Kli Yakar Parashat B'Shalach Exodus Chapter 13 verses 17 and 18

okay good evening everybody we're now on par that would be Exodus 13 vers 17 and 18 so this is how it starts it happened when Pharaoh sent the people that God did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines because it was near for God said perhaps the people will reconsider when they see a war and they return to Egypt and God took the people toward around toward the way of the Wilderness to the Sea of reeds and the children of Israel were armed when they went up from Egypt I just want you to concentrate on the fact that and the CLE obviously pointing this out now that there are three times the word the people are used and then there's a fourth time that it's referred to the same people but they're called by the name of B so just to focus when I read theim in Hebrew notice that the word the people are used three times to describe the same people and the fourth time it's B Isel and think about the context that it's used in because the way he's going to Def phrase his question it's something that we ourselves could have or should have picked up on again and it was when faraoh sent the people that's the first time is used God did not lead them the way of the land of the Philistines who because it was close here another time is used because God said that lest the people change their minds they see war and then they would return to Egypt third time is used and God took them around the way yam by the way of the desert the Wilderness by the Sea of reeds theim one well I shouldn't say 1 yet cuz we're going to discuss that they went up armed B is the children of Israel from the land of Egypt so the who went up the B Isel went up armed out of Egypt where all all the other times God said right he didn't lead them he didn't lead the People by the way the Philistines and perhaps the people will have uh reconsiderations and to return to Egypt but God took the people around the way of the Wilderness and the Sea of reeds so three times you see the word ham is used and the fourth time the word b is used to describe the same people in relation to the fact that they went off armed okay so let's begin the clear starts okay we read the verses that's the first time is used right so he sent out the people that was power that sent out the people God LED them and let they re they reconsider that's the second time is used God took them around a different way and after the third time now they went up armed who is so he says there is to to really consider and understand what he's about to say why are they called three times the people who be e is whereas the fourth time they're called Ben the children of Israel and when is that by the fact it says they went up armed theu meaning what is arms clay Zion weapons of war it seems like what is being said here is from the aspect that they were and the name is significant they were Ben Isel that means the children of Israel they wouldn't really need weapons of war whereas when it refers to Pharaoh sending them out it doesn't refer to them as B but it seems that it should have so it's like the opposite of it's countering intuitive so how are we starting out this idea that first of all when it calls them Ben Israel they shouldn't have needed weapons cuz they're Ben Israel the children of Israel they have got to protect them whereas when they're sent out from Egypt that's when they should have been called B Israel uh because that's really what was bothering Pharaoh that we the the Jewish people in their faith and whatever may come as opposed to just a regular phrase a very G phrase of the people the clear says it's the opposite that should have been said he says it seems you can answer this up and resolve this issue in two very distinctly different ways okay we'll start with the first he says the first way is by understanding and quoting what's written in the medish it says they went up armed it means that they went up with five different types of weapons what's what's difficult he says this is difficult why what the wars of Israel is dependent on a massive amount of weapons is it not written if you look in Chim that's um judges 5: 8 it says it was a rhetorical question asked then so when it chose New Gods war came close to its Gates and even a Shield or spear seen am was even a shield or spear seen among 40,000 in Israel no they fought that war through a miracle there was not one weapon that needed to be lifted in that war god protected them then and we have another concept and that is brought down that it's the Torah and the prayers of the Jewish people that are their weapons of war as we see in Psalms that's Psalms 149 verse 6 it says in Psalms 1496 the LOF the Praises of God are in their throats and a double-edged sword is in their hand so we're talking about something in their garon and in their hands so here's the part of the verse he brings down and it was a double-edged sword in their hands so you take the word pi as a double edge he says it's like a combination of it's like the word for the mouth twice as if there are two mouths what do you need two mouths for meaning both the and the Torah that is what is in their mouths and that is their protection that is the double-edged sword that is in their hands if that's the case what is so great what is so beautiful what is the glory of the fact that the Jews went up armed with weapons as if they didn't really have trust in God God forbid no of course they did that's another roral question even if you want to say right we have this concept that everyone has to do all the efforts the normal