Chazal describe Bnei Yisrael in Mitzrayim as being at the edge, almost beyond saving. Bnei Yisrael was on the “49th level of tumah.” The point is not the number. The point is the closeness to the cliff.
And then something unbelievable happens.
A nation that could barely lift its head becomes a nation ready to receive the Torah. In a short span of time, they transform from slaves who cannot breathe, into people who can stand at Har Sinai and say “Naaseh v’nishma.”
How?
Hashem Didn’t Only Rescue Them — He Trained Them
If you pay attention, you can see the process.
Hashem didn’t only rescue them.
He trained them.
And Parshat Beshalach is jam packed with that training. It’s like a spiritual gym where every station builds emunah and bitachon in a different way.
The First Stage: When Hope Feels Impossible
Start at the beginning of the story.
Before the makot, Moshe comes to Bnei Yisrael and the Torah says they couldn’t really hear him. They were crushed by kotzer ruach and avodah kashah. When life is heavy, even good news sounds impossible.
Then the makot begin.
And think about it: the first makah must have been scary for the Jews too. They had never seen open miracles like this.
But each makah that came and went did something inside them.
Fear slowly turned into evidence.
Evidence turned into trust.
But it wasn’t a straight line.
Hope Rises, Then Collapses
Moshe goes to Paroh, and Paroh makes things worse. Work gets harder. Hope rises, then collapses. Relief seems close, then pain returns.
That cycle is not an accident.
That is training.
Because bitachon is not built when everything is easy. Bitachon is built when life gives you whiplash and you learn to stay anchored anyway.
From Fear to Action
Then Parshat Bo takes it even further.
Toward the end, Bnei Yisrael are doing something unthinkable: taking the sheep, the god of the Egyptians, and slaughtering and roasting it publicly.
A people that “couldn’t hear Moshe” becomes a people acting confidently with Hashem.
That is not a motivational speech.
That is a transformation.
Beshalach: Trust With Nowhere Else to Lean
Then comes Beshalach.
They leave Egypt and almost immediately it looks like a nightmare. The Egyptians are chasing them. The sea is in front of them. They’re trapped.
But they weren’t trapped.
Hashem led them there.
Why would Hashem do that?
Because there is a level of emunah you can only learn when there is nowhere else to lean.
Nachshon jumps in. Water rises. Even when it is up to his nose, he still trusts. And then the sea splits.
Relief, Fear, Song — and Back Again
So we trust. But then the Egyptians enter the sea and it’s scary again. Then the water returns and the Egyptians drown.
Relief.
Song.
Az Yashir.
Then they travel, and there’s no water. Panic. Hashem sweetens the water. Calm.
Then Hashem says: follow Me, and I won’t do to you what I did to Egypt, because Ani Hashem Rofecha. Hashem is our Healer.
What “Healing” Really Means
And that line contains a deep idea: if we are not being struck, why do we need healing?
Because “healthy” is not a static state.
We are okay only because Hashem is constantly keeping us okay. The second Hashem stops, we need healing. So even when you feel fine, you are living on ongoing kindness.
That changes how you say Refa’einu.
Not only, “heal the sick people I know.”
Also, “Hashem, keep healing me by keeping me well.”
The Ma’an: Trusting Today, Not Tomorrow
Then comes the ma’an.
Food appears. Relief again. But immediately, a new worry: what about tomorrow?
So Hashem introduces daily rules: take for today, and trust Hashem for tomorrow. Except Shabbos, when you take double on Friday.
That is not only nutrition.
That is emotional education.
Each day with the ma’an, they worried a little less and trusted a little more.
Amalek and the Fragility of Emunah
Then Amalek attacks. Suddenly, danger again.
And Moshe raises his hands, and the Torah uses the word emunah: “his hands were emunah until the sun set.”
When the hands were raised toward Heaven, they won. When they dropped, they weakened.
Not because hands are magic.
Because the moment we stop actively leaning on Hashem, we drift.
Bitachon is not something you possess.
It’s something you build.
And if you stop building it, it fades fast.
Even that is part of training.
Because the fall teaches you to return.
The Pattern That Shapes a Nation — and a Life
Now zoom out. Look at the pattern:
Something good happens, trust rises.
Something scary happens, worry returns.
Hashem saves, trust deepens.
A new test comes, and now you’re slightly stronger than last time.
That is Hashem training a nation toward Torah.
And if you look closely, you can see it in your own life.
Seeing Your Own Training
How many times have you worried:
“How will I pay rent this month?”
“How will I make ends meet?”
“When will I find my shidduch?”
And then, somehow, you look back and realize:
Hashem paid the rent last month too.
He kept a roof over your head.
Food on the table.
You breathe.
You thank Hashem.
You feel calm.
Then the cycle repeats.
But if you are paying attention, you notice something else:
You are not the same person you were last time.
If you do it right, each cycle leaves you with more emunah and more bitachon.
From the Edge to Sinai
Even when enemies attack, even when rockets come, the same training applies:
Hashem saved us before.
Hashem will save us again.
Until you reach a level where you don’t only believe you’ll be saved.
You believe you’re held.
That is how a people goes from the edge of tumah to the edge of Sinai.
One day at a time.
One event at a time.
One act of trust at a time.
And that is also how we become ready for Mashiach and the geulah sheleimah.
Leave a Reply