Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Hello my friends, and welcome back for this week's episode of the Practical Parsha podcast. This is Rabbi Shlomo Cohen and I hope you are well.
[00:00:08] This week's parsha is Parshas Bishalach. But before we begin this week's episode, I wanted to share with you an email I received from a listener. And I actually asked permission before I sharing this bit of information.
[00:00:25] But, but as you guys know, every week you probably have heard me say it many, many times.
[00:00:32] Some of my friends who are listeners as well imitate me back and say if you have any questions or comments, feel free to send me email at Rabbi Shlomokon Kohn.
[00:00:43] Right? You guys know that already. And I get emails from different listeners around the world and I do my best to, to respond to people as fast as I can.
[00:00:55] But I received a email from a listener named Ben and Ben was sending me a note to thank me for the podcast, telling me that, uh, I've been a great companion for him for this 31 year old Jewish that just started learning Torah. So when I saw the email, I said, wow, that's amazing.
[00:01:24] What caused you to start learning Torah? So he sent me an email. But one of the points in the email that he sent me I thought was fascinating and made a big impact on me.
[00:01:39] One of the things he listed that has caused him to be more involved Jewishly and to start learning is that Ben lives in New York and he takes public transportation to work. And on his commute to work, he sees different people. And some of the people that he sees on this commute are other Jews and Jewish people.
[00:02:08] We don't like to waste time.
[00:02:11] We like to use time, you know, appropriately. We use it well. And what's the best use for time that we could have is to learn Torah, to do mitzvahs. And on the train, Ben would see different people, different Jewish people studying Torah on the train. They're learning from a sefer, learning from a book. Maybe they're learning Chumash, they're reading from the Torah, maybe they're learning Gemara from the Talmud, maybe learning Mishnayas, right? Different Svara. And this is what people do. People on their way to work, they have a half hour.
[00:02:46] You could use your time wisely instead of just spacing out on the train and maybe, you know, looking at things we shouldn't be looking at, you know, Jewish people. What we do is, and what we aspire to do is to learn to use the time well. And Ben said in his email that when he would go on the train, he would see these Jewish people learning from their sefarim, from their books. And it sort of caused in him a desire to do that as well.
[00:03:17] And I just thought it was an amazing thing because when we think about ourselves, you know, we don't think of the actions that we do enough that it's having an impact on another person, right? If these individuals that are learning Torah on the train, they aren't necessarily doing it for other people, they're doing it for themselves. And there's nothing wrong with that. They're doing it because they want to study Torah on their way to work, before they get to work. They don't want to look at improper things. They want to use their time in the best way possible, right? So they study Torah. They never thought in their mind that there's a Jewish person across from them that's looking at them, and it's causing within him a desire to study Torah as well. I just thought that was a beautiful thought to share. A note that was sent from, uh, an actual listener to the Practical Parsha podcast.
[00:04:14] So the message is, number one, Ben, keep it up, keep pushing. And just like you were inspired by other people, you are going to inspire others, the listeners to this podcast and everyone else.
[00:04:30] And for all of us, we should remember and know that when we walk around, the things we do have an impact on the people around us.
[00:04:41] Maybe we don't think it's having an impact, but we have to know that we are. Even a small thing, like opening a safer, opening a book and learning from it, it's having impact on others. And for sure, the way we treat people and the way we talk to people and giving people a smile, we don't recognize the power of our own actions. So the message for us is to remember how powerful the acts that we do are. And especially as Jews, we have to remember that because the nations of the world are constantly looking at us. They are looking to us. And that's how Hashem made it. Hashem, uh, made it that the Jewish nation is a light unto the nations. That's what it means that we're supposed to be the example of how humanity, how people should act, and we have to hold ourselves to that level.
[00:05:30] So before we begin, as always, gotta say it again. If you have any questions, comments, or would like to share your story, what inspired you, feel free to send me email. Rabbi Shlomakonkohn.
[00:05:43] I'd love to hear from you.
[00:05:45] This week's Parasha is Parashatz b'. Shalach. Now As I mentioned before, this is a continuation from last week's Torah portion where the Jewish people have left Mitzrayim, they have left Egypt, and now they're in the desert. And Paro has a change of heart. He decides that he is going to give chase to the Jewish nation and bring them back to Mitsrayim. He wants them back. Even though he sent them out, he has a change of heart. He wants them to be brought back as slaves to Mitzrayim, the Jewish nation.
