Beshalach: The Song of Moshe, The Rebbe and Ran Gvili

Dear friends, welcome to this week's virtual dasha. This week we have the incredible privilege three paras and in this para we read the beautiful shashir the beautiful song led by Mosha sung by khali after we successfully made it through the yams of the red sea. We saw the water come crashing down on our Egyptian tormentors cementing our emancipation effectively ending 210 years of barbaric servitude. And that chir is so beautiful. It's beautiful not only because of the composition only because of the words but because it expresses a tremendous sense of amuna of belief in confidence in hope in because the sh essentially says that we believe that has our back. He had our back he will have our back and when we are confident in God by extension we are able to become confident in ourselves. When I know that has my back then I can believe in myself to accomplish anything and everything. And what's interesting to note is the maf are very drawn by the opening phrase of this shash. Now literally translated means means then moshen will sing future tense. So will sing this. Now the obvious obvious question is it should have just said then Mosher Rabenu sung in other words it's it's present tense or present past after these events Mosha sung this beautiful Shira why does they sayashir then Mosherenu will sing future tense and rabbis give many different interpretations many different answers most notably among them says that this is actually a scriptural illusion toim Man, from here we see a scriptural illusion to the resurrection of the dead. There are many things that are going to happen in the messianic era. And one of the most incredible and dramatic things that is going to happen is the dead will come back to life. How that works, who it applies to, what stage, you come back when you're 20, you come back when you're 80. How does it work? So that we will see. And the Torah generally doesn't speak that much in general about Msiah and about future events or resurrection events. simply because wants us to focus on maximizing the present. But every every once in a while there are scriptural illusions that are peppered in different places. Understands that Moshabu sung he's he did he sung by the banks of the and Moshe Moshenu will sing again. Our ancestors who left Egypt will sing again. And when is that redemption resurrection and to experience that but I want to share with you what I think is a little bit of a of a different insight as well. There is an incredible letter that was written by the letter was written actually invat of 1956 toughintest z so again a number of years ago 1956. Now what's interesting is this this is a letter from Igras Kesh. So in the letter we don't see the petitioner's letter like in other words someone wrote a letter to Jerebba but based on his response we could reconstruct a little bit of what the letter must have been and I want to share it with you because I think it's absolutely overwhelmingly incredible says like this I'm going to read it to you just not not the whole thing just parts of it. So the Reb again is this letter came in and he's answering it invatic. Sometimes it takes time for rabbis to return calls and it takes time for rabbis to return emails and it takes time to return letters. Okay, he got he got the letter in and he's writing back now invat he says so he says you the the person who wrote me the letter you you described to me your difficult life and that Ultimately, you write in your letter that for your whole life, your whole life you never saw anything good. And the man, this man was writing to the and he writes to he says, "My whole life has been incredibly difficult. I am not all the days of my life." The man says, the petitioner says, "I never saw anything good." And therefore he says I want you to dab in for me for my wife and for my children. So the Reb says then the Reb says something amazing. The Reb is writing back. He says, "Dear petitioner, holy Jew, it is clear to me that you don't even see the contradiction in your own letter because you're a man." Ready to to the unnamed individual in the letter. You're a man. You have a wife. You have children. Can you say you you you don't have any good in your life? You never saw anything good. Now here uses very strong words. He's speaking to this guy. He says, "You are avo. You're an ingrate. You're an ingrate of the highest order." Now, this is shocking where you're an ingrate of the higher of the highest order. He says, "How can you say you have nothing? How many people go ahead and dive in day in and day out first of all to find the spouse and then after they find the spouse, how many people dive in day in and day out to go ahead and have children and someone who has received not one of these but both of these and it doesn't appear writes to the petitioner doesn't appear that you had to dive in all that hard for it and it doesn't appear that you had to work all that hard for it. Do you not recognize the incredible braha you have? See here what the is saying this guy is saying I've never had any braha in my life please d for me for my for myself for my wife and for my children says give up you have a wife you have children and you say you never had braha do you know how many people d a whole life and never find their bash do you know how many people find their bash and dav in a whole life for one child and you have children the says unfortunately and I say this with love you are an ingrate of the highest order you're an overwhelming ingrate He says, "Move on. Move on." He says, "Move on." Now, it's clear from the letter that what the man was probably referring to was that he's just had a difficult time with parosa his entire life. He's had a difficult time with livelihood. Says, "I'm not minimizing parosa. Parosa is important. And I'm not minimizing the fact that most people aren't happy with just getting by, but it is important for me to convey This is wild. Maybe the reason you're struggling with is because you don't appreciate the you do have. Maybe the reason you're struggling in this one area of life is because you are failing to appreciate the other incredible things that has given you. because what you have many could argue is even more important than a marriage, children, a home, a family. Says maybe the problem with your is your failure to recognize the greatness, the bounty, the beauty that is giving you in every [clears throat] other area. You have the greatest. You have children and they're healthy and they follow in the ways of what else can you want? says, "When a person fails to recognize the beautiful good that has been given to them from above and specifically when not only do you fail to realize it, but in fact you're an ingrate." keep saying it and you don't you have no appreciation for what it is that you have until you could write in a letter to me to the rabbi until you could write that you have nothing then nothing has gone right in your life then how can you be surprised if Hashem doesn't shower upon you in other areas of life if you can't appreciate the blessings you have and you feel that just because you don't have everything therefore you have nothing and you're unfortunately an ingrate of the highest order not my words's words then how can how can you be surprised doesn't want to keep showering more and more upon you and look what he writes the says my hope is that the few lines that I have written will help to open your eyes, to illuminate your eyes to the true reality of your life that you have so much that you have so much. And when you begin to serve God and begin to ask for your