Shabbat Parashat Beshallach - 5782

Shabbat Parashat Beshallach - 5782

Rabbi Hal Miller And God took the people around toward the way of the wilderness to the Sea of Reeds. And the children of Israel were armed when they went up from the land of Egypt. [Shemot 13:18] Why did God have the children of Israel arm themselves at that point? Certainly the first reaction most people have is that they needed to defend themselves. But not only did the Jews not fight Egypt, but God led them around virtually every possible military confrontation for the next forty years. Why did they need to carry all the bulk and weight of weapons? The wording in Hebrew is va'chamushim alu b'nei yisrael m'eretz mitzrayim, and the real question mark is the first of those words. Torah Temimah interprets it as a number: "This teaches us that they were armed with fifteen types of weapons." However, fifteen is chamisha-asar, and chamushim means fifty, so perhaps there is a mistake in our text of R'Epstein. In any case, it does not answer our question. Rashi cites Mechilta that "the word chamushim can only mean armed" and explains that it was because God took them on an uninhabited route. Had they gone from town to town, they would have brought what people on that road usually carried instead. He adds that this is to explain where they got weapons when they finally met up with Amalek, Sichon and Og. Rashbam adds that the Canaanites could not be expected to hand over land without a fight. Rashi then gives an alternative thought, that this indicates only one in five left Egypt, the other four-fifths died in the plague of darkness. But these explanations do not really answer our question since God did the fighting for them and could have come up with another supply of weapons forty years later if He wished. Ramban indicates that either this was done for show, or because the people were afraid. Had they gone out unarmed, perhaps the Plishtim would have attacked. At least this way they looked strong, even if they did not know how to use the weapons. Some translate the word other than armed. Onkelos relates it as "amply provided", which could mean lots of weapons, or lots of food and other supplies. Talelei Oros says it means "in a state of readiness", which again could refer to military preparedness or other kinds of readiness. Both Talelei Oros and Rav Moshe Feinstein ask our question more directly, but give differing answers. Talelei Oros notes that God "could have engineered a Jewish victory without needing to change the course of nature" (splitting the sea), then brings Chasam Sofer who cites Devarim [23:8], "You shall not despise the Egyptian for you were a stranger in his land" and adds, "a person should not cast stones into the well from which he has drunk." This explains why God dealt with Egypt, but the Jews would be expected to fight later. Rav Moshe tells us this teaches we are not to rely on miracles, even when in the midst of so many. We must plan to do our own hishtadlut, our own effort as though everything relies on our doing so. He goes on noting the difference between carrying weapons and carrying food into the desert. They knew they could not carry enough food and would have to trust in God for that miracle no matter what, but despite God being their primary warrior, this was still something they could do within nature, so were responsible for preparing themselves. Our verse teaches the well-known phrase, believe in God as though He will take care of everything, but act as though it depends upon us. It also gets translated as "He helps those who help themselves."