Parasha Thoughts
By Rabbi Shlomo Zargari
Moadim Lesimha and Hag Sameyah! We are at the end of Pessach and as we know we celebrate the crossing of our nation through the Sea of Reeds which happened on the seventh day of Pessach. The parasha that we read is בשלח. We see that after the Jewish Nation left Egypt, Pharaoh chased after them. Why? Because as it says in The Torah, he thought they were lost and confused. He was told they were traveling day and night as a people who would be running away, then they doubled back on their tracks, the three days were up and it must be HaShem was not watching them anymore!
He started to chase after them and saw he was mistaken! They were surrounded by the Clouds of Glory, a pillar of fire was lighting the path for them and the clouds were there to protect them. So what should he do? Fight the Creator of the World? He already tried that and lost …big time. The memory of the plagues was still fresh in his mind. And so he should have said: I thought and figured it would work and now I see I made a mistake and should go back to rebuild Egypt. But that’s not what happened, he continued on the campaign shooting arrows into the Cloud.
What was he thinking? He hoped he cornered them by the sea. He finally reached the sea and saw an amazing view: there were twelve beautiful paths forged into the sea and enormous walls of water on both sides, and the Bene Yisrael were going through! He commanded his army to follow right into the trap to their destruction with open eyes.
How is that possible?
He did not have the strength to admit that his path was wrong, his direction was crooked. He should have stopped and changed directions so he could save himself….
This is a big lesson for us!
Hag Sameyah to all.