Beshalach
Rabbi Schapiro on the Parshah: Beshalach
Moshe had to force the people away from the Yam Suf even though they were desperate to reach Har Sinai. A look at why gathering Egypt's abandoned treasure felt, to them, like a mitzvah too important to leave behind.
A Vort From the Rebbe: Beshalach
A close reading of Rashi's comment on Pharaoh's horses leads into the Rebbe's explanation of why Rabbi Shimon's dictum to โsmash the brainโ of the best among snakes is aimed at the frum-looking yetzer hara who offers to make peace rather than fight outright. A second vort on โyou shall eat by the toil of your handsโ โ including the Rebbe Rashab's line to a chossid who put his whole head into selling galoshes โ makes the same point: keep your head in Torah even while your hands are in gashmiyus.
Parshas Beshalach
Questions Rashi's choice of words when the Yidden cried out to Hashem at the sea, calling their tefillah an umnah, a trade passed down from the Avos, when davening seems to be simply asking for what one needs. Answers that tefillah's deeper meaning is hiskashrus, connection to Hashem, tying it to the Zohar's reading of Yaakov's ladder as davening itself: a constant, ongoing avodah of the heart rather than a request made only when something is needed.
Parshas Beshalach
Looks at why Rashi calls the Avos' davening, and the Yidden's own cry at the Yam Suf, an umnah, a trade, rather than simply a request for help. Explains through the deeper meaning of the word tefillah, connection, that davening is meant to be an ongoing avodah shebalev rather than something reserved for moments of need, illustrated by the Zohar's reading of Yaakov's ladder as itself a symbol of tefillah drawing a person continually closer to Hashem.
Parshas Beshalach
Traces Rashi's comment that Pharaoh's fresh cavalry came from animals sheltered by more compliant Egyptians, down to Rabbi Shimon's closing line about the best of snakes, ืจืฆืืฅ ืืช ืืืื, smash its brain. Reads the snake as a yetzer hara that proposes a deal: give it a little taavah, and it will leave your learning alone. Explains why the only real response is refusing any compromise at all, since giving ground today becomes its foothold for something far worse tomorrow. Closes with the Rebbe Rashab's remark to a chossid absorbed in his galoshes business, that putting your feet in kaloshen is one thing, but not your head.
Parshas Beshalach
Connects two adjacent pesukim, the Yidden's route through the desert and Moshe taking along atzmos Yosef, reading the midbar as a place of real spiritual danger where Hashem's presence feels distant. Draws out the deeper meaning of atzamos as etzem, essence, and reads the name Yosef, from Rachel's ืืืกืฃ ืืณ ืื ืื ืืืจ, as describing a mission to be mashpia on someone considered an acher, turning him into a ben, the very outlook Moshe brought along as protection against the dangers of the desert.
Parshas Beshalach
Follows Rashi's explanation of where Pharaoh's cavalry came from into Rabbi Shimon's closing comment on the best of snakes, ืจืฆืืฅ ืืช ืืืื, smash its brain, and reads the snake as a yetzer hara offering a deal: leave your learning alone in exchange for a little taavah elsewhere. Explains why no compromise is acceptable, since any concession becomes its opening for worse demands later, and closes with the Rebbe Rashab's remark to a chossid consumed by his galoshes business, that putting your feet in kaloshen is normal, but not your head.
Parshas Beshalach
Explores the Mechilta's teaching that not only the Yam Suf split at the Exodus, but every gathering of water in the world split as well โ pits, jugs, and cups included. Traces the explanation that this was so the miracle would leave room for free choice, tying it to the Midrash on Moshe Rabbeinu's hesitation to write โlet us make manโ and the answer that whoever wants to err is free to err.
Parshas Beshalach
Unpacks the Mechilta's statement that Torah was given only to โeaters of the man,โ testing and rejecting the reading that this limits Torah study to the desert generation. Lands on the explanation that whatever your worries, the moments set aside to learn have to feel like the days of the man โ free of every concern โ and connects that mindset to the ease of Shabbos and to the worry-free world of Mashiach.
Parshas Beshalach
Looks at Rashi's comment that Hashem told Moshe to stop crying out to Him at the Yam Suf โ an instruction to stop davening, not start. Develops the answer that saving a fellow Jew demands total commitment of one's whole essence, and that even tefillah, the highest of avodahs, has to step aside when someone else's rescue is at stake. Closes with the practical takeaway for helping another Yid, materially or spiritually.