efforts in this world so even if you want to say that a that a man is obligated to make according to Nature every effort that he has within his ability to do and once you fulfill every possible um you know corner or you look under every rock or do whatever effort it is whether it's for parasa to find a wife to learn Torah after You' made every effort so then Hashem takes over and creates a miracle but he doesn't come in until that effort is made nevertheless this is still difficult we're still asking the question why did the Jews need all these weapons isn't to feel enough not only that the the verse not only implied that every Jew went up with a weapon but they all went up with five weapons what is so unique or or what do we need to be told there were five why do we have this number why is there such an accounting that there were five weapons by each Jew this is another rhetorical question what it just happened on the way that a miracle happened that everyone happened to have five weapons right or just circum ances by happen chance that each one had five not more and not less like hello just time 600,000 times five that's how many weapons they had and everyone was given and distributed five or just each one looked around one morning and they found that they had five weapons on them hellu this is impossible this is just not logical he continues and ask it's not even possible it doesn't sound like they had any weapons training just from looking at the fact that they were slaves and they were involved in heavy work from morning until night I'll read it again K simply looking they weren't experienced or trained in Weaponry because they were busy with hard labor all day and every day so what would they have and what would they need these weapons what benefit are they to them because they had no experience with them it would have been better for them just to go with sticks and stones with their slingshots therefore it seems to like this it's actually coming to teach us that they actually didn't have any weapons at all the only thing they had was the five books of the Torah they actually are divided into seven section seven individual books right we say the five books of Moses but they're really broken down into seven distinct books so if you go into the okay so you go into CH Numbers chapter 10 verse 35 when the ark would Journey Moses said arise Hashem and let your foes be scattered let those who hate you flee I'm sorry let those who hate you flee from before you and when it rested they would say reside tranquil oh Hashem among the Myriad thousands of Israel and there are two nuns that are inverted or upside down surrounding these two verses that again would be chapter 10 in numbers vers 35 and 36 so that makes it with is is as a distinct book on its own okay see now you have we originally thought were the five books of Moses so Genesis is a book in itself Exodus is a book in itself but all by itself so you have three when you get to numbers numbers itself is broken into three books that which comes before these two verses the two verses themselves are a book on its own and then everything comes after that in numbers till the end of the CH of the Book of Numbers is another book so you have three books within numbers now you have six and Deuteronomy would be counted as the seventh book now we understand and when it says they went up armed armed what what is exactly armed Weaponry no that the weapons are a hint it's all hinted to the to that's why this language of is used it's kind of like we called a play on words that yesim means armed right we have right definitely means arms there's no question about it and it says that they went up armed but we don't read it as armed or you don't have to read it as armed alone but you can read it up as they went with their Weaponry of War which is the Torah itself yes it has two languages also they went up with weapons Zion in other words you have two languages here the word kamish is used and Zion because that's what we that's what Zion is Zion is seven and Zion is arms yes they went up right with arms what is that the names of the weapons of war so that hints right when whenever you think about weapons of war by Israel you always must think that it's talking also about the Torah oh another way like as we just said means that's the five books of Moses as we have already said but it also means is also not just weapons right but it also means love we just originally said that they went up with both tah and the both the Bible and their prayers that was their protection so basically on the word you not only have the word five as we already said but also you have that is how is hinted at by the number seven cuz it says in Psalms this is chapter 1 verse 164 7 days we're going to praise seven times a day we are going to praise Hashem now that what's that referring to those are the seven broos that we make before and after kma both in the morning and in the evening he continues it is well known that the Jewish people were not worthy of receiving the Torah only after they transversed through the yamu through the splitting of the sea and only after they transversed through the desert it was only through going through the yamu through the splitting of the sea that they came to a highest level a complete level of faith in God MOS AO as well as the as the um to total complete belief and Trust in the prophecy of Moses Kar as it says later on actually here in this case it's y later on 14 chapter 14: 31 theu that the Jewish people after going through the the Sea of reeds through the splitting of the sea