A thought on parshas B'shalach

"...mah titzak Elai..."
"...stop calling Me..." (14:15)

 

"ashira l'HaShem..."
"...I sing out to HaShem..." (15:1)

 

"...yarim Moshe yado..."
"...Moshe lifted his hand..." (17:11)

 

In years gone by, we have explored the interpretations of many great Rishonim on this striking verse. Moshe is calling out in fervent prayer to HaShem and is given the instruction to desist. Given that prayer is an essential tool in our communing with the One Above, this order seems puzzling. After all, later on in the parsha, Moshe exults over his being one who calls out to HaShem (the second verse cited above, familiar to us from Az Yashir.)  Not only that, in the battle with Amalek, Moshe guides the nation by leading  them (manually!) in turning to the Divine for protection and victory. Prayer seems to matter greatly!

 

The Ralbag offers an insight which helps us understand the message to us here.

 

It is absolutely certain that prayer is important and that this is our tool when facing strife,  when confused and when experiencing grace and compassion from Above. We pray, we are supposed to pray, and we need to pray. A function of prayer is that it creates a bond, a sense of deveikusbetween a person and HaShem. Deveikus is not just an album from the '70s. It is a catalyst for meriting a greater sense of Divine protection, hashgacha. So, the Ralbag explains, the Jewish person turns inward during key moments and exercises his or her ability to pray as a means of developing this spiritual connection. With that connection comes increased awareness of HaShem's glorious Presence in our lives. With that greater awareness can come more and more moments when we witness the direct oversight of HaShem in our experience.

 

But, prayer is a tool for attaining that bond. Moshe was being taught at this juncture that he had a constant and fluid deveikus with HaShem. He did not need to stop and focus inward nor engage in an act of reaching out with prayer. His devotion alone would marshal the Divine intervention on his own behalf and for the sake of his nation. This was HaShem's message  to His faithful servant Moshe. Life lived well can also be a prayer.

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As the saga at the Sea rolled to a close, Moshe enunciates this. "I sing out!" he cries. What  is "song" all about? Song, explains the Ralbag, is when you don't have the words. When a person seeks to extol HaShem,  there are moments when he must turn to music and metaphor. The way we live, the way we act can also, at times, be a prayerful metaphor. Moshe taught our people a lesson to parallel HaShem's message to him. There are times when the prayer-stance that we must take involves something other than words alone.

 

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What was the lesson of the upraised hand? Clearly, as Chazal have observed, the hand movements did not control the outcome of the battle. The Ralbag explains that Moshe was extending his earlier lesson. Moshe was our leader. We turned to him in times of plight. In the midst of the battle, however, Moshe's prayerful gesture was to direct our spiritual gaze to the heavens. The Torah says "ki Yad al Kes Kah"" - "the Hand is upon the throne of the Lord" (17:16). It is not the mortal hand, even that of Moshe himself, the exemplar of utter deveikus, which we Jews rely on. Even when our words are prayerful and are deeds declare our fealty to HaShem above, it is His response, not our catalytic actions, which is key. Prayer too is a metaphor, a means of forging a connection to facilitate the real connection. The connection which matters most is when HaShem kavayachol "clings" to us through vivid signs that His Presence feels close.

 

Wishing you a good Shabbos. D Fox