In Parshas Beshalach, the Torah tells us that after the Yidden crossed the Yam Suf and after they said shirah, so the פסוק, קפיטל ט״ו פסוק כ״ב says: ״ויסע משה את ישראל מים סוף״, that Moshe made the Yidden travel and go away from the Yam Suf. So Rashi on the pasuk says, taken from the Midrash in Tanchuma, and also in the Yalkut Shimoni it's mentioned בשם Tanchuma, Midrash Lekach Tov, etc., etc., that he הסיען בעל כרחם, that he made them go by force, which means they didn't want to leave, and Moshe Rabbeinu forced them to leave. And Chazal explain, why didn't they want to leave? Because they were busy with ביזת הים, they were busy with collecting the treasures of the Mitzrayim. As we know that גדולה היתה ביזת הים מביזת מצרים, that the ביזה, the loot that they got by the Yam Suf of the Mitzrayim and of their horses, was more than they got when they left Mitzrayim. And therefore, they didn't want to go away from the Yam Suf because they were busy collecting the gold and silver, etc., etc., that they found by the Yam Suf. But it's hard to understand. We know that the time when the Yidden stood by the קריעת ים סוף, Hashem Himself revealed Himself to them, as the expression in Rashi: ״בכבודו נגלה עליהם״, that with His own glory Himself He revealed Himself to them. And therefore, the Yidden said: ״זה קלי ואנוהו״, ״This is my G-d and I will beautify Him,״ and we know wherever it says ״זה״, ״this״, it means that they were able to point with a finger, as Rashi says: ״מראין אותו באצבע״, they were able to show with the finger, ״This is Hashem", which means that Hashem revealed Himself to them. Till Rashi says, taken from the Mekhilta, that ״ראתה שפחה על הים מה שלא ראו נביאים״, that a שפחה, a simple maid, saw of Godliness by the Yam Suf more than the נביאים saw in later generations. And that is the reason why the Yidden decided to say shirah, praise to Hashem, דברי שבח והודאה. So it comes out that the Yidden were in a very, very high spiritual level at the time of קריעת ים סוף. So how is it possible that after all that, they were so busy with ביזת הים, with collecting gold and silver? What kind of meaning and value can gold and silver, etc., etc., have when you compare it to the great spiritual revelation that they had by קריעת ים סוף? To say that because of the gold and silver they didn't want to leave the ים סוף? The question is even stronger. We know that Hashem said to Moshe Rabbeinu before He even sent him to Pharaoh, He told him: ״בהוציאך את העם ממצרים תעבדון את האלקים על ההר הזה״, ״When you will take this nation out of Mitzrayim, they will serve G-d on this mountain,״ which means that they will go to Matan Torah. So the Yidden knew that now from the ים סוף they are going to Matan Torah. And not only that, we know that they actually counted the days to Matan Torah, as the Ran brings in the name of the Haggadah in the end of Masechet Pesachim, and also mentioned in the Chinuch in mitzvah ש״ו, that the reason we have a mitzvah of Sefirat HaOmer nowadays is because when the Yidden were still in Mitzrayim and they heard that from Mitzrayim they're going to Matan Torah, so they counted the days, they couldn't wait for Matan Torah, they had such a great desire, and because they counted the days then, we have a mitzvah of Sefirat HaOmer now too, from Pesach to Shavuos. So it comes out that they had this great desire to Matan Torah. So how is it possible that after all that, the ביזת הים, the loot by the ים סוף, should be so important to them that they shouldn't want to go? It should be more important to them than to continue on their trip to Matan Torah? The opposite of their own desire! They themselves desired to go to Matan Torah, and they counted every day, including that day itself was probably also counted, if every day was counted by them, that day too was counted. So the same day that they counted to go to Matan Torah, which means that they expressed a desire to go to Matan Torah, they'd rather stay because of the ביזת הים, because of the money?