that they believed in God and in Moses his servant previously prior to coming to this state or status of belief and Trust then certainly it's obvious they were not yet fit to receive the Torah that the whole time that they still had some doubts they were lacking in complete faith they had certain doubts about the prophecy of Moshe and belief in God so they weren't Ro they weren't fit and it was only after going through the splitting of the sea they came to this complete understanding and faith that only then they were fit to receive the Torah Loa they it was still required of them furthermore to walk through this Wilderness a land that had no seed there was nothing growing there to do what to accomplish what in order to accquire a trait a very important character trait called his his means that you are satisfied with either a minimum amount or just exactly what you have and you don't feel you have need for more T because that is certainly the way of acquiring Torah everyone everyone wants to acquire Torah they have to learn his to be satisfied with a minimum amount as it says in if you want to acquire Torah you want to be you want to live a life of Torah you have to have what we call you're going to eat your bread in your salt and not only that as we know in this para we're talking about the the coming the first time the man is mentioned then the first time we're going to start eating it so the Torah was not given except to those that ate angel food that ate this man from Heaven his top and it was only from the time that the man started descending and coming down that they were able to learn this lesson where they were able to you know to receive the Torah they needed this in addition to this that it became embedded they were it was rooted this this type of Faith through all the Miracles and and the occurred to them while they were in the desert like the Miracles of the splitting of the sea not believe and to teach them to place in their heart even more now you have to remember there's a concept called there was six there's going to be 6,000 years of the world and the 6,000 years are broken into 2,000 uh into three units of 2,000 years so the first 2,000 years is called tou and then we have the time of abrah Ain and around then that he was born 1948 so around then towards the end of the 2,000 years we start the 2,000 years of Torah and then we have the last 2,000 years which we're in that period now and that started about 2,000 almost 2,000 years ago and that's called the the era of the Messiah okay so he just met mentions that remember those first 2,000 years the whole world was desolate like a Wilderness a desert kman because there was a lack the Torah wasn't given yet and this generation they were required to accept the Tor to complete that which was lacking in the world before the Jewish people before Ben Isel received accepted the Torah they were just like they were included with all the other nations that they were not yet separate in nor in their completion nor in their designation from all the rest of the Nations they were just like any other goit like any other nation of the of the world is and for that very reason they were not called B is they weren't called B is until they accepted the Torah and remember we're not yet at Hari so why they call is and it would only be through receiving the Torah that they could be called in Israel was he deay he and only then they would be separate before by Hashem from all the other nations to be to him a special nation and in this way we're able to explain the verses in the following way we said that it was faraoh who sent the arm well what was the original question we asked why isn't it isn't it because of the fact they were B that he sent them is too much of a general description for anybody at the moment that they were sent they were still called by the name because they were not yet separate from the rest of the nations of the world because they didn't have their weapons of war upon them no they didn't have their natural their normal the normal weaponry and how do we know that because they weren't even trained so it couldn't have been real natural weapons show and they didn't have that either they didn't have the Torah either you know why CU they weren't yet at they hadn't received the Torah Tor ah so what's bothering us should be bothering us that this is also way before um before M Torah before the Revelation not only that they weren't even ready to receive it because they had not yet become totally entrenched engrossed with the true faith in God the that's why that's the reason God did not take the people by the way of the Philistines ALU even though that it was close and that should have been the most logical way if you plug into ways it's going to tell you this is the way to go no because God said lest they change their mind when they see War because they were still included amongst all the nations of the world there were no distinction then certainly they would have returned back to Egypt from the fact they didn't have any weapons certainly they would have been decimated if they hadn't return that's why God turned them around and went by the way of the SE reads it was only through going by way of the dead of the splitting of the sea and of the desert the Wilderness they were able to acquire this true and complete faith and only then they were able to be ready to prepare and prepare to receive the Torah and from that moment on then they actually had their weapons of war upon them cover T because it was if already they had received the Torah and in other words once you're