Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 13 Shevat 5784
Parsha Be-Shallah: (Exodus 13:17 – 17:16)
Third Portion: Exodus 14:15 – 14:25

Good morning! We are so close to the fullness of the light of this moon – where new trees are going to be planted. Let’s dig in!

We ended yesterday with

14The Lord will fight for you, but you shall remain silent.

And that is the context for today’s passage.

What do we do with this? Let’s dig in:

15The Lord said to Moses, Why do you cry out to Me? Speak to the children of Israel and let them travel.

Moses just got finished telling the people – “The Lord will fight for you, but you shall remain silent.”

And here he was crying out to Hashem.

One of the things I am reflecting on is the dichotomy of leadership between Pharoah and Moses. Pharaoh was arrogant. Moses was not. Hashem could work with Moses. Because the shadow of arrogance? Is leadership. The prize? Humility. Moses was arrogant – when he was in Egypt. But Hashem supported Moses to lead leadership – so that Moses was leading from a place of Humility and not arrogance. Here, Hashem was reminding Moses of this gift.

Hashem said to Moses literally “let them travel.”  I find that so interesting compared to Moses telling Pharoah “Let them go.”

Hashem continues to give Moses instructions:

16And you raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and split it, and the children of Israel shall come in the midst of the sea on dry land.

17And I, behold! I shall harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they will come after you, and I will be glorified through Pharaoh, and through all his force, through his chariots, and through his horsemen.

18And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I will be glorified through Pharaoh, through his chariots, and through his horsemen

Hashem is telling Moses, I am going to expose the arrogance of the Egyptians.

Why?

Because (in my opinion) – arrogance is what keeps us from our grief. Pharaoh could not/would not grieve. He was too arrogant.

Are we willing to grieve beyond our arrogance?  This is the message. Once we grieve, we will be better leaders, from a place of humility. I see this with my own kids, I see this with people I work with.

And. I still struggle with arrogance.

Let’s see what happens next:

19Then the angel of God, who had been going in front of the Israelite camp, moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved away from in front of them and stood behind them.

20And he came between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel, and there were the cloud and the darkness, and it illuminated the night, and one did not draw near the other all night long.

21And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord led the sea with the strong east wind all night, and He made the sea into dry land and the waters split.

22Then the children of Israel came into the midst of the sea on dry land, and the waters were to them as a wall from their right and from their left.

Even here. Hashem is giving the Egyptians a gift. He is demonstrating His power. And Hashem knows – the Egyptians will remain arrogant. Because this is what happens next:

23The Egyptians pursued and came after them all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen, into the midst of the sea.

Just reflect on this. They charged FULL STEAM AHEAD. They were the essence of arrogance. They could not pause and reflect. They reacted.

And inevitably – it cost them:

24It came about in the morning watch that the Lord looked down over the Egyptian camp through a pillar of fire and cloud, and He threw the Egyptian camp into confusion.

25And He removed the wheels of their chariots, and He led them with heaviness, and the Egyptians said, Let me run away from the Israelites because the Lord is fighting for them against the Egyptians

What is our takeaway?

Where can we dig into our hearts to uncover arrogance?

• In our relationships with friends?
• In our relationships with significant others?
• In our relationships with our parents (or children)?
• In our relationships with work or career?
• In our relationships with money?
• In our relationships with food?
• In our relationship within ourselves?

The gift here is leadership – the prize is humility. If we are never arrogant, we cannot reach humility. And? I think (these are my thoughts after all – arrogance intentional) the deeper our arrogance, the higher our humility once we navigate this shadow. Time and time again.

We don’t need to feel guilty over the arrogance. We don’t need to see it as shame. We can recognize it as BEAUTIFUL soil in which to turn over, aerate, and then plant a new tree in – which will provide us a gift of leadership with the prize of humility.

Those are my thoughts.  What about you?

Here are my thoughts from the past two years:

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 9 Shevat, 5783

Wow. I’m reading back on this, and it was two days before a major event happened in my life. I was working towards my freedom, and I was scared. A year out I can reflect on the difficult challenge and see all the amazing things Hashem was doing to prepare me. It was the “storm before the calm.”

Where are we needing our own personal liberation? Where does it feel like we are trapped? Keep our eyes on Hashem.

What are your thoughts?

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for Shevat 9, 5782

God seems to have led Israel into a trap. The Jews are upset. But Moses tells the people to not be afraid because it’s the last they will be seeing of the Egyptians.

Todays portion begins with Moses going back and praying to God, but God tells Moses (I’m paraphrasing) “why are you crying out to me? Go and act and speak to the Jews! Go and lift your staff and stretch your hand out And split the sea! The Jews will come into the sea on dry land!”

Moses still doubts a bit. But God reassured him.

Then we learn that the angel of God had been going in front of the Israelites the entire time and the angel now moved and went behind the Israelites. The angel went there to intercept the arrows and catapult stones of Egypt.

At night the pillar of cloud moved away from in front of them and stood behind them (instead of disappearing as it usually did). It blocked the camp of Israel and the Egyptian camp. What is also interesting is the Egyptians had the pillar of clouds which created darkness, but the Israelites had the pillar of fire which created light.

Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and God moved the sea with a strong east wind throughout the entire night. He made the sea into dry land and the water split.

The children of Israel came into the sea on dry land. The water acted as a wall on either side of them (and the midrash says it was also above).

The Egyptians pursued them. Every piece of equipment from Pharaoh came into the sea.

Then we learn towards the morning, God looked down on the Egyptian camp with a pillar of cloud. He turned the seabed into mud, and with a pillar of fire he boiled the mud so that the hooves of the Egyptian horses came off. He threw the Egyptian camp into confusion. He removed the wheels of their chariots (with the fire, causing their passengers limbs to dislocate) and He treated them harshly. The Egyptians cried out and wanted to run away from the Israelites because they knew God was fighting for them.

Wow. So much to unpack here. Back in Egypt, Hashem was setting the stage for this; the plagues had ALREADY caused the Egyptians to worry about going against the Jews; even Pharaoh’s supporters. But when the Jews left, Pharaoh was able to convince people one last time that he was more powerful than God and could defeat God and bring the Jews back.

When we struggle with our own personal “Egypts” how often do we feel this. We have victories and Victories. But when we are feeling good, that Egypt convinces us they are just too powerful and we are destined to be enslaved to our egypt. And yet, God protects us and deals harshly with those Egypts.

So where are we with our personal Egypts?

Are we stuck in denial; living as Joseph as the King of our own personal egypt?

Are we stuck in slavery? Are we living enslaved to our Egypt and living with it as a harsh Taskmaster?

Are we stuck crying out to Hashem for help with our personal Egypt? Wondering when he is going to act and believing He will?

Are we living through the plagues of egypt? Some of them impacting us negatively, others being protected from as Hashem deals with our Egypt? Where we aren’t in control; but being patient with ourselves and the process as we wait for our freedom?

Are we leaving Egypt, bringing silver and gold with us? Being joyful as we escape our bondage from our personal “Egypts?”

Are we feeling like we were led astray into a trap because our Egypt is pursuing us? Where we feel Egypt upon us and we are scared it will overtake us again?

Are we going through the sea on dry land and not realizing just how harshly Hashem is dealing with our own personal Egypt?

Those are the things I’m reflecting on here. How about you?