Rabbi Gordon - Beshalach: 3rd Portion
| Podcast: | Subscribe to Rabbi Gordon - Chumash |
| Switch to Video |
© Copyright, all rights reserved. If you enjoyed this article, we encourage you to distribute it further, provided that you comply with Chabad.org's copyright policy.
More in this section
Join the Discussion
Tony Kerr
February 4, 2020
Red sea splitting. Wonderful visual of the Red Sea splitting, direct divine intervention by our creator. :) Reply
y.
n.y.
January 26, 2015
20% If I may be presumptuous to answer: the 20% is a Medrash (I think), and a Medrash is rarely taken literally. Reply
Dennis
Minnesota
January 7, 2014
Jewish population You had mentioned previously that there were over 2 million Jews who left Egypt. Around 600,000 between 20 and 60. You also mentioned that there were only 20% of the Jews who left Egypt. Therefore, what was the total population of the Jews who were in Egypt before leaving. Reply
Questions I have about today's Chumash:
1. Rashi says for verse 15 that it's not the time for prayer, that the Jews are in distress. Wouldn't a time of distress be an optimal time for prayer? Is there such a thing as a bad time for prayer?
2. Ramban says for verses 21-22 that the Egyptians insisted that the sea was parted by the wind and not by G-d. Why couldn't it have been both? Since G-d causes the wind to blow, shouldn't it stand to reason that He created a wind powerful enough to part the sea?
Rashi says that praying at length is inappropriate now in a crisis. Of course, one must pray in times of crisis, but you can make it short and sweet and then move on to what needs to get done.
Ramban notes how the hatred of the Egyptians to hurt the Jews overtook all logic. Wind does not split the sea into 12 parts so it was evident that G-d was doing this and they ignored the signs. They also forgot that they had declared that G-d was fighting on Israel's behalf.
Are you saying that at times the best prayer is the action, even when it seems there is no hope of success?