Beshalach 5782 – Hishtadlus & Parnasah
Sponsored Anonymously l’zchus Refuah Shleimah. Shiur presented in 5778.
Sponsored Anonymously l’zchus Refuah Shleimah. Shiur presented in 5778.
The subject we’d like to discuss today is an important one because many people pose the following question. The Torah says: I created an evil inclination, and I created Torah as its antidote (Kiddushin 30b). So that means to say that the antidote, the counterforce for the yetzer hara, is Torah.
The first passuk in this week’s parshah begins by telling us the following: וישמע יתרו כהן מדין חתן משה, Yisro (who was the priest of Midian, and the father-in-law of Moshe), heard, את כל אשר עשה אלקים למשה ולישראל עמו, everything that Hashem did for Moshe and for His Nation Israel כי הוציא ה’ את ישראל ממצרים, that Hashem had taken Bnei Yisrael out of Mitztrayim (Shemos 18:1).
The big mitzvah on Pesach is the Mitzvah of the Sippur Yetzias Mitzrayim. We must know and understand what is the purpose of this night. Why do we make such a big fuss about repeating the same story of Yetzias Mitzrayim every single year? So if you are still not sure, listen carefully, because you’ve been doing it for so many years already and it’s a good idea to know why you are doing it.
In this week’s Parsha, the Torah commands us regarding observance of Shabbos: ואתה דבר אל בני ישראל לאמר אך את שבתתי תשמרו כי אות הוא ביני וביניכם לדרתיכם לדעת כי אני ה’ מקדשכם – “Speak to the Bnei Yisroel and say, ‘You must keep My Shabbosos, for this is a sign between Me and you throughout the ages, that you may know that I sanctify you.” (Shemos 31:13)
The Torah relates an episode that took place in the midbar where a nasi of Shevet Shimon faced a tremendous challenge and he publicly did an act that shouldn’t have been done. We have to understand that he did it with a cheshbon. It wasn’t that he just fell into a ta’avah. You have to know this man, Zimri, was 250 years old. He was past the ta’avah stage. But Pinchas came along and took his life. Pinchas performed a ma’aseh kanaus, an act of zealotry and he speared them both with a spear.
In their great challenge against Moshe, Korach and his company made a showdown. Moshe Rabeinu told them, “We’ll meet you here, at the Mishkan tomorrow at noon. Bring your fire pans and we’ll bring our fire pans and we’ll have the showdown. May the best man win.”