Parshat Beshalach

The Parsha opens with the verse, “Now when Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although it was nearer; for God said, ‘The people may have a change of heart when they see war, and return to Egypt.”  What’s interesting to me about this verse is that in Hebrew, the phrase, “although it was nearer,” could also be translated as “because it was nearer.” 

What does this change in translation add?  I believe it highlights a lesson about the importance of learning to cope with adversity.  The verse could now be saying, in my own words, “God did not want to take the people of Israel on the easy path, because if they didn’t learn how to deal with adversity they would not be able to successfully stand up to challenges.”

Religion is not about making life easier by taking away the need to think for ourselves and blindly follow commands.  Religious questions should not be dismissed with simple answers. Instead, we must first recognize the importance of the questions themselves and the struggle implicit in the questions being asked.  When approaching religious life without the depth and complexity that comes from struggle, often, that faith will not be able withstand challenge- it will easily fall apart.   

It is important to learn how to struggle with matters of life and religion so that when our beliefs are challenged, the foundations do not come tumbling down.  Furthermore, a deep personal connection to Judaism blossoms out of struggle and enhances our positive religious experiences.  This type of relationship with our Judaism is necessary to fulfill a phrase from later in the Parsha, “this is my God and I will glorify it.”

The sages used this term about glorifying God as the proof text for a concept of making the mitzvoth beautiful in the way that they are practiced.  A Midrash comments on that verse saying, “through my following of God’s commandments I will cause others to say that there is no God like God.”  It is necessary to have a deep and complex relationship with our religion to acquire such a deep and complex love of Torah and mitzvoth.  And, when a person fulfills God’s commandments from a place of such depth, it impacts not only on the individual himself, but on all those with whom he/she contacts.