Beshalach

This 15 minute talk will take you on a journey from the 10 plagues in Mitzrayim, through Kriyas Yam Suf, and all the way until Kabalas HaTorah.

"He harnessed his chariot...He took six hundred elite chariots and all the chariots of Egypt, with officers on them all. Hashem strengthened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt and he pursued the Children of Israel" (Exodus/Shemos 14:6) "It was told to the king of Eg...

At the end of his new book, Tribe of Mentors, Timothy Ferris cites the following poem by Portia Nelson. It’s called ‘Autobiography in Five Short Chapters’: Chapter 1: I walk down the street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I fall in. I am lost… I am helpless. It isn...

Chazal tell us that the sea split in the merit of Yosef Hatzadik. What is the connection between running away from zenus and klal yisroel meriting to go through, why should one have a bearing on the other? I think a possible explanation is that klal yisroel were in danger...

A lesson we can take from Sisera (that you probably never heard it Yeshiva). If you analyze it, it would appear that Sisera was a sex addict. Thus, when the women were comforting the mother of Sisera as to why her son was late, they told her don't worry, "רַחַם רַחֲמָתַי...

Haym ra'ah vayanos.Mah ra'ah? Arono shel Yosef ra'ah.(Midrash)Is that what the sea was afraid of? A few old bones in a box?The see was afraid of Atzmas Yosef - that atzmius of Yosef - the essence of Yosef! The sexual purity of Yosef Hatzadik that Klal Yisroel had within t...

וַיְהִ֗י בְּשַׁלַּ֣ח פַּרְעֹה֮ אֶת-הָעָם֒ וְלֹא-נָחָ֣ם אֱלֹקים דֶּ֚רֶךְ אֶ֣רֶץ פְּלִשְׁתִּ֔ים כִּ֥י קָר֖וֹב ה֑וּא כִּ֣י | אָמַ֣ר אֱלֹקים פֶּֽן-יִנָּחֵ֥ם הָעָ֛ם בִּרְאֹתָ֥ם מִלְחָמָ֖ה וְשָׁ֥בוּ מִצְרָֽיְמָה: וַיַּסֵּ֨ב אֱלֹהִ֧ים | אֶת-הָעָ֛ם דֶּ֥רֶךְ הַמִּדְבָּ֖ר יַם-ס֑...

The Torah relates that the Israelites came to Marah, "...but they could not drink the waters of Marah because they were bitter" (Exodus 15:23,25). We understand the verse to mean that the water was bitter. The Baal Shem Tov said that "they" refers to the Israelites, not t...

In this weeks Parsha we read about Kriyas Yam Suf - the splitting of the sea. Even after the Yidden had left Mitzrayim, Pharaoh chased after them. And they would have indeed been lost if not for the Emunah and Messiras Nefesh of Nachshon Ben Aminadov, who Chaza"l say went...

Every human being needs to ultimately undergo a Yetziyas Mitzrayim and Kriyas Yam Suf of sorts, sooner or later. Mitzrayim symbolizes "Self-Will", which we are all slaves to from birth, and "leaving Mitzrayim" symbolizes giving over our will to Hashem. Pharaoh symbolizes ...

Question: Why did Hashem tell Moshe to tell Pharaoh that the Jewish people just wanted to just leave "derech shloshes yamim - a way of three days" to serve Hashem, making it sound like we were planning to come back? Indeed when we finally left, Pharaoh sent spies after us...

There is a Minhag to say Parshas Hama'an as a segulah for parnassa, on the Tuesday of Parshas Bishalach. By saying this parsha, we recognize how Hashem gives us everything we need, and we thereby open the channels of Emunah and blessing into our lives. What can we learn f...