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Vol 1.26 - Beshalach Spanish French Audio Video |
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Summary:
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Translation: 1. In this week’s Torah portion the Torah tells us about two wars the Jewish people had (Exodus, Chapter 14, Verses 5-31 and Chapter 17, Verses 8-16). The Egyptians came to wage war with them at the Reed Sea and then later the nation of Amalek attacked them in the desert. 2. The Rebbe now observes how the two wars were handled: With regards to the war with the Egyptians the Torah tells us that the Jewish people did not lift a finger to fight the Egyptians, Hashem (G-d) fought the war for them. Moshe Rabbeinu (Moses our teacher) told the Jewish people “Hashem will do battle for you, and you shall remain silent” (Exodus, Chapter 14, Verse 14). 1. In this week’s Torah portion the Torah tells us about two wars the Jewish people had (Exodus, Chapter 14, Verses 5-31 and Chapter 17, Verses 8-16). The Egyptians came to wage war with them at the Reed Sea and then later the nation of Amalek attacked them in the desert. 2. The Rebbe now observes how the two wars were handled: With regards to the war with the Egyptians the Torah tells us that the Jewish people did not lift a finger to fight the Egyptians, Hashem (G-d) fought the war for them. Moshe Rabbeinu (Moses our teacher) told the Jewish people “Hashem will do battle for you, and you shall remain silent” (Exodus, Chapter 14, Verse 14). However with regards to the war with the nation of Amalek the Torah tells us that the Jewish people themselves waged war with them. Moshe Rabbeinu told Joshua “Choose people for us and go do battle with Amalek…” (Exodus, Chapter 17, Verse 9). 3. The Rebbe now explains why the two wars were handled differently: With regards to the war with Egypt: Pharaoh and his Egyptian army were behind the Jews. The Jewish people were on their way to Mount Sinai to accept the Torah and the Egyptian people came up from behind. Pharaoh’s complaint was that he had lost all his slaves and he wanted them back. He did not care where the Jews were going. Now the Torah told us earlier that our Forefather Jacob was not a man of war while his brother Esau was a man of war (Genesis, Chapter 27, Verse 22). And obviously the Jewish people follow the conduct of their Forefather Jacob. Therefore since the Jewish people are not a nation of war (unless they absolutely must, as we will soon explain), Hashem did battle for them. With regards to the war with the nation of Amalek: The Amalekians came between the Jewish people and Mount Sinai. The Jewish people were on their way to Mount Sinai and the Amalekians met them head-on. The Jews were in the desert with only one objective, they were going to receive the Torah, and the Amalekians did not want that to happen. Therefore since there was something getting in the way of receiving the Torah, the Jewish people had to wage war. At a time like this the Jews could not make any calculations if they are a people of war or not, they used any means necessary. 4. The Rebbe now speaks about how the war with the Amalekians is connected to do our daily lives: It is a Mitzvah (commandment) to remember every single day what the Amalekians did to us. Editors note: After the morning prayers we say “The six remembrances”. The third remembrance is about how the nation of Amalaek attacked us on our way to receive the Torah. But if the war with Amalek happened so long ago why is it a commandment to remember it every single day? It must be because the war with Amalek is a constant (spiritual) war that is actually happening even today. 5. The Rebbe now explains exactly what our spiritual war with Amalek is: In the third remembrance of the six daily remembrances we say “Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you came out of Egypt, how he met you on the way…”. The Hebrew word used here for “met you” is “Kor’cha”. The word “Kor’cha” could also mean “made you cold” (“Kor” means “cold”, and “cha” means “you”). This means that Amalekians came to cool down the Jewish people’s excitement of receiving the Torah. Hashem had just taken the Jews out of Egypt with all his wondrous miracles and the Jews were on their way to receive Hashem’s most precious gift- the Torah. The Jewish people were so excited to receive the Torah that they started counting the days till they would receive the Torah from forty-nine days before the deadline! Our Sages even tell us that the whole world knew that the Jewish people were very excited to receive the Torah and they were also influenced by this to be excited. But the nation of Amalek came to cool down the Jewish people from receiving the Torah (by waging war). This fight with Amalek happens within us every single day. The Amalek within us says, “Don’t be so excited by G-dliness. Fine, you want to do Mitzvos and learn Torah, but don’t be all passionate about it”. The Amalek within us even says to us “You yourself believe in Hashem and that He owns the world and can do what He wants, with whom He wants, when He wants. So why are you getting so excited over some miracle that He performed? This is old news!”. To get rid of the Amalek within us we must use any means necessary. Just like our fathers in the desert used any means necessary to physically get rid of the Amalek (even though generally Jewish people are not people of war) we must use any means necessary. 6. The Rebbe ends off with a Blessing and promise: Just like our fathers were able to receive the Torah after they defeated Amalek, we will hear the Torah of Moshiach (the Messiah) through our defeating our Amalek. Translated and adapted by Shalom Goldberg. Taken from Likutei Sichos Chelek Aleph, 2nd Sicha. |
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Links: http://www.chabadofsharon.com/templates/articlecco_cdo/aid/1090382/jewish/Beshalach.htm (Audio) |
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