So we must say that this that the Yidden did not want to leave the ביזת הים, it's not because they actually wanted gold and silver, but there must have been a spiritual meaning why they wanted to stay there. And the answer is very simple, because they felt that this is the ratzon Hashem. This is what Hashem wanted them to do. And that fits with the other pshat that we find in the mefarshim why they didn't want to go away from the yam. It says in the Tzeror HaMor in the name of the Midrash HaNe'elam, and also understood in the Zohar, פרשת בשלח דף ס׳ עמוד א׳, and also brought in the Tur on Chumash, the Tur Ha'aroch, and also in the Tzeidah LaDerech and other mefarshim, that the reason they didn't want to leave is because they had such a great spiritual revelation by Yam Suf that they didn't want to leave it. Now this seems to be an opposite pshat of the other pshat that we're saying till now, that they didn't want to leave because of the gold and silver that they were collecting. But the truth is the two pshatim go together. As we just said The reason they didn't want to leave is not because they needed gold and silver, but because they thought that this was the ratzon Hashem, this is what Hashem wanted. So this fits to the other pshat that the reason they didn't want to leave is because the great spiritual revelation, because they're both true. And one helps the other. Because there was such a great spiritual revelation, that's why anything spiritual was very important to them more than other times. And therefore, since they felt that this is the will of Hashem, and they were in such a spiritual high level, so that's why they didn't want to leave. Because the more spiritual level they were, the more they felt the importance of doing the ratzon Hashem. So since they felt that this was the will of Hashem to collect the כסף וזהב of the Mitzrayim, that's why they wanted to stay. What was the reason they thought that this was the will of Hashem is very simple. Because before they went out of Mitzrayim, there was actually a ציווי, a commandment by Hashem, as said in Chumash in פרשת בא, קאפיטל י״א פסוק ב׳: ״וישאלו איש מאת רעהו״, השם wanted that a person should borrow from his friend and a woman from her friend, כלי כסף וכלי זהב, silver vessels and gold vessels. And the purpose was that the Yidden should go out ברכוש גדול, they should go out with a great treasure as Hashem had promised Avraham Avinu. And more than that, the pasuk says in פרשת שמות, קאפיטל ג׳ פסוק כ״ב: ״ונצלתם את מצרים״, you should empty out Mitzrayim. Which means completely empty it out, as the Chazal say in Gemara in Berachos, that they made it כמצודה שאין בה דגן, כמצולה שאין בה דגים. That they made it like a threshing place where there is no more grain, they made it like the bottom of the sea where there has no more fish. That means they emptied out Mitzrayim completely. And this was the purpose of the mitzvah. Hashem wanted them to empty out Mitzrayim. So it comes out that when the Yidden saw by the Yam Suf that the Mitzrayim still had left gold and silver, which the Yidden hadn't taken away from them, so they felt that they were mechuyav, they were obligated to take the ביזת הים because of the commandment of Hashem, ״ונצלתם את מצרים״, that they should empty out Mitzrayim. Oy, on one hand, this will hold them back from getting closer to מתן תורה, but they thought that there was no official commandment that they have to get closer to מתן תורה. On the other hand, there was a tzivui, there was a commandment by Hashem to take the gold and silver from Mitzrayim. Hashem did say, as we said before, ״בהוציאך את העם ממצרים תעבדון את האלקים על ההר הזה״, that when they leave Mitzrayim they're going to serve Hashem on this mountain, which means they're going to go to מתן תורה. But this was not a tzivui, this was not a commandment. This was just a sipur. Hashem was telling Moshe Rabbeinu what's going to happen in the future, that after Yetzias Mitzrayim they will go to מתן תורה. But Hashem did not command them to continue on their trip to get closer to מתן תורה. But concerning emptying Mitzrayim, there was a commandment that Hashem said ״וישאלו איש מאת רעהו״, they should borrow the כלי כסף and the כלי זהב, to the form of ״ונצלתם את מצרים״, to empty Mitzrayim. And the truth is this expression ״ונצלתם את מצרים״, to empty Mitzrayim, was not part of the commandment. That was also told to Moshe Rabbeinu earlier as a sipur, He was just telling him what's going to happen later on. But nevertheless, since Hashem had said to him ״ונצלתם את מצרים״, later on there was a commandment to borrow gold and silver from Mitzrayim. So, it's self-understood that what did Hashem want with that commandment that they should borrow gold and silver is to fulfill the ״ונצלתם את מצרים״, to fulfill the emptying Mitzrayim. So, the iden felt, since there's a commandment to empty Mitzrayim, there is no commandment to continue to מתן תורה, so mitzad the tzivui of Hashem we have to continue and stay to take the ביזת הים, to take the loot from the Yam.

