Foreward
Chapter 13
n13:17] שַׁלַּ֣ח פַּרְעֹה֘ אֶת־הָעָם֒ — Pharaoh lets the people go
Finally, Pharaoh relents and let's the Children of Israel go. But this is not the end of the story. It seems that, in Pharaoh's mind, he is still negotiating the three days of worship that was originally requested. But by this time the Children of Israel are heading into the Sinai desert with Moses at their lead.
n13:17-18] The long road
The message here is that when there is opposition, the shortest path is not always the best. There are many situations in which it is better to take the long road, to remove yourself as far away as possible from the previous situation. For instance, for an alcoholic that means to visit no bars and to end one's relationships with one's drinking buddies.
Note: Straight line This is the lesson of the {straight line}. There is only one straight line between any two point on the flat plane. That line is aberrant as there is only one, not the norm that it is generally represented as. The most common form of lines between any two points are curved lines—which we simplify by requiring them to have no discontinuities and no loops. In fact, while there is only one special straight line, there are an essentially infinite amount of curved lines between those two points.
Thus the journey that is taken is not through the land of Philistines, rather the Way of the Wilderness (מדבר).
Note: Interesting, that מדבר is translated as wilderness - for it is related to both speaking and desolation. Could Palestine have been derived from Philistine? פלשׁתים, Philistine, also means sojourner, or immigrant and the map of Philistia includes Gaza, which is similarly situated, and similarly a thorn in the side of the modern Israeli state... what an interesting replay.
Having just been liberated from hundreds of years of slavery, yet when faced with מלחמות/challenges, they wish to turn back, yearning for the "benefits" of the slavery that they had just left.
n13:18] וַֽחֲמֻשִׁ֛ים עָל֥וּ בְנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל — They were armed
Did we even know how to fight? If so, how? Who trained us? If not - why take the arms? It says we took the arms when we took the gold & silver... so what was left for the Egyptian army that chased us?
{Note: Story - training at night and in the dark. There were two types of warriors. Those that studied Torah (which had not yet been given us) and those that studied the fighting arts. (Brings in possibility of "Book of Creation" ala Sepher Yetzirah, a book of YaHWeH, the pre-existed the Torah. Perhaps it even stemmed from the previous civilizations (ala Acturians, Lemurians, Atlantians, Hoovids, etc.) }
Chapter 14
n14:4] אני הכבדתי את לבו — Hardening of Heart
A strange twist in the tale. G-d Admits to "hardening his (pharaoh's) heart". We pray to G-d hoping that He Will clear the way for us, and when He Does not Do that, we respond with anger and despair. Why would He harden pharaoh's heart? Well, perhaps, after so many generations of slavery, the people needed something momentous to shift their perception, to make them open to receiving a new way of living, and, even more challenging, a new perspective.
The lesson needed to be engraved in the not only the current generation, but deep enough to affect many generations to come. And to cut that deep requires something extraordinary in the {ordinary mind}, the mind that cannot conceive of any extra-ordinary!
Plagues and death of the first-born were insufficient to convince us of G-d's might. It was necessary to destroy Pharaoh & his army?
n14:7] The Chariots
ז וַיִּקַּ֗ח שֵֽׁשׁ־מֵא֥וֹת רֶ֨כֶב֙ בָּח֔וּר וְכֹ֖ל רֶ֣כֶב מִצְרָ֑יִם וְשָֽׁלִשִׁ֖ם עַל־כֻּלּֽוֹ:7. He took six hundred select chariots and all the chariots of Egypt, with officers over them all.
Why the detail regarding the 600 select chariots, would that not be included in "all the chariots of Egypt"?
There are no records of this event from Egypt. Well, history is told by the victors. This must have been an extremely humiliating defeat for the Egyptians, thus they might have left it out. How many defeats are celebrated in the writings found in the tombs?
On Shabbat all work on/for the temple ceases - and we pray. We are to spend time in Divine space. It is easiest if there is a communal space of prayer, but it can be anywhere, though that is difficult, fraught with challenges, and is best if done in a group of 10 (men).
To pray or celebrate alone is the most challenging and will test your commitment to its limits.
n14:31] They saw, and they believed
לאוַיַּ֨רְא יִשְׂרָאֵ֜ל אֶת־הַיָּ֣ד הַגְּדֹלָ֗ה אֲשֶׁ֨ר עָשָׂ֤ה יְהֹוָה֙ בְּמִצְרַ֔יִם וַיִּֽירְא֥וּ הָעָ֖ם אֶת־יְהֹוָ֑ה וַיַּֽאֲמִ֨ינוּ֙ בַּֽיהֹוָ֔ה וּבְמשֶׁ֖ה עַבְדּֽוֹ:31. And Israel saw the great hand, which the Lord had used upon the Egyptians, and the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in Moses, His servant.
15:26] מרה — Place of Bitterness. We found water, but it was bitter. Moshe Rabeinu, following G-d's instructions, throws a tree into the water to sweeten it. Then G-d tests us: I will establish a decree, חוק, and an ordinance, משׁפת.