from a state of thank you for everything I do have, thank you for everything I do possess. Thank you for all the beautiful I do have. Then When you begin to think, when you begin to ask for more, but you come from a vantage point, not that I have nothing. I have so much, but the same God that has given me so much. Yes, I'm asking for more. Thank you for the I have, but please keep giving me more and more and more. At the end of the day, the Reb says that hopefully under those circumstances, your brahos will or your felos, your your petitions will be answered. an overwhelming an overwhelming letter from the Reba. Again, I'm not versed enough in the letters of the rabbit to know whether or not this sharpness came about in a lot of the letters or was unique over here. I was very taken because when we think about we think about again like like like the the paradigm of kindness of love which is what he was but yet here there was something about this man's letter something about saying I have nothing nothing's ever gone right and the says what are you talking about but I think what the understood is that what this man was describing is so often the pitfall of the human condition all of us have pieces of our life that are not that that are in disrepair that are not good are not going the way that I wanted and human nature. You know, someone once told me a statement, you're you're only as happy as your least happy child. That's crazy. And that can't be true. Every parent is distressed when their child is unhappy. But what does that mean? So if my child is unhappy, therefore I'm unhappy and everything else around me disappears in oblivion. All the other braha, you can't live life that way. Human nature often is when something is broken, if something is in a state in disrepair, everything's broken. If something's not good, everything is not good. And when you live life that way, the Reb says, "I'm a cafe to I'm an ingrate of the highest order." All of us have things which are in a state of disrepair. All of us have things that are not good. But I can never allow the things that are broken to obscure and to eclipse the things that are beautiful and that incredible because the way for to petition, thank you for everything and I want more. Thank you for everything and I need more. Not oh look at me I have nothing because I don't have everything. That's not the way we operate. That's not the way we conduct ourselves teaches us such an incredible diving for the things that you're missing. Petition for the things that you're missing for the things that you're missing. But not from a perspective that if I don't have everything I have nothing. No, I have so much. I have so much. I would like more. I have so much but I need more. All of us have things which are missing in life. We all have things that are broken in life. But don't allow the missing to define the whole. Don't allow the broken to paint the panoramic picture of my life. There are things that are missing. There are things that are broken. But there is still so much that is good. and I must learn to be a balanced individual. that the Reb that's the muser that the Reb was given to this person to this Jew who clearly was broken but yet didn't he was so broken and he defined himself by his broken kite that he didn't even see all the beautiful brahas and perhaps that's theashir aasher means then we will sing you see it is easy to sing when you cross the yams and it's easy to sing when you see the waters come down on your tormentors and it is easy to sing when you see gold and silver and precious stones washing up on the shores, right? All of the bounty of Egypt is now yours. That's an easy time to sing. But there's a powerful quality that our people has. Then we will sing when all the time. You don't just sing. You don't just sing. You don't just say thank you. You don't just have an appreciative smile on your face when everything is in order. But in any given moment in life, then we will sing. When's the then? The then is now. The then is in an hour from now. The then is when everything is as I wanted in life. And the then is when everything is in a state of disrepair. The power of a Jew is the ability to sing to in any given moment. Because in any given moment there are things that are good. In any given moment there are things that are going right. In any given moment there are things that are beautiful, that are intact, that are whole. And despite the fact that there may be a cacophony of disrepaired items in my life, a whole bunch of things that are misfiring, I can't allow those things to determine the totality of my life, of my nature, of my personality, my relationship with then we will sing. We sing by and we sing in difficulties and we sing in and we sing in sus because in any given moment there is what for us to give thanks to for you know this became so apparent this week. It it was it was incredible to see we bar hashem with incredible and the bravery and holiness and dedication of our precious soldiers. Rani was brought home. Frankly was brought home and if you if you listen to parts overwhelming a man you know the the the slogan that was used was the first one to go out. He died defending his his community. First one to go out and the last one to come home. First one to go out and the last one to come home. And you know what was incredible? There was almost like dare I say like a certain level of sim like joy. And you think about like I took a step back on this like joy. He he was murdered. He was murdered on October 7th and his body his body was was held by our capttor for two and a half years. So bringing him home to bury him. I don't know but but but but we felt it right. There was a sim and I wanted you feel weird like is this a cause to rejoice? And the the answer is yes. The answer is actually yes because aid knows how to sing to in every single situation whether it's or because yes of the that parents have the ability to bring their precious son to that's something to sing about also we don't just sing when things are good we don't just sing when things are happy. We don't just sing when things are all falling into place. Ay sings at all times because in any given moment there's always something to be thankful for. Whether it's the bounty of the Red Sea and the total like like annihilation of the Egyptian army or whether it's the bringing home of Ran Gavilli, whether it's the birth of a child or whether it's finding some ray of light in the midst of a loss of a loved one, whatever it is yashir, we are not like that pe that person who asked the Reb that question. That's not us. That guy was probably just having a really dark day when he wrote that question. But the Reba set him straight. The Reba sets us straight. In any given moment of brokenness, there is so much to be thankful for. In any given moment of darkness, there is still so much light. In any given moment where I feel overwhelmed by the disrepair and the dysfunction, there is so much bar to be thankful for. Moshe is then at some point in the future Moshe will teach to sing. When is that? When is that moment in the future? It's now. It's in an hour from now. It's in a day from now. It's in a year from now. Because the time to sing and the time to give thanks. The time for sh for the beautiful has given us is every day every moment we should be to sing the moshen on that great day that day of msiach that day of that day of resurrection but until that day let us find the of mohe is let us find the kak to sing a beautiful song of thanksgiving to our keshu each and every moment wishing everyone a good night of shabas and a beautiful shabis kesh