Beshalach 5782 – Hishtadlus & Parnasah
Sponsored Anonymously l’zchus Refuah Shleimah. Shiur presented in 5778.
Sponsored Anonymously l’zchus Refuah Shleimah. Shiur presented in 5778.
“These are the journeys of the Israelites…” Rashi cites Chazal, who ask why the Torah lists all their travels, and he answers that it was in order to make Klal Yisroel aware of the chessed of Hashem that they stopped and rested from one station to the next.
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)
I’d like to share with you today a mindset that one should have regarding the mitzvos of Purim. There is a mitzvah of mishloach manos איש לרעהו on Purim that the Yidden were mekabel upon themselves and it’s something that we still do with a great pump. People spend tremendous amounts of energy and money on this mitzvah today, as we see in all the ads, magazines and newspapers. The problem, however, is…
At the end of Parshas Bo, there’s a very, very important and fundamental Ramban that describes how the principle beliefs of our emunah were revealed at the time of Yetzias Mitzrayim. Every single Yid must know what are the yesodos of our emunah. The term we as a yeshiva developed to remember what we believe in is: ח.י.ה.
In the gemara (Bava Kamma 92) there is a gantze sugya about the source for certain sayings that the world says. Mei heicha teisi you have to find a mekor in Torah for sayings that people say? הפך בה והפך בה דכולה בה – turn it over and over, for all is therein (Avos 5:22). So in the medical field, we find a concept of American Heart Awareness Month or American Heart Day.
Parshas Vayeshev is a unique parshah. It’s a parshah where you encounter strife. You encounter tzaros tzeruros in the life of Yaakov Avinu. You encounter tzaros tzeruros in the life of Yosef Hatzaddik. Each of them, Yaakov and Yosef, endured their own difficulties, and were not able to share it with each other as they were separated by distance and weren’t aware of each other’s experiences. This parshah, which deals with yesurim, teaches us something tremendous, because yesurim are part and parcel of our lives. It is something that is totally unavoidable.