Parasha: Beshalach · Aliyah: Seventh (Malchut)

ויחנו ברפידים ואין מים, they camped at Refidim and there was no water, etc. According to Bechorot 5 the name "Refidim" is an allusion to רפיון ידים מן התורה, a slackening of adherence to Torah which itself is compared to water. Inasmuch as the Israelites neglected the study of Torah, G'd neglected to provide them with water.

ויוב העם עם משה, The people quarrelled with Moses, etc. The quarrel consisted of the people demanding that Moses supply them with water; seeing that it was clear that Moses was not in a position to supply them with water, the request was only the preamble to a quarrel. If the people had really wanted to ask Moses for water they would have asked him to cry out to G'd just as their successors did forty years later in Numbers 21,7 when G'd had sent poisonous snakes against them. In this instance they did not even ask Moses to pray after he had told them not to try G'd by quarrelling with him. Alternatively, they demanded water much as a creditor demands repayment of a debt from his friend. It is somewhat strange that they used the plural תנו when demanding that Moses give them water; after all they spoke only to Moses. We may therefore assume that they included G'd in their demand. This would also explain why Moses accused them of including G'd as someone whom they "tried." When Moses mentioned G'd last, i.e."why do you quarrel with me and with G'd?," he meant that they knew very well that G'd was able to supply anything He wanted; their sin was in doubting whether G'd was in their midst.

ויצמא שם העם למים, The people thirsted there for water, etc. One cannot help wondering why G'd subjected the people to such a trial that they came close to dying of thirst. Most ordinary people would turn heretics if subjected to this kind of trial. Besides, it is even harder to understand Moses who did not take the initiative and offer prayers on behalf of the people and their suffering instead of crying out to G'd that the people were about to stone him in their frustration? Moses' prayer sounds as if he was insensitive to the people's thirst, concerned only with his own death by stoning!

It appears that G'd's purpose in subjecting the people to this test was to train them to raise their eyes heavenwards, to pray and to implore G'd in times of need because this is an important principle in matters of faith and attempts to perfect one's personality. You will note that G'd applied this same psychology when He allocated manna to the Israelites on a daily basis instead of giving them a weekly or monthly supply at a time. He also denied them this miraculous bread until they had pleaded with Him for sustenance. As soon as the people pleaded with G'd, He responded positively. In our paragraph we find that the Israelites contented themselves with complaining to Moses; They did not consider that their fate was subject to G'd's personal providence. As a result their situation grew steadily worse so that the Torah describes their thirst as overpowering. The Torah mentions that G'd tested them because they had not seen fit to request help from Him. When they asked if G'd were indeed in their midst or not, they demonstrated that they were not prepared to acknowledge that G'd guided their affairs by special providence. The only way G'd could prove that He was indeed in their midst was to allow the situation to become so critical that the people would learn to turn to Him as a result of the intensity of their thirst. Moses realised all this; this is why he refrained from praying to G'd sooner. When he saw that the situation had become intolerable, he asked G'd: "what shall I do for this people?" He meant "how can I deflect the people's complaint from me personally and have the people turn to You?" Clearly, Moses realised that the solution to the problem did not depend merely on prayer otherwise he would have prayed just as he had done when he faced the Sea of Reeds. He argued further that עוד מעט, if G'd were to allow the situation to deteriorate still further, the natural result of the people's frustration would be that they would stone him. It could well be that eventually and in desperation, the people would finally turn to G'd in prayer but by that time they would have killed him as a leader who had failed them.

It was this latter argument which G'd accepted; I have been troubled by the thought that a people who had witnessed so many miracles in Egypt, at the sea, and in the desert did not turn in prayer to the G'd who had performed all these miracles. After all, these people were aware of the efficacy of prayer having seen how G'd sent them their redeemer immediately after they had appealed to G'd in Exodus 2,23. G'd had told Moses specifically that He sent him in response to the people's groaning. Perhaps the people thought that as long as G'd was in their midst there was no need for prayer. What would have been the point of G'd bringing them into the desert if He did not intend to supply their needs? If G'd did not intend to supply their needs they would be lost anyways, so what good would prayer do? They concluded therefore that the only reason they had no water was because G'd was not in their midst.

עבור לפני העם, "pass before the people, etc." Perhaps G'd was aware that the thirst amongst the people was very great and that they would be in danger of their lives very shortly. This is why He told Moses to pass in front of them on a path which suggested to them that he went to find water in order to quench the fire of their thirst. He was not to take a route unknown to the people and not visible to them. He was also to take along the elders to confirm the people's impression that Moses was going in search of water and not to isolate himself in prayer.

אשר הכית בו את היאור, "with which you have struck the river Nile." This in itself would be a remarkable miracle seeing that the very staff which had made the water of the Nile fetid, undrinkable, and turned it into blood, would now produce water for the Israelites to drink. This would also deflate the irreligious heretics who denied the fact that Moses' staff possessed miraculous powers.

הנני עומד לפניך, "I will be standing there before you, etc." The word לפניך refers to the place Moses was standing on when G'd spoke to him, whereas the word שם immediately afterwards refers to the rock. G'd emphasised that the whole earth is filled with His glory on a permanent basis and that He does not have to change location. However, there are sites where His presence is more manifest than in others. Alternatively, the degree in which G'd manifests Himself in certain locations is determined by the preparation that location has undergone in order to be a site fit for G'd to reveal Himself.

ויבא עמלק וילחם עם ישראל, Amalek came and fought with Israel, etc. G'd punished the people for having neglected Torah which is compared to both fire and water (compare Jeremiah 23,29: "Behold My word is like fire"). The fiery sword and the thirst for water were the punishment which fitted the crime.

ויאמר משה אל יהושע, Moses said to Joshua, etc. As soon as Moses realised that the sin for which the Israelites were being punished was their neglect of Torah he said to himself that the most suitable person to confront Amalek was Joshua. The Torah itself testifies in Exodus 33,11 that Joshua did not move from the tent as he was busy studying Torah. (the word אהל is traditionally equated with the "tent in which one studies Torah). Moses instructed Joshua to choose people of similar stature in order to overcome Amalek. It turned out that this strategy worked.

ושים באזני יהושע, "and read it aloud to Joshua, etc." We need to understand why G'd instructed Moses to address this message only to Joshua. Perhaps the reason was the fact that despite Joshua's valiant efforts to overcome Amalek he had succeeded only in weakening him. Joshua became unduly concerned that G'd had not wiped out Amalek as He had wiped out the Egyptian army. G'd therefore wanted to reassure him. By telling Moses to be sure to make Joshua hear this message, G'd wanted to tell him that He, G'd, had heard Joshua's unspoken concern. He told Joshua not to worry, that in due course He would wipe out Amalek completely from beneath the sky.

The repetition of the words מחה אמחה, may be an allusion to two occasions when a major battle would be fought against Amalek, one by King Saul, the other by Mordechai. The third and last such battle will occur prior to the coming of the Messiah.