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This week’s Torah portion (Beshalach) narrates a crucial event in Jewish history - the exodus from Egypt. After years of slavery during which the Jews had no hope of attaining freedom, they were led out of the “crucible of iron” of Egypt by Moses. This followed a ten-month campaign of plagues and troubles that convinced Pharoah, king of Egypt, that there was no choice but to let the Jews go. The campaign was conducted by no less than G-d Himself, through his prophet, Moshe. However, to achieve the real goal – receiving the Torah on Mt. Sinai – it was necessary to cross the Reed Sea. And that’s where something strange happened that seems out of place with the rest of the narration.
As the Jews crossed, they were pursued by the Egyptian army. The Egyptians were led by Pharoah, who underwent a last minute change of mind and decided to force the Jews back into Egypt. But, with the Jews safely across to dry land, the Egyptian army was trapped in the waters of the Reed Sea, where they perished. What follows was the strange part – the Jews really got into the spoils of war. They applied themselves very seriously to the process of removing anything of wealth and value from the Egyptian bodies and machines of war – and there was a lot. Why was this strange? First of all, because the Midrash tells us that simultaneous with the spoils, there was a very high spiritual revelation from Above. At the event of crossing the Reed Sea, even the lowliest Jew could point a finger and say, “This is my G-dŔ It was seemingly contradictory for the Jews to throw themselves into the physical event of removing gold, silver and other objects from the bodies at the same time as G-d was making Himself so spiritually obvious to them from above. Moreover, the Jews knew that the purpose of their crossing was to proceed directly to Mt. Sinai, where they would receive the Torah. So, the process of taking the spoils was an interruption in their progress to matan Torah, the giving of the Torah. It was also inappropriate to interrupt the progress to Mt. Sinai (toward which the Jews were counting the days of journey) in order to recover more gold and silver, even if there was a lot of it. And yet, Moshe had to interfere and force the Jews to cease plundering the spoils, in order to get them to proceed to Mt. Sinai. As Rashi explains (Ex.15:22, based on Midrash Tanhuma Beshalach 16), “Moshe made them travel against their willŔ since they were so involved in recovering the spoils of war that they didn’t want to leave the Reed Sea.
One explanation that is given is that there was a previous command for the Jews to “request, each person from his [Egyptian] friend, vessels of silver and vessels of goldŔ (Exodus 11:2), in order to exit Egypt with a lot of property and physical belongings. The end purpose of this command was, as the Torah says, to “leave Egypt empty, like a pond without fish.” So, when the Jews saw that there were still plenty of valuable objects left with the dead Egyptians, they set about following the command to recover those objects. And if it was true that this activity delayed them temporarily in their progress toward Mt. Sinai and matan Torah, there was no reason to think the command to go to Mt. Sinai took precedence over the command to “leave Egypt like a pond without fish.” The Jews were commanded to proceed to Mt. Sinai to “serve G-d,” but no date was fixed for this event. So, the logical conclusion was there was no reason to interrupt fulfillment of the previous command to remove the property from the Egyptians, since “if not now, then when?”
However, this explanation is not satisfactory, because, as we see, Moshe came along and told the Jews to cease plundering the Egyptian spoils, and proceed immediately to Mt. Sinai. So obviously, the intention from Above was not for the Jews to be involved in recovering the booty. Which brings us back to the original question; why did the Jews throw themselves into recovering gold, silver and other objects while G-d revealed Himself to them in all of His awesome glory? And why would they choose to do so rather than proceed immediately to matan Torah?
