Exodus Cycle Four Beshalach

Beshelach

In the parasha Beshalach there are two antagonists, two bad guys, the ones who might get tomatoes thrown on them on the Shakespearean stage. They are the opposing team at the playoffs, the guy who cuts you off at the light, the thief who steals your purse. They are huge before us on the silver screen of Torah. We read about them…the Pharoah and Amalek… and feel this chill going up our spine.

But just like we can’t throw our protagonist (Moses) into a vat of generalities (you’ve seen one prophet and you’ve seen them all) we also can’t just call a bad guy a bad guy and leave it at that. There are shades of bad guy behavioral slumps just like there are shades of enlightenment.

There are those who we tolerate, who (no matter how painful) we must embrace with our light…and those we must cut-off. The question is how do we know one from the other? And what do we do about it? In a world in which we continually try to walk the path..that of God…what is it about us that energetically attracts either bad guy? What are we doing to bring-on the doubt? How do we deal with it with a behavior appropriate for what/who it is? After all, we can’t cut off the world. That would be throwing the baby out with the bath water. We also can’t embrace everyone and everything. That would be stupidity wearing the mask of compassion.

This question hits us on many levels, political, personal-psychological, mystical. After all, do we as a nation do a scorched earth policy to completely wipe-out an apparent enemy? Do we do a scorched earth policy to the ex-husband? Do we refuse to face our personal shadow? Cut that off from our consciousness? And do we refuse to believe that God has created evil to a certain degree…that the apparent impermeable barrier under which we persistently raise sparks to save the Shechinah…that this underworld as well is God-created?

In the long run….if we manage to begin to see the gradations of darkness we realize sooner or later that this barrier is simply (as Nachman and the Baal Shem Tov have said) an illusion And it’s one we can skip through if we simply arm ourselves with humility, faith and light.

We see this in this weeks parsha, Beshalach…the wonderful reading when we finally get thrown out of Mitzrayim and cross the Reed sea. We see the darkness that is do-able, understandable, terrible but heal-able, bothersome and annoying but in an odd way necessary and helpful. And there’s the darkness that must at all costs and in some way be amputated from our very paradigm.

From a birds-eye viewpoint it almost looks like as we get closer to our freedom and enlightenment we become more exposed to all extremes. The higher we get the harder we can fall. The deeper we cut into consciousness the more vulnerable we are to the same vibration-speed of darkness. The greater the light, one might say, the greater the shadow.

So here we are, tossed (beshelach-ed) out of Egypt by what we see as the essence of evil. I mean we really think the Pharoah deserves to be hung. But at the same time we are catapulted from our inner slavery because of him. This doesn’t mean we want to return to him. He’s such an in-between type of shadow in fact that when we leave we have to really get out. We have to run fast. We need huge support. This is why at the moment of our running (Exodus lines 14:19-21)…right before crossing the Reed sea…we receive (according to the Sefer Yetzirah) the 72 names of God. According to some sources this also means we are accompanied by 72 angels.

As we see later there’s a continual temptation to return to the comfort of Egypt. Meanwhile we never hear an Israelite moaning that he wants to join up with Amalek! To continue, when the Egyptians get swallowed by the Reed sea, and the ministering angels want to rejoice, the story goes God scolds the angels. These too are my people, He says, why celebrate? To bring in a bit more Talmud, it is said that when sparks of any sort (in other words any physical thing) get taken by a body of water the owner is certainly going to lose hope in retrieving them (and therefore doesn’t have the right to them anymore). Why would the owner lose hope? Because (in one interpretation) anything swallowed by a body of water (representing life and Torah) is no longer the same. It is transformed. Therefore the owner of the Egyptian bodies washed up on the shore…possibly this nachash, this snake-like slithery semi-darkness of the Pharoah…no longer can claim ownership. If we take this up a level and the Egyptians are the shadow within us, the fact that they are transformed by water and life metaphorically means that we have (metaphorically) embraced our own shadow. This sort of action is possible with Mitzrayim.

But then how come Amalek shows up at the end of the parsha?

How do we attract Amalek if we have risen so high?

What is it that brings on the true evil, the one that can’t be transformed by water and must at all costs be cut away? Rabbi Judah ben Simon says that the Israelites act like a King’s son who goes into a marketplace and beats up people. Of course they don’t hit back because he’s the King’s son. But the King, disgusted by his son’s actions, turns him out. Makes him leave. No longer can he beat up people without getting beaten up himself. The King asks him, do you think it was because of you that you could do this? In a similar manner the Israelites begin to think that it is because of them and not because of God that they broke free from the Pharoah. Therefore they not only starve themselves spiritually, they blame their spiritual hunger on God! Even when God sends manna they complain. As Rabbi Judah ben Simon says, this attitude causes God to turn away just a bit and therefore Amalek enters.

Ah, but we are human. We make mistakes. So given this Amalek-eventuality (at least for now) what do we do? How do we deal with it? As it is pointed out in Mishnah, we simply need to look up. For when Moses holds up his hand in Exodus 17:11, we all know that Israel prevails. Why? Because, as with the fiery serpent in Numbers 21:8…and Moses is holding the serpent up to heal the Israelites of snake bites….the hand reaching up causes the Israelites to look up towards the radiance of God.

So finally the way to deal with both the semi-darkness of Pharoah and the absolute evil of Amalek can be very much the same. By looking up, both states of darkness will fall into their natural way-of-God-being. One will naturally become embraced as shadow. And the other will naturally be cut-off. While it would be nice (really nice) if we as humans could give ourselves full credit and control over approaching shadow…we can’t do this just like we can’t give ourselves full credit for our freedom. If we look up though, if we behave in a God-like manner (stay tuned for the ten commandments) and look towards God’s radiance in our actions here on earth… if we continually reflect humility, compassion, light and graciousness… the darkness of its own volition will be visible and fall into its proper place in the larger picture of the world-to-come.

What can we do now therefore? How can we discern Pharoah-energy from Amalek-energy? It’s simple. Love and we will see. Love more and we will see more. Love even if it seems ridiculous to love. This is the way to discernment, wisdom, and freedom beyond the stage of humanity, no matter how many tomatoes might be thrown. This is the way of faith that can lead us into panoramic vision, multi-dimensional, so that one day we will know. The irony is that by then our very growth will cut off the very need to cut off Amalek…he will be long gone…and we will be free golden and glowing in the heart of the one God.