{"id":2600,"date":"2017-02-14T01:58:53","date_gmt":"2017-02-14T01:58:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/marcmangel.net\/?page_id=2600"},"modified":"2017-02-14T01:58:53","modified_gmt":"2017-02-14T01:58:53","slug":"beshallach-5777","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/?page_id=2600","title":{"rendered":"Beshallach (5777)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Drash Cards for Beshallach (5777)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>by Marc Mangel<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Three part drash today.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Part 1: In addition to being TuB\u2019shevat today is Shabbat Shira \u2013 known as the Shabbat of the birds. Chazal teach that we should all feed birds on this Shabbat \u2013 deep in the midst of winter (this especially makes sense in Russia, Poland, or Chicago).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Rosie Saltsmann in <em>A Portion of Kindness<\/em> says that every day was ShabbatShabbat Shira is a lesson in kal vachomer &#8212; particularly it teaches us both gratitude for nature and kindness to other living beings.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>The Sefat Emet connects Shabbat Shira and Shabbat of the birds through psalm 124, v 7 \u201cOur soul has escaped like a bird out of the hunters\u2019 trap\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Part 2: We nearly began reading today with \u201cMoses took the bones of Joseph\u201d (Ch 13, v 19).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Chazal teach that the word for bones is the same as for essence \u2013 Moses was taking the essence of Joseph, to help him lead the Jewish people.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>M\u2019pi Hakadosh says that the essence of Joseph was repaying the bad that his brothers did to him with good, and that this was a role model for Moses dealing with the Israelites. \u201cHis goal was to change Bnei Yisraeal\u2019s stubbornness with patience, forgiving, and with goodness\u201d.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Essence brings us to Jay\u2019s Beshallach challenge of a few years ago \u2013 to determine what is essential for our lives. I mentioned this challenge to the Rabbi of Chabad of FIU \u2013last Shabbat and he told me this story:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Two letters from father to children, one before burial, one at shiva. Before burial: \u201cbury me in my socks\u201d. At Shiva: \u201cnow that you know you cannot take even a pair of socks with you\u201d.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Part 3: I want to examine the nature of Pharaoh leading up to the event at the sea.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>We already know a lot about him: He has no memory of how Joseph saved Egypt from starvation and was rewarded by allowing his relatives \u2013 refugees from starvation \u2013 to come to Egypt from Canaan.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>But Pharoach sees the Israelites are different from Egyptians so enslaved them and then tried to exterminate them.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Today, we learn two more characteristics about him, the ones responsible for his ultimate destruction.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cWhen the King of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his courtiers had a change of heart\u201d (Ch 14, v 5). The Chazal struggle to interpret what caused Pharaoh to change his mind &#8212; Nachsoni gives 12 interpretations. Whatever the reason, Pharaoh decides according to the last thing said to him.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>He then \u201charnessed his chariot and convinced his people to go with him\u201d (Ch 14, v6). He rallied the masses, and lead them to destruction.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Unable to understand consequences of his actions, Pharaoh and his army rush into the seabed and have God lock \u201cthe wheels of their chariots so they moved forward with difficulty\u201d\u201d (Ch 14, v 25) and drown in the sea<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In summary, today we learn three things from the Torah portion:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Do something to appreciate nature \u2013 the birds and the trees &#8212; that is so easily lost.<\/li>\n<li>Remember what is essential for your life and to treat people with patience, forgiving, and goodness.<\/li>\n<li>Remember not to rush into decisions, and to think about consequences of those decisions before acting.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>These are powerful lessons.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Drash Cards for Beshallach (5777) by Marc Mangel Three part drash today. Part 1: In addition to being TuB\u2019shevat today is Shabbat Shira \u2013 known as the Shabbat of the birds. Chazal teach that we should all feed birds on this Shabbat \u2013 deep in the midst of winter (this especially makes sense in Russia, &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/?page_id=2600\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":51,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"full-width-page.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2600","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2600"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2600\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2601,"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2600\/revisions\/2601"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/51"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}