ready it comes to you are you and that was that was then they were actually called the children of Israel to separate them from the rest of the nations of the world this is what it means when it says that the is the Jewish people went up armed that they didn't go up except with five different types of weapons of war like we said before they went out with the five books of Moses which is broken into seven different oros or the seven different types of prayers we mentioned as the seven BR that we make on shma every day in the morning and in the evening we say you know three Bros in the morning and four Bros at night and this is agreement what we find in the so that God at the time of the receiving of the giving of the Torah God strapped on Jewish people these weapons of war these weapons this is in this is in Exodus 33:5 this is right after the sin of the golden calf as tells us we must remove from us right now our jewels and those Jewels were the cion the CL we already said is the five books of Moses the crown of Torah had to be removed at that moment so we see from there very clear proof that the Torah is the weapons of war of the Jewish people so even though that at the moment they went up out of Egypt they still did not have yet their weapons of war until they came to the desert nevertheless it says they went up armed because immediately when they were ready to trans trans transverse the desert as soon as they were willing to go in they didn't say they didn't say how we supposed to survive without any growth of any kind of food to eat immediately they acquired the type of complete faith that we needed so from the very beginning of their acquisition it was considered as if they had like totally enrooted this idea that's why it says they went up armed at the very moment that they went from er er from Egypt and they went into the desert and the completion for them of this total trust in theem was through the yamu through the splitting of the sea going through the can you just imagine there's walls of water on every side of them and they had total trust in Hashem and that's where it was acquired now there's another way we started off by saying there are two ways to look at this D Shen the second way to resolve these verses so what are we saying here that when it says this is very consistent with the clear he mentions the word that is mentioned here is talking about two types of people it's talking about the most inferior or the lowly amongst Israel and the AR the AR were according toar apprx 6 million of them he says there were twice as many AR is they were Jews which puts it up to about 6 million and they went out they were not Jews they went out Moses basically brought them with him and they CA at least significant amount of them caused a lot of trouble and it's spoken about in the future they're also going to cause trouble so they cause trouble then they cause trouble throughout history and in the future there is actually a Exile and a galute that is attributed to as well meaning that both the the the inferior of the Jews and the Arab have one name it's really one name that's when faroh sent the people who was he speaking about the a that was referring to the a of he wanted to get rid of them too for the very fact that he did not hold them back he did not prevent them he didn't protest he didn't make any quals about them leaving it's very similar as if he sent them himself we see the same concept of someone who doesn't um prevent someone who who actually allows someone to leave it's as if he sent them so we have a verse in bit Shon that was said by elzar the the slave of Abraham in Genesis 24:24 so when he says send me to my master sh that is a concept of like we're talking about that he sent me so he's basically asking permission please send me to also yakob said to Lan you know please send me also back he go back that you can find in Genesis 30:25 so we see shal here beh that faroh sent the people we're talking about the AR that just he didn't hold them back the same word means that he was willing to send them so to here our verse is talking about sending out the AR and it was on account of them that Moses took them around the other way so that they were not the ones that would turn around and head back to Egypt these either lowly Jews or the Arab with there it's a not exactly a fifth column I mean it could be called a fifth column but you're talking about people who have it would be a degradation of the morale of the people if they were in charge so basically if we went that way and there was so many of them and they wanted to turn back it would have hit us real hard but on account of Israel that was not why they went around that's not why Moses led us around the desert in the beginning not to go by the way of Philistines in case we would see War but it was not on it was on account of the remember Israel went up they went up with their weapons of war they are children they are the The Childrens who have complete faith they are believers children of believers they are sure of the salvations of God and that is their weapons of war when they're going out to war they're assured they know they're going to win but all those with a minimum amount of Faith they are coming from the because the way was so close meaning to say those new people that joined up that cling clung on to the Jewish people they're the ones that came they have not yet because were so new they had not yet become entrenched with this high level of faith and am in hasem I think this explains it very well and um I just want to wish everyone a shabbat shalom [Music]