The explanation is the following. It boils down to, when a Jew has in front of him two mitzvot – two commandments - which should he do? The Jews were commanded to proceed to Mt. Sinai, but they were also commanded to plunder Egypt. When Moshe told them that they got it wrong, and they should cease plundering and proceed to Mt. Sinai, they ceased forthwith. However, the cessation was against their logic and understanding of the situation. Their own analysis told them that they should continue until there was nothing left with the Egyptians – until Egypt became like a “pond without fish.” But, when Moshe informed them that it was time to move on, they put their own understanding aside, and moved on to Mt. Sinai. So, Moshe’s command did not interfere with what the Jews “wanted” to do; it interfered with what their intellect told them to do. But, knowing that a directive from Moshe was as good as a command from G-d Himself, the Jews dutifully moved on when they were told to do so. They were not overwhelmed with a desire for gold and silver – they already had plenty of that from their sojourn in Egypt. Neither did they want to ignore the great revelation of G-dliness that was taking place before their eyes. But, they reasoned, if there was a command from Above, then they were required to throw themselves into it with all of their strength, and so they set about plundering the Egyptians until Moshe told them to stop.
Now, we can also understand why the Jews threw themselves into the plunder with such gusto and devotion. They didn’t need gold and silver during their journey in the desert. And if the intention at that time was to enter the land of Israel immediately after matan Torah and to experience the final redemption (as was intended from Above), then they certainly didn’t need to worry about physical possessions. Their one concern was the fulfillment of the mitzvah – the commandment to leave Egypt like a “pond without fish.” Since that was the command from Above, the Jews set themselves to fulfill it without asking questions, applying themselves with all their hearts, souls and might.
On a more refined and mystical level, as explained in Kaballa and Chassidut, there were sparks of holiness hidden in the vessels and belongings of the Egyptians. The entire purpose of the Jewish stay in Egypt was to remove and recover the sparks of holiness. When the objects came into the possession of the Jews, they became elevated, and the sparks returned to their rightful place in the scheme of creation. (The Ari z’l said that 288 sparks fell into Egypt as a result of the sin of Adam. The Jews recovered 202 – gematria rav - as in erev rav, of the sparks, when they exited Egypt.) This, indeed is the purpose of the Jews on earth – to recover sparks of holiness and elevate them to their rightful position in the scheme of creation. This is what fulfills the purpose of creation, which is to “make a dwelling place for G-d in the lower worlds.” But, by the same token, when the word came from Above to cease and desist, it meant that the purpose had been fulfilled, and it was time to move on. So, even though the Jews reasoned that they must throw themselves into the plunder of Egypt because so they were commanded, when the word came from Moshe to cease and desist, and move on to the next commandment, which was to go to Mt. Sinai, the Jews – against their own logic and reason – acquiesced. Moshe’s command meant that the task of removing the holy sparks from Egypt was complete, and it was time to move on to the next job – receiving the Torah on Sinai.
From this, we may derive an important lesson. That is; there is a time in life to move on, but until there is a clear directive to do so, one should continue the work that he is already involved in. For different people, that will mean different things. For the Jew who is involved in outreach, for example, he may desire to give it up and sit and learn Torah. He may reach a plateau at which he says to himself, “I have brought enough Jews closer to Torah and mitzvoth, let me now devote myself to learning and avodat HaShem – serving G-d.” To him, the answer is that as long as even one Jew does not yet do Torah and mitzvoth, there is no permission to give up the work. Every Jew is a complete world, and the responsibility of bringing every Jew closer to Torah remains. No-one may give that up to get involved in another task, as interesting and appealing as it may seem to him, until or unless directed to do so by Moshe Rabeinu – the leader of the generation.
For another Jew, the message may be just the opposite. He may find himself in a career or in studies that are not spiritually fulfilling and he may want to throw himself into leaning Torah or going off to yeshiva. If that is the case, he should consult with someone beyond himself in wisdom and experience (in accordance with the Torah directive, “Make for yourself a Rav”). If the answer is to “move on,” to change career or educational directive, then that is what he should do. But without that directive from his rabbis and advisors, he should continue his involvement in his present occupation, because that is his personal shlichut or task at that time. Until the Moshe Rabeinu – the righteous man of the generation – says otherwise, it’s incumbent upon us to continue our paths and make the world into a dwelling place for the One above.
From Likutei Sichot of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, ztz’l (vol. 21, pp. 77 – 83)
Rabbi David Sterne, Jerusalem Connection in the old city of Jerusalem