[00:06:15] They are traveling in the desert.
[00:06:17] They start to panic.
[00:06:19] They hear that the Egyptians are coming for them, and they're getting to a place where they're trapped.
[00:06:25] In front of them is the Yamsuf is the sea, and behind them are the Mitzriim.
[00:06:30] And the Parasha details for us how the Jewish nation comes to Moshe Rabbeinu and says, why did you bring us to this point to die in Mitsrayim? It's better for us to be slaves in Egypt. And that's a question for itself.
[00:06:43] You know, why the Jewish people had that reaction? We've discussed that on previous episodes.
[00:06:50] But Moshe Rabbeinu reassures the nation, and he tells them, hashem is going to save you. And the sea splits. The Jewish nation crosses the Yamsuf, the sea.
[00:07:03] And the Egyptians follow hot pursuit after them.
[00:07:07] And the Yamsuf falls down on top of them. The sea falls down on top of them. The Jewish people are saved. And the Jewish nation sees their captors that were their, you know, masters beforehand, now dead, you know, killed out through the hand of Hashem. After seeing this salvation, the Jewish nation sing the song of the sea, which we actually say in davening every day. The Parsha continues with the story of Morehe. The Jewish people are traveling in the desert, and the water that they find is bitter. They come to Moshe Rabbeinu and Moshe Rabbeinu, Hashem commands Moshe to take from this, um, tree and put it in the water, and it becomes miraculously sweet. Parasha also tells us about the Mun, the that the Jewish nation is in the desert now, and they actually don't have sustenance, they don't have food.
[00:08:01] But Hashem provides the Jewish people with this heavenly food which comes down every day and tastes. The Midrash tells us it tastes like anything a person would desire. And every day, except for Shabbos, during The Jewish People's 40 Years in the desert, they were sustained by the Mun, this heavenly food. The Parsha also teaches us about Shabbos, the Mitzvah uh, of resting on the seventh day.
[00:08:34] And finally the Parsha finishes with the battle of Amalek, that the nation of Amalek, even after seeing the Jewish nation go out of Mitsrayim, they attack the Jewish people. And from this point on, the nation of Amalek is the arch enemy of the Jewish people.
[00:08:53] The first idea I want to share with you today takes us to the Torah's commandment regarding Shabbos.
[00:09:02] So if you look in the. In the verses, the verses here detail about the Mun, how the mun would come down every day.
[00:09:12] But we see very clearly that when the Torah tells us about the man, Hashem, uh, commands the people that every day they should collect their allotted portion of the man and only take enough for that day. They were not allowed to take more than that specific amount for the day. Each person according to his family size.
[00:09:34] If m. You took more than that amount and saved it for the next day, it would rot. It would. It wouldn't stay good.
[00:09:41] There was one exception to this, that on Friday, a person would take a double portion of man and the man, even though the rest of the week, if you took a double portion, the extra would rot the next day. Miraculously, the double portion that was taken for Shabbos stayed good.
[00:10:02] And from that point, the Torah segues into the mitzvah of Shabbos.
[00:10:10] There's an interesting observation that Rabbi Hirsch makes regarding the structure of the verses when it comes to Shabbos and specifically the Mun.
[00:10:21] So if you look at the verses before the Torah tells us how Hashem is miraculously going to provide for the Jewish nation this heavenly food, we see that the Jewish people was in eliminate.
[00:10:35] And Elim was a very. I guess there was a lot of. There's a lot what to eat there. It was a good place to camp. Like, if we would look at a place to encamp, there was water, there was food. It was a very, uh, luxurious place.
[00:10:49] And then the Jewish people, they did not stay there for so long, and they were commanded to move. Right. The heavenly clouds, they had the anane a covered these heavenly clouds. That. That's how they knew when to, you know, pick up their camp and to move. So after a short time in Elim, which was this enjoyable place for us, you know, we would think to want to stay there. They had to start moving into the desert.
[00:11:15] And the verses tell us that the Jewish people came to Moshe Rabbeinu and to Aaron, and they were complaining it vayulei nu koladas b' nei Yisrael al, uh, Maisha va' al Aron Bamidbar.
