Parshas Beshalach (5779)
The Vilna Gaon quotes an ancient Kabbalistic tradition that the Jewish nation’s miraculous Exodus from Paraoh and Egypt over 3300 years ago – as told in this week’s Torah portion, Parshas Beshalach - is the root of all subsequent redemptions including the “Final Redemption†with the coming of the Messiah. [This tradition is based in part on a verse in the Ma’ariv (Evening) Prayer Service which refers to the Exodus from Egypt as cheirus olam, an “eternal freedomâ€.]
If the Exodus from Egypt is a template for the Final Redemption, then we should be able to find parallels – or as I like to call them, “Paraohâ€llels – between the two, and indeed there are many. I would like to share with you just one very powerful parallel that I believe can greatly determine our future:
We read in the beginning of the Torah portion, “…’Va’chamushim’ alu B’nei Yisrael mei-Eretz Mitzrayim - The Children of Israel were ‘armed’ when they went up from Egypt†(Exodus 13:18).
Adding an additional deeper layer of meaning to the text, the Midrash (quoted by Rashi) teaches that the word va’chamushim derives from chomesh, a “fifthâ€, and it implies that only one-fifth of the Jews actually left Egypt. The rest were not interested in leaving Egypt and adopting a new life as G-d’s people; they died during the plague of darkness, so that the Egyptians would not see that Jews, as well as Egyptians, were losing their lives.
Imagine that! A great majority of Jews never made it out of Egypt! That certainly puts a twist on the whole Exodus story, doesn’t it?!
Well, now read this …
R. Zedekiah ben Abraham the Doctor (1210 – c. 1280), in his classic Halakhic work Shibolei HaLeket, writes (in Seder Ta’aniyos #274) the following interpretation of a Talmudic passage in Ta’anis 30b, in the name of his brother R. Benjamin:
“He who mourns [over Jerusalem and the destruction of the Holy Temple] is worthy of seeing its consolation, and if he shall be alive at the ‘end’ [the Messianic Era], he shall be inscribed with the group of the righteous and will be among those deemed worthy of experiencing the redemption. But he who does not mourn [over Jerusalem and the destruction of the Holy Temple] is not worthy of seeing its consolation, and even if he shall be alive at the [time of the] Final Redemption, he shall be inscribed with the group of the wicked, who do not believe [in the redemption] and who are therefore not worthy of redemption - just like we find in Egypt that all those who did not believe in ultimate redemption died during the Three Days of Darkness. However, we and all Jews who do believe in G-d’s salvation, pray that we merit to live to see G-d’s rebuilt sanctuary and the consolation of Zion together with all of Israel. Amen…â€
This “Paraohâ€llel that the Shibolei HaLeket teaches us – that just as in Egypt not all the Jews merited redemption because they didn’t care to be redeemed, so, too, will be at the Final Redemption – should really be a wake-up call to all of us.
Do we really want the Messiah and all the amazing life changes and world changes that come with it - or are we happy just the way the world is now? Do we really want to join the rest of our Jewish brothers and sisters living together as G-d’s people in the Land of Israel during the Messianic Era – or would we rather go to Miami? And at the end of a long Passover Seder or Yom Kippur service, when we sing “Next year in Jerusalem!â€, do we sincerely mean it or are we just paying lip service but have no intention of ever moving there?
How tragic it would be to live to see the Final Redemption and the Messianic Era yet not to be deemed worthy of experiencing it, G-d forbid, because we never cared about it?!
This already happened way back when during the Redemption in Egypt, and apparently will happen again during the Final Redemption – the only question is who of us will be redeemed and who will be left behind.
Pretty powerful, eh?
http://www.torchweb.org/torah_detail.php?id=548