Show notes
Empathy Is Never Forgotten
This class was presented on Sunday Parshas Beshalach, 8 Shevat 5777, February 5, 2017, at Ohr chaim Shul, Monsey, NY
The opening of our portion related how Pharaoh had a change of heart right after he let the Jewish people go. "He said to the Children of Israel: They are lost in the land, the desert closed in on them." Rashi raises the obvious difficulty with this verse. Pharaoh did not speak to the children of Israel, for they had left Egypt already. How could he be talking to them?
The Targum Yonasan ben Uziel gives an astonishing explanation. There were two Jews, Dassan and Aviram, who remained in Egypt. They refused to leave. Pharaoh spoke to them, reassuring them that the Jews are lost, stranded, and stuck in the desert. Their choice to flee the country was an ill-conceived one.
Yet here is where the story becomes mind staggering. If they chose to stay in Egypt, how do we discover them journeying with the Jews in the desert – complaining about the manna, revolting with Korach? The answer is plain if absurd. They must have tagged along with Pharaoh when he went to pursue the Jews by the sea. And when the sea split, they too were spared. They too crossed along with the Jews, and got to the other side safe and sound.
This is absurd. These two fellows who were absolute atheists, it seems, fighting Moses and G-d at every step of the way, choosing to remain in Egypt, are saved with their brethren. They have linked their fate and destiny to Egypt, not to the Hebrew. Why were they spared at the red sea while all of the Egyptians drowned?
What is more, the Midrash teaches that many Jews who did not want to leave Egypt, died during the three days of darkness. Yet Dathan and Aviram who also did not want to leave, remained intact. Why? It was the “Saraf” of Brisk and the Beer Maim Chaim who presented an astounding answer.
We explore the conversation between Reb Shmuel of Shiniva and the Chidushei HaRim about the Talmudic expression “Krias Yam Suf.” We delve into the story of Miriam bas Bilgah and the “rectification of a soul” by the Lubavitcher Rebbe in 1975. We discover the power of empathy, of taking a blow for another Jew, something that placed Dasan and Aviran on a lofty spiritual pedestal.
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