[00:11:29] It says.
[00:11:30] It says, the entire assembly of the children of Israel complained against Moshe and Ar in the wilderness, right? And then the psukim go on to describe how the Jewish people come to Moshe Rabbeinu, right? They didn't have food. They didn't have provisions. They were hungry.
[00:11:45] And they're complaining to Moshe and Aaron and saying, why did you bring us here? Right? We don't have food. And that's what the Sukim tell us.
[00:11:54] And only after that point, when they left Elim, they're in the desert and they're complaining to Moshe Rabbeinu. So then Hashem says, I'm going to provide you with man.
[00:12:04] And from that point, we segue into Shabbos, into not taking extra. This mitzvah of resting on Shabbos, not taking extra, um, during the week, but only taking extra for Shabbos.
[00:12:17] Now, Rabbi Hirsch brings down a very interesting observation.
[00:12:21] He says specifically, we see that the commandment of Shabbos was specifically, after they left Elam, right? They left this place of Elim, where it was very, you know, it was good. They had everything they needed. It was only when they were in the desert, where they had nothing. They had. And they didn't know where anything was going to come from.
[00:12:43] Then we see that there's. This is where we have the commandment of Shabbos.
[00:12:48] What's the connection here? What's the lesson that we could learn?
[00:12:54] Now, if you look at the Jewish nation, right? Moshe Rabbeinu, approximately, it was two and a half million souls.
[00:13:02] He leads them out of. Out of Mitzrayim, into this desert, where there's nothing.
[00:13:08] There's nothing. There's no food, there's no water.
[00:13:11] And it doesn't even seem like there's hope to have those things, right? If. If you're a leader of a people that was just, you know, freed from slavery, you would think, uh, logically, if you're leading them. If I was leading them, right, don't lead them into the desert.
[00:13:27] And. And in fact, maybe, you know, it would just be. It's. It's suicidal. Lead them into the desert. You don't have the way, uh, to provide for them. But yet that's what Moshe does, based on what Hashem tells him to do, he's following the word of Hashem. That's why he does it.
[00:13:44] Now, if you look at a person's, you know, our lives, our livelihood, our Parnassah, what we do to Support ourselves.
[00:13:53] Probably one of the biggest, if not the biggest, stress, I mean, probably after health in a person's life, is how they're going to support themselves.
[00:14:06] How are we going to put bread on the table? That's. They say in public polling and elections, the top issue for people is the, uh, economy, right? People's livelihoods.
[00:14:18] It's something which we all care about. It's important to us.
[00:14:22] Now, if we live in a world where we think we could do everything and it's in our hands, so then the anxiety that we're going to, you know, that we're going to have about our livelihood is gonna be. It's always gonna be present.
[00:14:41] It's something that's always gonna be there because we think it's in our hands. We think we're in control.
[00:14:48] And therefore, no matter what our situation is, whether we have no money or we have tons of money, we're always going to be anxious about our situation, because if we have nothing, so then.
[00:15:00] So then, you know, we're gonna think that the fact that we're hungry and we need something, it's going to affect us, right? We're going to be thinking about our sustenance. And even if we have tons of money, we're going to be thinking that, what if it gets taken away? I need to store more money for my generations. It's never ending.
[00:15:19] But when we have a belief in Hashem, when we know that we're not in charge, we're just doing our part, so then the anxiety goes away. We realize that success in this world, parnasa, uh, is not something which is dependent upon our actions. The actions are things we need to do in order to access that, I guess, livelihood.
[00:15:49] But it's not something which is in our hands. We only have to do our part. And that's precisely why the conversation of the. Not the conversation, but the psukim of the mon and Shabbos come specifically when the Jewish nation leaves Elim, when they leave this place where everything was good and now they're in the desert, they have nothing. Because the Jewish nation had it to go through that experience of realization that their Parnassah, their livelihood, is totally dependent on Hashem. And when we observe Shabbos, when we keep Shabbos, we come to this realization.