But the question that comes up here, that lichorah, when they saw that Moshe Rabbeinu was telling them to leave, they should have understood that now Hashem doesn't want them to take the ביזת הים anymore. Definitely what Moshe Rabbeinu said was only he was giving over what Hashem had told him. So when they heard that Moshe Rabbeinu said that now we have to leave and we can't stay, they should have understood lika'orah that even though it seems to them that now they are mechuyav to get involved in the ביזת הים because of the commandment ״ונצלתם את מצרים״, but nevertheless since Moshe says that Hashem said to continue going and not to continue working on the ביזת הים, so obviously at this point Hashem doesn't want them to do the ביזת הים, He wants them to continue. If the whole reason they wanted to stay and work on the ביזת הים was not because they needed the gold and silver, but it was only because they wanted to do the will of Hashem, but now that Moshe Rabbeinu told them that Hashem wants you to go, they should have stopped right away and said to themselves, obviously this is not the tzivui and this is not the ratzon of Hashem now, this is not what Hashem wants. So why did Moshe Rabbeinu have to force them to go ahead? Now the answer is that the Yidden thought that since ביזת הים is a mitzvah overet, ביזת הים is something being that you could only do now, and if you don't do it now, then the time will pass and you won't be able to fulfill the mitzvah. To go to Matan Torah, something that if you don't do it now you could do it a little bit later, and the halachah is that a mitzvah overet is דוחה תלמוד תורה, that a mitzvah that will pass, that you will not be able to fulfill it later, pushes away learning Torah. If a person is learning Torah, and he has to perform a mitzvah at the same time, so if it's a mitzvah he could do later, then you continue learning and you'll do it later. If it's a mitzvah that has to be done now, it can't be done later, then you stop learning and you do the mitzvah. As the Gemara says in Moed Katan דף ט עמוד ב, and it says in Yerushalmi Berachos פרק א סוף הלכה ב, and in Rambam, and in Shulchan Aruch, etc., etc. So the Yidden here too thought that the inyan of Matan Torah is similar to the inyan of תלמוד תורה. The mitzvah that they're involved now is a מצוה עוברת, if they're not going to do this mitzvah of ביזת הים, they won't be able to do it later, while the inyan of מתן תורה they could do later, so they thought that the מצוה עוברת, this mitzvah that is passing, pushes away the inyan of מתן תורה, the inyan of תלמוד תורה. And therefore, they wanted to stay. But on the other hand, this doesn't answer the question, because after all, Moshe Rabbeinu told them to continue, which means Hashem wants them to continue, so what kind of cheshbonot could they make in their mind, that it's a מצוה עוברת and therefore it's stronger than Torah, when Moshe said to them that now Hashem wants you to continue? So the pshat must be that they felt that it's a מצוה עוברת, and therefore this should push away מתן תורה, but because Moshe Rabbeinu said to them that Hashem wants you to continue, they definitely knew the right thing to do is to continue, but nevertheless, they felt that they're giving something up. In other words, when it says that משה הסיעם בעל כרחם, he made them go by force, it doesn't mean that they were fighting against it, they didn't want to go, and Moshe Rabbeinu actually had to pull them away. What it means is they did it right away when Moshe told them, they did it b'ratzon. The only thing is, it's considered baal korcham because it was against what they had thought in their minds would be the right thing. And when a person does something, even though he does it willingly, and he does it because he knows that this is what is supposed to be done, but at the same time it's taking him away from something else that he would rather do, even though he knows that because of a certain reason he shouldn't do that other thing, he should do this thing, and therefore he's going to do this thing b'simchah, but if it's taking him away from something else that he would rather do, we call it baal korcho. Similar to what it says in פרקי אבות, בעל כרחך אתה חי, בעל כרחך אתה מת. It says that a person lives by force and a person dies by force, and the mefarshim ask it's a contradiction: if a person lives by force, that means he'd rather die, so then he doesn't die by force; and if he dies by force, that means that he'd rather live, then why does it say he lives by force? And the answer is they're both true. On one hand, a person would rather not live, which means he'd want his neshamah to be in Shamayim, closer to Hashem; on the other hand, being that Hashem wants the neshamah to come down to this world, then the neshamah would rather do that and live in this world. So they're both true. We call them both by force because there is a reason in each one to do the opposite. When he lives, he'd rather not live, there is a reason why he shouldn't live, he should rather have his neshamah in Shamayim, that's why we call it baal korcho. It doesn't mean that he actually, you have to fight with him to live, because when Hashem tells the neshamah to come down to this world, the neshamah knows this is the right thing to do. We still call it baal korcho because the neshamah has to give something up which it would like to have, even though it knows that this is the right thing. And the same thing when the neshamah has to go back up, the neshama knows that it's giving up something that it can't have up there, that is giving up Torah, mitzvot, etc. to have in this world. That's why it's called baal korcho. So here too, when it says Moshe Rabbeinu took them baal korcham, it doesn't mean that he actually had to force them and they were fighting against him and he had to pull them away. When Moshe Rabbeinu said that they have to go, they ran because they knew this is the right thing. Nevertheless, we call it baal korcham because they felt that they're giving up this mitzvah. And since this is a מצוה עוברת, then they're completely giving it up and they won't have a chance to do it. They nevertheless knew that they have to give it up, but it's still called baal korcham.

