Jews need to STOP trying to be RIGHT (Parshas Beshalach)

the moment Moses starts defending God and trying to convince the Jewish people that this is the right thing rather than just acting on it you're distracting from the mission you're missing the point okay friends we are back so the Jewish people had finally been sent out of Egypt and they're on their way they're on their journey toward the promised land but God decides to take the Jewish people roundabout way take them a longer way because they might get cold feet they might get scared they might want to go back that's the mental of somebody who had been through slavery and abuse you want to go back to your abuser because it's more comfortable than than than you know getting life back in order so God said we're going to take a long a longer route that's going to be our journey toward the promised land that was the perspective of God the perspective of Moses the managerial perspective but what was Pharaoh's perspective the enemy's perspective the perpetrators perspective they're confused they're on their way to the promised land which is there they're going there now is a perfect time to infiltrate let's reclaim our slaves let's reclaim these victims let's get them back into Egypt the the Jewish people turn around and see the Egyptians pursuing them cornering them by the Sea they got the sea on one side the Red Sea on this side they got the Egyptians on the other side and now they're stuck they don't know what to do they start accusing Moses of engaging in this like conspiracy they start making these conspiracy theories like mosha did you bring us here to die you said you're setting us free and now you brought us here and look what's happening so mosha gets up and he starts giving them a pep talk relax guys we got this God is going to fight this battle God is going to get to us and what does God respond to Moshe ma Eli why are you crying out to me tell the Jewish people to go forward and commentaries wonder that Moses was not crying out to God that's not what he was doing he was talking to the Jewish people he wasn't crying out to God it almost sounds like God is gaslighting Moshe accusing something of he didn't that he didn't even do commentaries address this Rashi addresses this and many other commentaries I'd like to focus on the perspective of the abarbanel from the early 1500s late 1400s and I'd like to share with you his perspective why is God telling Moshe why are you crying out to me now is not the time he wasn't crying out to God he was giving a pep talk to the Jewish people the way the barbanell understands this God was telling Moshe why are you defending me now you're crying out to me in front of the Jewish people on my behalf why are you defending me now why are you being my Advocate why are you being my lawyer now is not the time now is not the time to win arguments the Jews are complaining and you're trying to defend me go save them go forward North go into the sea it's going to split continue through your mission continue through your trajectory don't worry about that challenge you got this but do it spend less time defending me and more time on your mission the arguments the defense is taking away from what you're here for a number of years ago I was working as a Chaplain at a hospital in Southern California and one of the other chaplain were giving a training program and telling us that you got to be careful not to become God's lawyer because the moment you defend God you divert from what your purpose is from what you're there the reason why you're there the moment Moses starts defending God and trying to convince the Jewish people that this is the right thing rather than just acting on it you're distracting from the mission you're missing the point yes there is a time and place to understand to make meaning to make sense of this there is a time and place for that not now now lives are at stake when Israel is being attacked when Jewish people are under the threat of anti-Semitism our job now is to live as proud Jews and to take pride in our god-given land we don't need to engage in arguments we don't need to win arguments we don't need to defend God right now we need to do our job we need to do what we need to do we don't as Jews need to justify our existence as Jewish people we can win that argument later what we need to do is for Judaism to thrive for Judaism to survive our connection to Israel to thrive and survive and live by doing more Mitzvah by engaging by jumping into that sea when we do by the way you'll see that it splits there'll be more space for us but we got to jump into that sea we got to jump into our Judaism we got to jump into our relationship with God we got to fully jump in we don't need to justify it to other people many people listening to this right now might be offended by this I put out a similar video last week and got a lot of hateful comments got a lot of attention for this but I'm going to say it because it's the truth as Jews our job right now is not to be right it's to be productive it's to preserve Judaism it's to bring goodness to the world that's our Focus we don't need to win arguments that's not what we need to do now several decades ago somebody wrote Into the seeking advice he was going through a crisis in faith and was confused and had a lot of questions and issues and challenges the re's reply to him was that your question has been addressed there's thousands and thousands of years of Jewish literature and Rabbi writings Through the Bible its commentaries the tal mod and many philosophical and capitalistic works these questions have been addressed these questions are answered and instead of letting the questions bother you go look for the answer because the answer is there but then the rebbit told him something fascinating until you find that answer until you find that answer it might take time you need to know that you still have a mission from God whether you're confused or not that doesn't take away from your responsibilities whether we've convinced ourselves whether we've convinced the world or not that's not the point we're not here to win arguments we have a mission we don't need to win the world's approval certainly not yet that's not our goal we need to be the best Jewish people we need to be we need to jump into that sea together and sing because that's what the Jews did once they went into that into the sea song by the Sea they sang we need to jump into the sea we need to dump full force into our Judaism we need to celebrate it we need to sing it we don't need to be stressed out by trying to convince other people at this point in time okay that's my story and I'm sticking to it