[00:16:24] We're not working on a day that we could. We're showing that we're not in control. This is. We're doing. We're. By not working, we're showing that Hashem runs the world and he is involved with It. And that's why the psukim start off at this whole episode of the man and Shabbos begins after they left this, you know, enjoyable place, and now they're in the desert. Now they have nothing, and there's no hope of anything, because it doesn't make a difference what, you know, it seems like we have to realize that the Parnassah, our livelihood, you know, and really everything is in Hashem's hands. And an interesting point Rabbi Hirsch brings down is that this is an experience the Jewish nation had to go through precisely because they were slaves in Mitzrayim, because they were slaves in Egypt, because a slave always knows that his master is going to give him his next meal, right? So the Jewish people were not used to this experience of not knowing what was going to be the next day, the next hour. And that's why they had to go through it. Because, man, we have to know that our success is not dependent on us alone. Rather, it is through the grace of God, through Siatishma, through the. The help of heaven. And when we know that and we remember that, so then the anxiety that we potentially could have goes away, because we just have to do our part. We just have to do our shtadlas. And this is not just with our Parnasso. It's really with everything. We have to do our best. We have to give our best shot, but at the same time, we don't have to. You know, our actions are not dependent.
[00:18:06] The success we have is not dependent solely on the actions that we do. It's really not dependent on all the actions that we do.
[00:18:12] We still have to put in the effort, but that doesn't mean that the success came from that action.
[00:18:20] But this is the idea of Shabbos, and specifically why it was placed here next to the verses after the Jewish nation left Elam, and now they are in the desert because they had to come to that recognition. And that's what Shabbos helps us do. The second idea I want to share with you takes us to the end of the Parsha, where the Torah details for us the battle between Amalek, uh, and the Jewish people, Right? So Amalek, um, after seeing the Jewish nation coming out of Mitzrayim, the Gemara, the Talmud describes it that the Jewish people were on fire, and they couldn't, you know, the whole world was looking at them. Everyone was scared of the Jewish people, and Amale couldn't stand that. And even though they knew they were going to get destroyed in a battle with the Jewish people, they felt they were the ones to cool off the bath. That's what the example that the Gemara gives, that, you know, when a person jumps into a boiling tub of water, so even though they're going to get burned, but now the bath is cooler. So they made it easier for other people to attack the Jewish nation. But they were the first ones. That's their distinction. And from that, you know, they have become the arch enemy of the Jewish nation. So the Torah tells us how the Jewish people battle Amalek. And there's a very interesting episode that happens during this specific battle with Amalek.
[00:19:41] The Torah tells us that when the Jewish people were battling Amalek, uh, Moshe Rabbeinu, Aaron, the brother of Moshe, Yeshua and Khor, they are davening for the Jewish people while this battle is occurring.
[00:19:59] And the Parsha tells us that when Moshe Rabbeinu's hands were raised, the Jewish people were winning the battle.
[00:20:08] But when his hands got tired, the Jewish people would start losing.
[00:20:13] And there's a lot of commentary as to the meaning of this and understanding, uh, of why his hands got heavy.
[00:20:20] And the Torah tells us that Moshe Rabbeinu had to sit down and Yeshua and Khor held up his arms and the Jewish nation defeated Amalek.
[00:20:31] But if you look in the Psukim, it's very interesting as Rashi makes a very important observation which we can learn a lot from.
[00:20:40] It says in the verse as follows, Moshe's hands grew heavy, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. And Aaron and Khor supported his hands, one on this side and one on that side, and remained with his hands in faithful prayer until sunset. Now, Rashi makes observation about this verse. Rashi says, uh, it says that he specifically sat on a rock. The Torah mentions specifically that he sat down on a rock and not on a pillow or a cushion. Why?
[00:21:29] Moshe said to himself, yisroel shruyin bitzar av eyeh imoim Bitzar.
[00:21:37] And this is based in the Gemara. He says, the Jewish nation is in pain right now. They're battling the nation of Amalek. So too, I'm going to be. You know, I'm not going to. It's not appropriate for me to sit on a pillow. I'm also going to be bezar. I'm also going to be in pain.
[00:21:52] And Rabbi Yerukim Levavitz makes a very powerful observation from this pasuk. We see that Moshe Rabbeinu specifically sat on a rock. He could have sat on a cushion, on a pillow, but he wanted to sit on a rock.
