Weekly Announcements
Ahavat Yisrael of Wesley Hills Announcements
Beshalach
Shabbos Shira
Feb 3 – Feb 10
12 Shvat – 19 Shvat
Mazal Tov to Ardra Belitz & family on the Eitan's Bar Mitzvah
Condolences to Frank Steen & family on the passing of Frank's sister. Shiva will end Sunday morning
Condolences to Tamar Schwalb & family on the passing of Tamar's mother, Ruth Levine, Shiva at 11 Marcus Dr through Monday
Sunday morning will be at the Shiva house of Frank Steen, 5 Marisa Dr and Sunday Shiur and Mincah/maariv will be back in the Shul
Shiva at the Schwalb residence, 11 Marcus Dr, Monsey, NY
For non-shiva information, please contact Shlomit Lamm +1 845-323-2862
Saturday, February 4 (Motzei Shabbat): 7:00 p.m. – 10 p.m.
Sunday, February 5: and Monday February 6: 10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m., 2:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
SCHEDULE
FRIDAY (2/3)
Candle lighting/Mincha: 4:57 PM
SHABBAT (2/4)
Shacharis : 9:00 AM
Latest time for shma: 9:37 AM
Parsha Shiur: 4:00 PM
Mincha: 4:40 PM
Shabbos ends: 6:01 PM
Maariv: 6:07 PM
SUNDAY (2/5)
Shacharis: 8:00 AM at 5 Marisa Dr
Rabbi’s Gemara Shiur at shul and zoom: 8:45 AM https://zoom.us/j/3812539596
Mincha/Maariv: 5:10 PM at shul
MONDAY – THURSDAY (2/6-2/10)
Maariv 9:00pm
Monday: Tu BiShvat
Wednesday: 8:15 PM Parsha Previews on zoom https://zoom.us/j/3812539596
Dvar Torah & Thoughts on B’shalach
Rabbi Asher Bush
One of the most well known “mystery guests” at the Seder is Lavan, who, at least on the surface is compared to Pharoah, and strikingly is depicted as being far worse. But as we read through the early pesukim of B’shalach the parallel between the two is even more noticeable. After being told of their departure and the Divine plans for that trip and the plan to bring Pharoah back into the story, it says ויוגד למלך מצרים כי ברח העם ויהפך לבב פרעה ועבדיו אל העם ויאמרו מה זאת עשינו כי שלחנו את ישראל מעבדנו, “and it was reported to the king of Egypt that the nation had fled and his heart and that of his servants was changes towards the nation and they said what have we done that we have sent Israel away from serving us.” This took place after they failed to return after the expected three days, and they were chased, only avoiding violence and slavery due to the Divine intervention at the Sea which took place on day seven, after what was clearly a tension filled night before.
If this all sound familiar it is, as we have heard almost the same story regarding Yaakov fleeing from Lavan, only to be chased and caught, on the seventh day, with a tense confrontation that would have been violence and likely resulted in Lavan taking them back if not for the Divine intervention that was preceded by a night of Divine engagement.
Each of these stories involve the words ויוגד, and it was told/reported, ברח, fleeing, involved a chase that culminated on the seventh day. And in each story, it speaks of the heart, in the case of Lavan, his heart was “stolen” or deceived, and in the case of Pharoah, he had a change of heart.
But there is one more critical detail that seems to unite these stories, namely, the very difficult question of truth and concealing the facts. As the Torah openly states, Yaakov left without telling Lavan, going so far as to say ויגנוב יעקב את לב לבן, he stole his heart (or deceived him), when he left while Lavan was out of town. Similarly with Moshe, as he never actually seems to have told Pharoah that they would not be returning, each time merely asking to go for three days into the wilderness, but not saying that we are leaving, going to Israel, and done with Egypt. This is certainly borne out by the words ויוגד למלך מצרים כי ברח העם, implying that Pharoah had expected them back, strange as that may seem given the utter destruction they had brought on Egypt. But most importantly, both Yaakov and Moshe were acting based on direct Divine instructions, so even if some details seem hard for us to understand, we know what they did was right.
And of course, the first place the Jews go to after leaving Egypt is called סוכות, so too the name of the place Yaakov comes to after escaping from Lavan and Eisav is call סוכות. [Longer explanation relates to these places and the Chag that comes with them.]
So, while it seems that the departure of the Jewish nation from Egypt is a larger version of Avraham’s departure many years earlier, in many ways it far more closely parallels the story of Yaakov, including the fact that it was only in the years of his servitude to Lavan that Yaakov went from small family to large clan, and only in the years of servitude to Pharoah that we went from large clan to a nation. The words of the Haggadah may compare the villainy of these two, but the Torah seems to have a far larger picture and message with these many parallels.