This is the way we could answer this whole inyan b'pashtus, especially the way it's על פי קבלה and especially the way it's explained in חסידישע ספרים, that the whole reason Hashem wanted the אחרי כן יצאו ברכוש גדול, that the Yidden should go out with this great treasure, and Hashem said to Moshe Rabbeinu that if you don't tell the Yidden to borrow כלי כסף וכלי זהב, אותו צדיק, meaning Avraham Avinu, will have complaints, why you fulfilled the inyan of galut, but you didn't fulfill the promise to let them go out ברכוש גדול, is mashma that this רכוש גדול is a very, very important thing. And likhora, why is it so important that the Yidden should go out with a lot of money? And the answer that's given is that the רכוש גדול represents sents. The fact that the Yid were able to take out, as it's called in Kabbalah, the ניצוצות הקדושה, the holy sparks, from Mitzrayim. We know that everything in the world has a ניצוץ הקדושה, has a holy spark, has a godly spark in it. And a Yid has to elevate the thing by taking something out of the reshut of a goy and bringing it into the reshut of a Yid, and then utilizing it l'shem Shamayim to serve Hashem, this elevates the ניצוצות הקדושה that we find in all these things. This is actually the reason why there is a din of בל תשחית, that you're not allowed to destroy any physical thing v'chulei. Who cares if you destroy something? So the Baal Shem Tov explains the reason is because everything has a ניצוץ הקדושה, and the way to elevate the ניצוץ הקדושה is by utilizing this physical thing. When a person destroys it, and doesn't allow it to be utilized l'shem shamayim, then you're ruining, so to speak, k'vayachol, the ניצוץ הקדושה. This is one of the reasons also why there's a din of טבילת כלים, that a kli that belongs to a goy goes over to the reshut of a yid, you have to tovel it, because it goes out from the reshut of a goy to רשות הקדושה. So there is an elevation in the ניצוץ הקדושה that's there in this דבר גשמי. When it was by the goy it was in a low stage, now you elevate it because you bring it into רשות הקדושה. And this is what happened when the yidden went out of Mitzrayim, so they elevated the ניצוצות הקדושה by taking all the כלי כסף and כלי זהב out of the reshut of the Mitzrayim into the reshut of the yidden. And therefore, when the yidden came to Yam Suf, and they saw that there are still כלי כסף and כלי זהב, gold and silver etc. etc. that are in the reshut of the Mitzrayim, and they knew that their major point in the geulah of Mitzrayim is to take out the ניצוצות הקדושה, so they felt that now they have an obligation to take out these ניצוצות הקדושה. And therefore they got completely involved in it. And because they had this great spiritual revelation at the time of Krias Yam Suf, they saw clearer the importance of the birur, of the elevation and the purification of the ניצוצות הקדושה. And that is the reason they felt that they want to continue. So when Moshe Rabbeinu told them we have to go, they felt that they're going to be giving up something very important, not very important b'gashmiyut, very important b'ruchniyut, spiritually. They will be giving up the avodah, as we call it, of ניצוצות הקדושה, of the birur, of elevating and purifying the ניצוצות הקדושה. The truth is, as we said before, they definitely continued to go, because who says that you have to do the birur on nitzotzot? Hashem. Now, if Hashem says at this point you have to continue going, and you shouldn't do the birur on the ניצוצות, obviously this is what Hashem wants now. So definitely, when they heard from Moshe Rabbeinu that the time has come to leave, they right away dropped what they were doing and they left. Nevertheless, it's called baal korchan, as we said before, it's called by force because they felt that they're giving up something important. Odai they have to give it up because this is the ratzon of Hashem, but they're giving up something important, they're giving up the birur on the ניצוצות. And this is what the inyan of הסיעם בעל כרחם means, that he made them go by force.