Filling the Spaces – Beshalach
In last week’s shiur (see - www.showbreadinstitute.org/bo2021 ) we spoke about the sin of Adam Harishon and how his inactivity eventually caused him to sin. We spoke about Chava and how the נחש caused her to be inactive, השיאני, from the root of השהה - to cause a delay - in her bread which gave rise to chametz. I would like to expand this theme a little further in this week’s parsha and hopefully gain a greater insight into how the world in which we live, works.
Everything we do has cause, effect and result. Inactivity is a cause. What is the effect of inactivity? We create an empty space, a vacuum. In the universe there is lots of vacuum, empty space – our planet spins around in it. On this earth however, unlike outer space, a vacuum cannot last or endure for long. This is the way HKB”H created our world – empty space is quickly filled with something. This is the result. Inactivity השיאני causes empty space which must be filled – cause, effect and result.
Last week we learned this using a bread analogy. As long as you knead and work the dough constantly, as long as the dough is not inactive, it does not become chametz. If however you leave the dough inactive, you create an “empty space”. This space cannot remain empty for long. The yeast and bacteria fill this “empty space”, they start to ferment and the bread becomes chametz.
Interestingly enough this is not the only result of inactivity in dough. The more activity there is working the dough, the “tighter” it becomes. Constant kneading strengthens the gluten proteins in the dough and it becomes more elastic. When you leave the dough to rest, inactive, not only do yeast and bacteria invade that empty space and start fermenting and reproducing - the gluten in the dough begins to loosen up and the dough becomes more flaccid, רפוי in Hebrew. All you bakers out there know this well, that before braiding challah for example, the recipe tells you to leave the dough after kneading to rest, so that it will not be so tight, it will loosen up and be easier to work with.
In last week’s parsha we saw the above baking principles related to actual bread – matza and chametz. In Beshalach we again see these principles at work, in bread and food related incidents.
After crossing the Red Sea, perhaps the most spectacular supernatural miracle in the annals of mankind, Am Yisrael (some commentators say the erev rav) instigated a series of water/food related complaints. Firstly in Mara, the water was too bitter to drink. Chazal say that in Mara, Am Yisrael essentially drank the water of a קרבן סוטה which confirmed that they were pure in regards to עריות. The purpose of galut in Egypt was to cleanse Am Yisrael of the sin of עריות, the זוהמת הנחש when Chava sinned in Gan Eden. Moshe, commanded by Hashem threw a “stick” in the water and it became drinkable.
After Mara, the matzot they had baked in Sukkot ran out and they had no bread to eat. Again they complained and Hashem rained down Mann, spiritual “bread” from Heaven that Am Yisrael continued to eat during their 40-year sojourn in the desert. To read more about the Mann, see my shiur on Eikev.
The Parsha ends with yet another water related incident, this time in Refidim, where they once again complained about water. Moshe, commanded by Hashem, struck a rock with his staff and there was water to drink.
Am Yisrael had very recently been released from slavery, witnessed the decimation of the most powerful nation on earth and experienced the awesome miracle of crossing the Red Sea. Chazal say that a maidservant at the crossing of the Red Sea reached a greater level of prophecy than Yechezkel ever did. Following all this bounty and benevolence heaped on them by HKB”H, their response was to – complain incessantly?
Chazal bring a משל of a father carrying his small son on his shoulders. The boy says “Abba, I’m hungry!” and his father buys him a packet of Bamba. “Abba, I’m thirsty!”, so his father buys him a bottle of cola. “Abba, look an ice cream van!” and his father buys him an ice cream (apologies to all our health conscious readers). Two minutes later the boy says to the man in the ice cream van “Tell me, have you seen my father?” “What?” the father says. ”All this time I have been carrying you on my shoulders, feeding you, giving you to drink, spoiling you and now you ask where I am?” The father throws his son off his shoulders onto the ground where he is set upon by a barking dog. “Abba help me!” cries his son. “Aha!, now you are in trouble you know me again?” says the father.
Instead of being elevated by these miraculous incidents, Am Yisrael became lax in their אמונה and questioned whether G-d was in their midst. So Hashem let the “dogs” loose on them, ויבא עמלק וילחם עם ישראל ברפידם.
Refidim in Hebrew comes from the word רפוי – to be lax. Instead of being active and busy fulfilling Hashem’s mitzvot,and expressing הכרת הטוב, they were inactive, lax in their belief. When you leave dough to rest, inactive, not only does it ferment, it also loosens up. From being tight, it becomes loose and flaccid. Cause, effect, result. Inactivity/lack of gratitude – creates an empty space – into that space comes Amalek!
Who was Amalek? The first time we hear the word Amalek in the Torah is during the war between the 4 kings vs. the 5 kings during the time of Avraham, when Lot was captured. It says there that Kedorlaomer and his allies slew all their enemies in various places, including שדה העמלקי (בראשית יד, ז). Chazal say that Amalek was not yet a nation and this place was so named because it would in the future be inhabited by Amalek.
In fact Amalek was Yitzchak’s great-grandson! Eisav’s son Eliphaz had a concubine Timna, who gave birth to a son Amalek. In the Gemara it tells us who Timna was. She was a כנענית of royal blood, who after meeting Avraham, wanted to convert and marry him, but Avraham refused. She then tried in turn to marry Yitzchak and Yaakov and they all turned her down, some say because she was a ממזרת, others say because she wanted to marry the Avot for the honor and was not really interested.in converting. Seeing she was getting nowhere she married Eisav’s son, just to be connected somehow with Avraham/Yitzchak’s family. She subsequently developed a seething hatred for them which she instilled in her son Amalek. She made him vow that he and his descendants would dedicate their lives to destroying everything that the Avot stood for.
