Beshalach 5774:         Now for Something Completely Different

By Rabbi Joshua (continually known as The Hoffer) Hoffman

In memory of my mother, Yoninah bas Tzvi Hirsch, whose yahrzheit occurs this coming Tuesday, the thirteenth of Shevat. May her memory be a blessing.

!! With thanks to the Almighty, beginning our seventeenth year !!

                        God miraculously splits the Yam Suf, so that the nation can pass through it, and be saved from the pursuing Egyptians. The nation then travels in the wilderness for three days with nothing to drink, until God, through Moshe, performs another miracle and sweetens the bitter waters of Marah. They then suffer from hunger, and God provides them with man, a miracle that would persist throughout their forty years in the wilderness, and, because of that persistency, is considered by Rav Saadia Gaon and Rav Avraham Ibn Ezra, to be the greatest of all the miracles performed in the wilderness. The people then thirst for water, and God tells Moshe to hit a rock, which he does, and water flows from it to relieve the people. Rav Aharon Kotler, in his Mishnas Rav Aharon, asks why God waited until the people suffered from thirst before providing them with water, which was, after all, an absolute necessity for them in order to live. Why didn’t He provide them with water from the outset of their journey in the wilderness? 

                        Rav Aharon answers that the purpose of creation is for man to recognize and show gratitude for the goodness of God. The mitzvah of bringing Bikkurim, one’s first fruits to the kohein in the Beis HaMikdash, is predicated on this idea, and that is why the midrash, as cited by Rashi to parshas Bereishis, says that the world was created in the merit of Bikkurim. Our observance of the Torah, in fact, is predicated on the concept of gratitude to God, which is why, according to the Mechilta in parshas Yisro, the Decalogue beings with the words “I am the Lord your God who took you out of the land of Egypt. This concept is further expanded upon by Rabbeinu Bachya ibn Pekudah in his Chovos haLevavos (Duties of the Heart). In order to heighten the nation's sense of gratitude to God, says Rav Aharon, they first had to experience what life would be like without water. In this way, they would come to appreciate God’s kindness, not only in regard to the miraculous provisions they received in the wilderness, such as their unique food, the man, but also in regard to their seemingly regular provisions of water. 

                        Rav Shimon Schwab, in his Ma’ayan Beis HaShoeivah, cites a Mechilta, which says that the wilderness, at the time that the nation was given the man, was in a state of tohu, or chaos.  This was necessary, says Rav Schwab, because the man was unlike any food the people ever had. The Rabbis actually refer to the man as the food of angels. In order to prepare for this kind of food, the people had to expunge from their consciousness their previous experience with food. According to this explanation, there does not seem to be any relationship between the provision of water in the wilderness and the provision of the man. However, following Rav Aharon Kotler’s explanation of the need for thirst before the provisions of water was given, we can, when also taking into consideration a teaching of Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik, find such a connection. 

                        Rav Soloveitchik, in discussing the great joy experienced in the Beis HaMikdash at the Simchas Beis HaShoeivah, or the festival of the drawing of the water, mentioned two opinions in the Talmud as to whether the joy was brought about by the drawing of water to be used as libation offering, or by the spirit of prophecy that was drawn there, as we learn, from example, that the prophet Yonah, had his first experience of prophecy at the Simchas Beis HaShoeivah. Rav Soloveitchik said that these two opinions are not in dispute, but, rather, are complementary. The celebration over the drawing of water, he explained, expresses an appreciation of the importance of the everyday, usual aspects of life, and a sense of wonder over them. Water is something we take for granted, but no life is possible without it. The rabbis point out that the blue sea reminds us of the holy throne of God. Someone who does not have a sense of wonder over water and, by extension, all of the everyday things in life, can never achieve prophecy. 

                        Rabbeinu Bachya ben Asher, in his commentary to Beshalach, says that the man had a special quality to it that helped develop the nation’s capacity for prophecy, which was necessary, according to Rashba, in order for them to receive their collective prophecy at Mt. Sinai where the Torah was given. According to Rav Soloveitchik, in order for them to develop their sense of prophecy, they first had to develop an appreciation of and gratitude for the everyday things in life, following Rav Aharon Kotler. The need to experience a thirst for water before receiving it was precisely for this reason, to feel a deeper sense of gratitude to God for providing them with their basic needs. As a result, they were then able to go on further to the next step, generated by the man, of developing their ability to experience prophecy, through which they further prepared for the events at Mt. Sinai.