashem, who is suffering alongside them. Being sensitive to this and focusing one’s attention and prayers upon the צער השכינה, the suffering of the Divine Presence, as it is referred to, is the surest way to resolve the problem. Since the suffering emerges from a disconnect between man and Hashem, by reestablishing one’s connection with Him through the “concern” for His welfare, the need for that difficulty evaporates.

The Besht would illustrate the fallacy of those who attempt to deal with their problems by focusing on the problems themselves. He drew an analogy to a woman in the throes of labor who, in an attempt to alleviate herself of her suffering, travels elsewhere. Her error, of course, lies in her unawareness that the source of her pain is within herself. In the same sense, the root of all of our suffering lies within ourselves, stemming from our lack of connection to the One Above. If we ignore this, focusing on the symptom instead of the cause, we simply carry our problem around with us.

The Sages*** observe that this idea is reflected in a verse in Yeshayah**** – בכל צרתם לוצר, in all of [the Jewish People’s] suffering there is suffering for Him. Although this is the textual record of this verse, the tradition is to read aloud its third word as לא, rendering, there is no suffering. These complementary readings are a cause and effect: if one recognizes לו צר, the divine suffering that underlies our tribulations, the result will be לא צר, those tribulations will cease to exist.

The Besht provided an additional scriptural source. מן המיצר קראתי י-ה ענני במרחב י-ה, From the straight I called Hashem; Hashem answered me with relief. ***** He rendered it as follows, following its unusual formulation: From my distress, I prayed for Hashem’s sake; He answered me through the relief from His suffering. With the divine pain treated, the human dimension is resolved in consequence.

We are promised that in the future the nation will come to this recognition, exclaiming, הלא על כי אין אלקי בקרבי מצאוני הרעות האלה, Is it not so that it is on account of my God not being within me that these disasters have befallen me? ****** The operative words are “within me,” that is, it is my lack of inner focus upon Hashem that have allowed these evils to pass. This is the meaning of the juxtaposition cited earlier. The people had vacated Hashem from their lives, wondering, is Hashem in our midst or not? This made them susceptible to suffering, and, indeed, they immediately faced the onslaught of Amalek.

This is the meaning of the juxtaposition cited earlier. The people had vacated Hashem from their lives, wondering, is Hashem in our midst or not? This made them susceptible to suffering, and, indeed, they immediately faced the onslaught of Amalek.

We can now return to the verse with which we opened. והנה מצרים נוסע אחריהם, the Jewish People were on the verge of being engulfed by מֵצָרִים, terrible distresses.******* They realized that instead of focusing on themselves, they ought to be concerned with the suffering that the Shechinah would experience, and so, ויצעקו בני ישראל אלה, they cried out for Hashem’s sake. Indeed, the result was their own salvation, eliciting an assurance from Heaven that כי אשר ראיתם את מצרים היום, the distresses that you are experiencing today, לא תוסיפו לראותם עוד עד עולם, you shall not continue to see them anymore.********

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* Shemos 14:10.

** Shemos 17:7.

*** Sotah 31a.

**** 63:9.

***** Tehillim 118:5.

****** Devarim 31:17.

******* Note the use of the same term as in the verse from Tehillim expounded by the Besht.

******** Shemos 14:13.

II

ויהי בשלח פרעה את העם ולא נחם אלקים דרך ארץ פלשתים כי קרוב הוא כי אמר אלקים פן ינחם העם בראתם מלחמה ושבו מצרימה. ויסב אלקים את העם דרך המדבר ים סוף וגו

It was when Pharoah released the Nation, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Pelishtim because it was close [to Egypt], for God was concerned lest the Nation reconsider upon seeing battle and they will return to Egypt. And so, God led them in a circuitous route by way of the wilderness towards the Sea of Reeds… *

As with everything in the Torah, there is a lesson to be gleaned from this passage regarding Man’s personal growth.

Man is a microcosm. That not only means that he encompasses all of the elements of the world around him, but all of its history as well.

The story of the Exodus is one of breaking free from an ignoble past and creating a better, more wholesome life for oneself. The Jewish People put Egypt and all of its negative influences behind them, and the natural path forward led straight up into the Promised Land. But Hashem in His wisdom knew that in spirituality, the shortest route is not necessarily the safest one. Should the People stumble in their sprint, picking them up and moving on is not a given. He therefore led them circuitously, with each round moving ever closer to their goal.

Every individual experiences his personal Exodus at some point in his life. He takes leave of the Pharaohs and the Egyptians that lurk in his heart – his temptations and failings – and treks towards a better, more wholesome self.

It’s tempting to try to change overnight, to wake up feeling like a new man, like the caricatured ba’al teshuvah. But while it may be the shortest route, it is not the safest one. Should he stumble, the shame of failure may keep him down for the count.

The safer bet is the circuitous one. Slow and steady, bad habits are shed, good ones are formed, compounded, internalized. With each concentric circle traversed, he

grows ever closer to the center. The hand of Hashem leads him as a father leads his child, just as He did for Israel millennia ago.

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* Ibid., 13:17-18.