[00:22:07] Because he made a logical deduction for himself. He said that my people, they're battling right now. There's people on the front lines. How could I sit comfortably on a pillow while they're battling and risking their lives and in painful situations? So I need to sit on the rock. I need to sit down. Fine, I'll sit down. But it's not going to be on a pillow. It'll be on a rock. So Rabbi Yeruchem Levavitz points out from this, the power of empathy, that it's in order for us, you know, to truly empathize with somebody, sometimes we have to do a little action to really, really feel someone's pain. We see from Moshe Rabbeinu, he didn't just say, oh, I feel for you. He actually did something for himself so he could fully empathize with his fellow people.
[00:22:58] It's a very powerful idea. How do we really empathize with another person?
[00:23:03] Right. Empathy, that's the key to everything. There's so many things if we're able to, you know, talking about communication and understanding people, it all begins with empathy, feeling for another person. But how do we get that empathy? How do we develop it? How do we hone in that ability to. To feel someone else's pain?
[00:23:25] Sometimes it's doing a small action.
[00:23:28] One famous story that's brought down is that Rav Chaim Shmuel, who was the Rosh Hashiva of the Mir Yeshiva during the 67 war, the 73 war, he wouldn't sleep with his shoes off. He would sleep with his shoes on. And his reasoning was that there's Jewish boys, they're on the front lines. A soldier has to sleep with his boots on. And I'm gonna sit all, uh, comfortably with my shoes off.
[00:23:56] So he wouldn't sleep with us during that time.
[00:23:59] He slept with his shoes on. He wanted to feel he couldn't be totally in comfort when he knew that there's other Jewish people sleeping in a situation which was fraught with danger.
[00:24:11] And I think, just taking this point a little bit more about empathy, we're able. You know, empathy is such a powerful thing. I once heard a story, this story made such an impact on me that, uh, there was a famous Rebbe, the Kapishnitzer Rebbe, and he lived in the Lower east side. And one time there was a story I read about him, he was a very holy Jew.
[00:24:32] One time he was walking down the street with one of his Assistants. And it was night. And he told the person walking with him, I want you to go across the street. There's something wrong over there.
[00:24:45] This fellow, you know, the Rebbe, tells you to do something. He went across the street. He's looking around, and he sees inside of a building, you know, in the entrance way of a building, there's a woman crying.
[00:24:57] And he goes over to the woman, and he finds out that this woman had just been thrown out of her apartment.
[00:25:06] She was thrown out. She didn't have money to pay the rent, and the landlord threw her out.
[00:25:10] He goes back to the Rebbe who's across the street, and he tells her about the situation. And he quickly tells him, please. He gives him money, or he tells him, please resolve the situation immediately. And he goes and he fixes his situation.
[00:25:24] But what always struck me about this story is that a person can be so in tune with.
[00:25:32] With his emotions, uh, with the feelings of other people. To be empathetic to a degree that you could pick up someone's pain across the street. You could be so in tune with yourself that you could feel. You could be someone who's so empathetic, have so much empathy that you could feel another person's tsar, another person's aggravation, even through the air. You're so in tune with it, you know, And I think we could relate to this. We, you know, there's such a thing as vibes. We could pick up things from people. If we would really be in tune with ourselves, if we would be on the level of the Kapishnet zer Rebbe, we'd be able to do that. And just to finish this off about empathy, you know, the Svasamez, whose yard site was this past week, he was a famous Hasidic Rebbe.
[00:26:21] He wrote this Svasamez. He was big tzadik. And I heard a little bit of a biography about him.
[00:26:27] And the speaker, Surabay Weinreb, said that the Svasemes refused. He didn't want to be Rebbe for many years. He pushed it off. He didn't want to lead his Hasidim.
[00:26:37] Finally, he became Rebbe. But he was known to say, he says that really anyone could be a Rebbe, meaning anyone could be. Could affect salvation for another Jew.
[00:26:48] What do you need? What do you need to have this ability to affect salvation?
[00:26:53] You need to be able to feel the pain of a fellow Jew. You need to be able to have empathy. And if we're able to really have empathy, so then we could daven for that person in a different way. We could pray for that person on another level. We could affect salvation for that person in a great way. So with that, I'm gonna finish for today's podcast. Hope you enjoyed. If you have any questions, comments, would like to reach out, feel free to send me an email at Rabbi Shlomo konkynmail.com have a great day.
