What did this week's parashah make you think?
What does this mean to you?
"At any given moment we have two options: To step forward into growth or to step back into safety." - Abraham Maslow1
What has happened?
First Aliyah (Exodus 13:17-14:8)
- Pharao sent Israelites from his land. G!d directs them to an alternative route and accompanies them with a pillar of cloud at day and a pillar of fire at night
- G!d instructs the Israelites to turn back and to encamp along the Red Sea
- So they would seem to be hopelessly lost
- Which would prompt the Egyptians to pursue them. The Israelites followed this instruction, and, indeed, the Egyptians armies set out after the "lost" and cornered Israelites.
Second Aliyah (14:9-14)
- The Israelites notice the Egyptian troops
- And they panicked: "Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us to die in the desert?" they screamed at Moses.
- Is this not the very thing we told you in Egypt, saying, ‘Let us be, and we will serve the Egyptians, for it is better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness’?”
- "Don't be afraid," Moses reassured.
- "Stand firm and see G!d's salvation that He will wreak for you today . . . G!d will fight for you, and you shall remain silent."
Third Aliyah (14:15-14:25)
- G!d says Moses, "Why do you cry out to Me? Tell the Israelites to go forward."
Learned Helplessness2 - Martin Seligman
Is the mental state in which one endures an aversive stimulus to the degree that one becomes unable or unwilling to avoid the subsequent encounters with this stimulus, because one has learned that one cannot control the situation.
(א) מה תצעק אלי. לִמְּדָנוּ שֶׁהָיָה מֹשֶׁה עוֹמֵד וּמִתְפַּלֵּל, אָמַר לוֹ הַקָּבָּ"ה, לֹא עֵת עַתָּה לְהַאֲרִיךְ בִּתְפִלָּה, שֶׁיִּשְׂרָאֵל נְתוּנִין בְּצָרָה (מכילתא).
(ב) דבר אל בני ישראל ויסעו. אֵין לָהֶם אֶלָּא לִסַּע, שֶׁאֵין הַיָּם עוֹמֵד בִּפְנֵיהֶם, כְּדַאי הוּא זְכוּת אֲבוֹתֵיהֶם וְהָאֱמוּנָה שֶׁהֶאֱמִינוּ בִי וְיָצְאוּ, לִקְרֹעַ לָהֶם הַיָּם (מכילתא):
(1) מה תצעק אלי WHEREFORE CRIEST THOU UNTO ME? — there is no mention that he prayed to God concerning this, but this teaches us that Moses stood in prayer. Whereupon the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, “It is no time now to pray at length, when Israel is placed in trouble”. (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 14:15:2)
(2) דבר אל בני ישראל ויסעו SPEAK UNTO THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL THAT THEY JOURNEY ONWARDS — There is nothing for them to do but to journey on, for the sea will not stand in their way: their ancestors’ merits and their own, and the faith that they placed in Me so that they left Egypt will suffice to divide the sea for them (cf. Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 14:15:1).
Third Aliyah (continued)
- G!d told Moses to stretch out his rod over the sea and to divide it
- And the Israelites should then proceed through the split sea.
- "And the Egyptians shall know that I am G!d, when I will be glorified through Pharaoh, through his chariots, and through his horsemen."
- Meanwhile, the pillar of cloud that normally led the Israelites moved to their rear, insulating the Israelites and plunging the Egyptian camp into darkness.
R. Menachem Mendel of Kotzk
Rabbi Menachem Mendel asked some learned men who were visiting him, “Where is the dwelling place of God?” Laughing, they responded, “What a thing to ask! Is not the whole earth full of God’s glory?”
Menachem Mendel then answered his own question: “God dwells wherever we let God in.”3
Third Aliyah (continued)
- Moses stretched out his rod and the sea divided
- And the Israelites walked on the seabed, on dry land.
- The Egyptians quickly pursued them into the sea.
Fourth Aliyah (14:26-15:26)
- Moses stretched his hand over the sea and the waters that had been standing like walls now fell upon the Egyptians, drowning them all.
- Moses then led the Israelites in song, praising G!d for the wondrous miracle that had transpired.
- Miriam, Moses' sister, then led the women in song and dance, with musical accompaniment.
- The Israelites traveled on in the desert, journeying three days without encountering water.
- They then arrived in Marah, where there was water—but bitter water. Moses miraculously sweetened the water.
ומי חדי הקב"ה במפלתן של רשעים והא כתיב (דברי הימים ב כ, כא) בצאת לפני החלוץ ואומרים הודו לה' כי לעולם חסדו וא"ר יוחנן מפני מה לא נאמר כי טוב בהודאה זו לפי שאין הקב"ה שמח במפלתן של רשעים ואמר רבי יוחנן מאי דכתיב (שמות יד, כ) ולא קרב זה אל זה כל הלילה בקשו מלאכי השרת לומר שירה אמר הקב"ה מעשה ידי טובעין בים ואתם אומרים שירה
Does the Holy One, Blessed be He, rejoice over the downfall of the wicked? But it is written: “As they went out before the army, and say: Give thanks to the Lord, for His kindness endures forever” (II Chronicles 20:21).
And Rabbi Yoḥanan said: What is implied by what is written: “for He is good” not stated in this statement of thanksgiving, as the classic formulation is: “Give thanks to the Lord; for He is good; for His kindness endures forever” (I Chronicles 16:34)? Because the Holy One, Blessed be He, does not rejoice over the downfall of the wicked. And similarly, Rabbi Yoḥanan said: What is the meaning of that which is written: “And the one came not near the other all the night” (Exodus 14:20)? The ministering angels wanted to sing their song, but the Holy One, Blessed be He, said: The work of My hands, the Egyptians, are drowning at sea, and you wish to say songs? This indicates that G!d does not rejoice over the downfall of the wicked.
"You can abuse your gift of life, or you can learn to use it…STRESS IS YOUR LIFE ENERGY TO FEEL, THINK AND ACT - SEEKING TO EXPRESS ITSELF.
Distress is the inappropriate use and therefore the misuse of your life energy. Hans Selye refers to Distress as "damaging and unpleasant stress". You can distress yourself by: 1) what you let others do to you, 2) what you do to others, 3) what you do to yourself.
Eustress (pronounced you-stress) is the appropriate and therefore constructive use of your life energies: You can "eustress" yourself by 1) what you choose to let others do to you, 2) what you choose to do to others and 3) what you choose to do with yourself."
From Zerin, Edward, and Marjory Zerin. The" Q" model for the effective management of personal stress. Gardner Press, 1986.
References:
1Maslow, A. H. (1962). Some basic propositions of a growth and self-actualization psychology. Perceiving, behaving, becoming: A new focus for education, 34-49.
2 Abramson, L. Y., Seligman, M. E., & Teasdale, J. D. (1978). Learned helplessness in humans: Critique and reformulation. Journal of abnormal psychology, 87(1), 49.
3 based on source sheet by Neil Tow: "Helping Themselves: G[o]d Inspires Human Initative." - https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/6951?lang=bi