The Portion of Beshalach Star Wars Following the ten plagues, the Children of Israel experience the extraordinary event of the splitting of the Red Sea. The trek through the desert begins. Despite all the miracles which the Children of Israel witnessed and benefited from as they crossed the Red Sea, the complaints begin shortly thereafter. First, the water was bitter and undrinkable. Then, there was no food. So, G-d sent manna from heaven. But then there was no water at Refidim. It didn't take long for Amalek to recognize the weakness of part of the recently freed slaves, and they attacked. Amalek fought against the children of Israel with their strategic weapon- witchcraft. Their fighters were chosen based on the dates of their birthdays since these special astrological days provided them protection. (Jerusalem Talmud, Rosh Hashanah chapter 3, halacha 8) Moses understood the battle strategy of the Amalekites and so he raised his hands, thereby confusing the heavenly forces and causing Amalek to lose its advantage. All of this is alluded to in the additions to both the top and bottom of the letter "vav" in the word "vayachalosh" (and Joshua] weakened Amalek and his people…) {Exodus 13;17}. These additions symbolize the fact that the battle was fought both in heaven and on earth. (The Rokeiach on the Torah) Special thanks to Efraim Kaspi for the accompanying picture taken from a Lithuanian Sefer Torah written in the 18th century
|