On their journey from the Red Sea, Am Yisrael came nowhere close to Amalek’s territory. Amalek were not being threatened in any way by Am Yisrael. They in fact travelled 1600km from their land just to come attack Am Yisrael because they had a sworn vendetta against them from many generations before! Before they attacked, they went to Bilam for advice. Bilam was an expert at detecting when Hashem was angry with Am Yisrael. He advised Amalek to attack when Hashem was angry at Am Yisrael’s complaints. Amalek, who is likened to a dog, attacked where Am Yisrael were at their weakest – they attacked those who were lacking faith.
Am Yisrael, due to their inactivity and lack of faith, created an empty space and in walked Amalek.
But it is not just a family feud going on here, it is something much more fundamental. Am Yisrael had many enemies – the Egyptians, Sichon, Og, Bilam, Balak, etc. With none of them does Hashem command Am Yisrael like He does in the end of our parsha - to totally WIPE OUT any memory of them. It’s not enough to wage war on them and defeat them, like our other enemies, we have to totally erase them from the face of the earth. Why?
When Hashem created the world it says בראשית ברא א-לקים. HKB”H created the world - because of “Reishit”. Am Yisrael is called Reishit. The Torah is called Reishit. Also Hafrashat Challah is called Reishit ראשית עריסותיכם. Bikkurim is called Reishit ראשית דגנך תירושך ויצהרך. These were all things Hashem created the world for. There is one other Reishit however, ראשית גוים עמלק. Hashem also created the world for Amalek! The שדה העמלקי existed long before Amalek was even conceived. What? How can that be?
It pertains to what we learned above. In our world it is impossible for an empty space (caused by inactivity - השיאני) to endure. Something will move in to take over the empty space.
There are only two things in our world that can remain empty. The first is my current account in the bank! It doesn’t matter how much I try to fill it, it continually remains empty! I have been approached by astrophysicists wanting to study it for its black hole properties. The Gematria of עו"ש (current account in Hebrew), is the same as השיאני :) On a more serious note. The second empty space is a terrible wasting disease that empties the mind and no matter how much you try, you cannot fill it. Whatever you try add to the empty space lingers for a fleeting moment and then is gone. It is called Alzheimer. The Gematria of אלצהימר is השיאני.
Every other empty space in the world cannot remain empty for long.
It is preferable if Am Yisrael fill the empty space, to raise our material world in holiness and bring mankind closer to Hashem, but if not, an empty space cannot remain. It will be filled by the antithesis of Am Yisrael - Amalek who try to lower the world to the lowest level of טומאה and deny Hashem’s existence.
The only way geulah can come and the world restored back to Gan Eden before the sin, is if you get rid of empty space, or alternatively, get rid of the destructive option so that the only remaining alternative to fill the space is the Torah. This is why we are commanded to totally wipe out Amalek, erase all memory of them. We have tried many times, unsuccessfully.
Amalek have learned from past history. They see that Lavan failed to destroy the father Yisrael. They see that Pharaoh failed to destroy us by killing the children of Yisrael. They see that Haman failed by trying to kill both the parents and the children of Yisrael. In the next battle with Amalek, they will try to destroy us by waging war against the G-d of Yisrael. Instead, Hashem will battle with them and defeat them Himself.
I do not think it is possible to accurately identify exactly who Amalek is in our time, but you can get a general direction by looking for a nation (or philosophy on life) that seeks to deny G-d’s existence and sever any connection we may have with Him. Perhaps modern day Amalek is science, capitalism, … I don’t know.
Either way they will (or are already) waging war against G-d Himself and they will finally be defeated and erased from this earth. This is one of the three stages of the the geulah. Appointing a king, the war against Amalek and rebuilding the 3rd and everlasting Beit Hamikdash (there is a difference of opinion in the mefarshim as to the order, but not the elements themselves).
How could בני ישראל, after witnessing all the miracles in יציאת מצרים possibly get to Refidim and ask היש ה' בקרבנו אם אין? After all they saw, how is such a thing possible? We think to ourselves – if only Hashem would give us a small sign, some indication that – everything is going to turn out OK – then there would be no problem anymore with אמונה. Hashem did once and it wasn’t a small sign either, it was the greatest supernatural display of Divine glory that humans have ever witnessed, miracle after miracle after miracle. And still there were some who lacked faith and invited Amalek in.
What this teaches us is that miracles do not ensure אמונה. If someone has an empty space in their heart and lacks אמונה, they will always find some way to explain it “logically” and “naturally”. It was just a geological anomaly that the sediment caused the water to turn red and become contaminated. When the water was contaminated, the frogs in the river could not survive there so they migrated to land. The locusts were just a tri-annual migration from Somalia to the Persian Gulf. There was a tornado with gale force winds that sucked the water away temporarily and exposed dry land allowing them to cross - and so on.
We witness miracles, perhaps not on this scale, every minute of our lives. Right now we are witnessing an apocalyptic series of events in the world that makes no logical sense. Does this strengthen our אמונה? Or do we continue to find “logical explanations” for it all. Someone who cannot do the switch in their head that this world is being run entirely by G-d, and still believes and lives the illusion that we are in control - is creating an empty space in their heart. This space cannot remain empty.
Those of us with faith have to do our best to help fill these empty spaces in Am Yisrael - with the Torah and spirituality and not discard and forget the multitudes whose hearts are empty space, desperately longing for it to be filled, if not with Torah then chas vechalila with the influence of Amalek and destruction. We need to reach out to our brothers and sisters who have lost their way, with love and affection and fill their hearts with אמונה for Hashem and bring them home to where they really belong, thus hastening the geulah בבי"א.