וַיִּצְעַ֣ק אֶל־יְהֹוָ֗ה וַיּוֹרֵ֤הוּ יְהֹוָה֙ עֵ֔ץ וַיַּשְׁלֵךְ֙ אֶל־הַמַּ֔יִם וַֽיִּמְתְּק֖וּ הַמָּ֑יִם שָׁ֣ם שָׂ֥ם ל֛וֹ חֹ֥ק וּמִשְׁפָּ֖ט וְשָׁ֥ם נִסָּֽהוּ׃s So he cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a piece of wood; he threw it into the water and the water became sweet. There He made for them a fixed rule, and there He put them to the test.
וַיֹּ֩אמֶר֩ אִם־שָׁמ֨וֹעַ תִּשְׁמַ֜ע לְק֣וֹל׀ יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֗יךָ וְהַיָּשָׁ֤ר בְּעֵינָיו֙ תַּעֲשֶׂ֔ה וְהַֽאֲזַנְתָּ֙ לְמִצְוֺתָ֔יו וְשָׁמַרְתָּ֖ כׇּל־חֻקָּ֑יו כׇּֽל־הַמַּחֲלָ֞ה אֲשֶׁר־שַׂ֤מְתִּי בְמִצְרַ֙יִם֙ לֹא־אָשִׂ֣ים עָלֶ֔יךָ כִּ֛י אֲנִ֥י יְהֹוָ֖ה רֹפְאֶֽךָ׃ {ס}He said, “If you will heed the LORD your God diligently, doing what is upright in His sight, giving ear to His commandments and keeping all His laws, then I will not bring upon you any of the diseases that I brought upon the Egyptians, for I the LORD am your healer.”
We wish neither to break nor challenge any foundation. We look at QK as being a superset of kosher. We just wish to bring it into alignment with the information we now have regarding our foodstuffs and the effects on our bodies and minds. Regular meat can be labelled Quantum Kosher, but only Kosher meat can be labelled Kosher. But Quantum Kosher Kosher meat wouold include the requirement that it be natural, and not laden with unnecessary chemicals, or treated in a beastly fashion. Thus you could envision even Hallal meat that is QK labelled. The point being that the QK requirement for all our food is as stringent as the kosher requirement for all Jews.
Plagues are a way to separate those who have faith from those who lack faith. For if He sees our deepest thoughts and knows our true desires, would not a plague expose the hidden in our hearts? In our time, the virus becomes a messenger of G-d, an angel—just as it is known as a genetic (mRNA) messenger.
Chapter 16
Complain: There will always be the faithless amongst us—no matter how many miracles they observe, still they refuse to see the truth! They only see what is in front of them (1d). How many moves ahead can you see? Some see two or three moves ahead. It is said that the maximum is seven, and perhaps it is such people that we call prophets, ones who can see into that future.
16:4] - Interesting this pattern: Hashem talks to Moses, Moses and Aaron speak to the children of Israel and then Moses calls the people to assemble. The Glory appears in a cloud... Is this another cloud, or the one in which the angel rode? This is the Glory of G-d, not G-d, else Sinai is not the first time the people are in the presence of G-d.
We do not tremble and fear this time. However, the cloud addresses Moshe Rabeinu, and not the people.
Manna:
- 1st principle: Take what is sufficient for the day, no more, so that there will be enough for all! Else the excess (waste) just rots and stinks.
- Sabbath practice for the first time - yet it is pre-Torah.
- no gathering of food
- stay at home (with family)
- and rest
{Note: 40 years of eating stuff that was like snow on the ground. That must have been difficult. In addition, the next (new) generation know of no other food. It must have been almost monkish, this life. But to have eaten food from G-d all your life must have been uplifting.
What happened to all the animals they took with them? Were they all used? At one point, we complain regarding the lack of meat and G-d sends a plethora of quail (I believe it is) to quench the desire for meat. Why not eat of the abundance of livestock that we had available?
{Note 17-18: Esau hated his father, Jacob? Why?}
v17] Complain - for the 3rd time
וַיִּקְרָא֙ שֵׁ֣ם הַמָּק֔וֹם מַסָּ֖ה וּמְרִיבָ֑הHe called the place "Trial and Quarrel".
Now the essential existential question regarding G-d appears:
הֲיֵ֧שׁ יְהֹוָ֛ה בְּקִרְבֵּ֖נוּ אִם־אָֽיִן"Is HaShem present or not?"
Does G-d exist? If He does, does He care?
Then Amalek arrives—as if in response to the complaining people. Now they REALLY have something to complain about—a war with Amalek.
Who was Hur חור? He held Moshe Rabeinu's arms above his head for the battle in which the Jews defeated the Amalekites,,.
Nice phrase for the Throne of G-d: כס יה
R' Chananel via R' Bachya: Exodus as a schooling in faith. We must all Have faith in the prophecy/message, each in his own way.
15: Song!
Water: marks the end of our (this) bondage to Egypt: ים סוף
18: Armed: R' Bachya: People should conduct themselves in a natural manner, and G-d will intervene as necessary!
R' Hirsh: Speaks of a lack of hearing to leave one's slavery.
Rashi: Only one-fifth left. However, they died in the plague of darkness. If this is the case, then I ask: How did this affect the other people, when four out of five of their friends and family members died? Did Egyptians die in this plague too? Or only Israelites? What transpired in the time between this plague and the final plague of the first-born?
14: Camp at the Mouth of Freedom: פי החִירת
֨## Faith and Love
Can you love someone you have no faith in?
Isn't that the end of love, when you lose faith in your love
Then you forego love.
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