Beshalach Essays

[Reuven Chaim Klein]

🤱🏻 With much gratitude to Hashem, I am happy to announce that earlier this week we had a baby girl, Brocha Shprintza🍼. She was born at 32 weeks through a Cesarean-section that was almost an emergency🔪. Please daven for her Brocha Shprintza bas Shira Yael🙏🏻.

Essays on Hebrew synonyms from my "What’s in a Word?" series related to Parshas Beshalach:

• Armed and Ready - About חמוש, חלוץ, and מזויין.
• Cut it out! (Part 1 / Part 2) - About גזירה, חותך, בתר, נתח, פתיתה, מילה, פלחף קטב, פרימה, קציצה, כרת, and קטיפה.
• Afraid of Fright or Ready to Fight - About פחד, יראה, and אימה.
• Piles and Piles - About חמרים and ערימות.
• Take Your Booty - About שלל, בז, עד, שבי, and מלקוח.
• Sweet and Pleasant - About מתוק, ערב, and נעים.
• Through the Looking Window - About חלון and אשנב.
• Scribes to Count On - About סופר and לבלר.

Other writings:

• “The Passover Seder as an Exercise in Piagetian Education Theory” (July 2023).
• “The Splitting of the Sea” – To Save Jews or Punish Egyptians? (April 2010).
• “Sing and Song” (April 2020).

Pirkei D'Rabbi Eliezer Shiurim related to this week's Parsha (available on many platforms including: YouTube, Google Music, Spotify, Amazon Music, TorahDownloads, OUTorah.org, Archive.org):

• Episode 32: Chapter 18b - The Creation of the World (Day Seven) = Finishing up Creation / Shabbat = A taste of Olam Habah / A day with no counterpart / Special gift for the Jews / Remembering and Guarding the Sabbath / Manna teaches us that God keeps Shabbos / Does Hashem Himself keep the Torah's prohibitions? / Making Kiddush Friday Night / Saying L'Chaim in Kiddush
• Episode 87: Chapter 42 - Splitting the Red Sea [also available in video format] = The Jews throw away their idols / Crossing the sea with Micah's Idol / Angelic Wall of Fire / Why do we say half-Hallel on the last days of Pesach? / The Sea Refuses to Split / Who enters the sea first (Tribe of Binyamin or Nachshon)? / Pharaoh's Horse Charges into the Sea / Punishment is middah kneged middah (measure for measure) / Jewish Boys thrown into the River / Feeding on milk & honey / Seeing the Dead Egyptians / Follow the Leaders (Moses & Miriam) in Song / Pharaoh declares that no one is like Hashem / The Egyptians are buried in the sea / Explicating the Song of the Sea 
• Episode 89: Chapter 43b - All about Repentance = Chronology of the stories in this chapter / The story of Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish (Reish Lakish) & his two robber friends / Teshuvah only works before death / Finding water at the sea / Pharaoh rebels against Hashem & then acknowledges Him using parallel terminology / Pharaoh is saved from the Splitting of the Sea / Pharaoh becomes the gatekeeper of Gehinnom or the King of Nineveh / Jonah rebukes Nineveh for their immorality & Pharaoh backs him up / Maharam of Rothenburg is the Baal HaTurim's father's teacher / The population of Nineveh repent & God gives them another chance for 40 years / The Catholic concept of indulgences is not like Korbanot/Teshuvah / The mechanics of Teshuvah / When will the Jewish People finally do complete teshuvah (HaRotze B'Teshuvah)?
• Episode 90: Chapter 44a - The War Against Amalek = The Jews deny Divine providence / Amalek attacks the Jewish wayfarers / tzar + oyev = 2 types of enemies / Amalekites target the Jews outside of the Clouds of Glory / Yehoshua assembles the right army to fight Amalek / Moshe invokes the Matriarchs' Merit / One on the left, one on the right / Flanking the Chazzan on fast days and Yom Kippur / Imitating Moshe in prayer & Repeating after the Chazzan / Eisav's grandson Amalek leads by example / God's oath about wiping out Amalek

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Kol Tuv,

Reuven Chaim Klein

Beitar Illit, Israel

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