=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
www.bit.ly/EmmanuelsArchive
www.bit.ly/EmmanuelsRealEstate
www.bit.ly/EmmanuelsJobSearch
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
This Shabbat is Shabbat Mevarchim ("the Shabbat that blesses" the new month): a special prayer is recited blessing the Rosh Chodesh ("Head of the Month") of the upcoming month of Adar I, which falls on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week.
Prior to the blessing, we announce the precise time of the molad, the "birth" of the new moon. See molad times.
And these are the laws which you shall set before them (Exodus 21:1)
The phrase "and these" (ve'eileh) implies that they are a continuation of what is written before. This is to teach us that just as the laws written above (the Ten Commandments) are from Sinai, these too are from Sinai.
(Mechilta; Rashi)
Since the majority of laws set forth in the Parshah of Mishpatim are logical laws, the Torah wishes to emphasize that these too are divinely ordained.
(Commentaries)
Jethro, the priest of Midian, the father-in-law of Moses, heard of all that G‑d did for Moses and His people Israel, that G‑d had taken Israel out of Egypt (18:1)
Of what did he hear that he came? Of the splitting of the Red Sea and the war against Amalek.
(Rashi)
This week's Torah reading contains the "song at the sea" sung by the Children of Israel upon their deliverance from the Egyptians, when the Red Sea split to allow them to pass and then drowned their pursuers. Hence this Shabbat is designated as Shabbat Shirah, "Shabbat of song."
Our sages tell us that the birds in the sky joined our ancestors in their singing; for this reason it is customary to put out food for the birds for this Shabbat (to avoid the possibility of transgressing the laws of Shabbat, the food should be put out before Shabbat).
Links:
Parting of the Red Sea
Miriam: Tambourines of Rebellion
These "four factions" represent four possible reactions to a situation in which one's divinely ordained mission in life is challenged by the prevalent reality.
One possible reaction is: "Let us cast ourselves into the sea." Let us submerge ourselves within the living waters of Torah; let us plunge into the "sea of the Talmud," the sea of piety, the sea of religious life. Let us create our own insular communities, protecting us and ours from the G‑dless world out there.
At the other extreme is the reaction, "Let us return to Egypt." Let us accept "reality," recognizing that it is the Pharaohs who wield the power in the real world. We'll do whatever we can under the circumstances to do what G‑d expects from us, but it is futile to imagine that we can resist, much less change, the way things are.
A third reaction is to "wage war against them"—to assume a confrontational stance against the hostile reality, battling the "unG‑dly" world despite all odds.
A fourth reaction is to say: It's wrong to abandon the world, it's wrong to succumb to it and it's wrong to fight it. The answer lies in dealing with it on a wholly spiritual level. A single prayer can achieve more than the most secure fortress, the most flattering diplomat or the most powerful army.
G‑d rejected all four approaches. While each of them has their time and place (it's important to create inviolable sancta of holiness in a mundane world; it's also necessary to appreciate the nature of the prevalent reality and deal with it on its own terms; it's also necessary to wage an all-out war against evil; and it's always important to recognize that one cannot do it on one's own and to appeal to G‑d for help)—none of them is the vision to guide our lives and define our relationship with the world we inhabit.
Rather, when the Jew is headed toward Sinai and is confronted with a hostile or indifferent world, his most basic response must be to go forward.
Not to escape reality, not to submit to it, not to wage war on it, not to deal with it only on a spiritual level, but to go forward. Do another mitzvah, ignite another soul, take one more step toward your goal.
And when you move forward, you will see that insurmountable barrier yield and that ominous threat fade away. You will see that the prevalent "reality" is not so real after all, and that you have it within your power to reach your goal. Even if you have to split some seas to get there.
(The Lubavitcher Rebbe)
G‑d said to Moses: "Come in to Pharaoh" (10:1)
Rabbi Shimon [bar Yochai] continued: It is now fitting to reveal mysteries connected with that which is above and that which is below. Why is it written, "Come in to Pharaoh"? Ought it not rather have said, "Go to Pharaoh"? It is to indicate that G‑d brought Moses into a chamber within a chamber, into the abode of the supernal mighty serpent that is the soul of Egypt, from whom many lesser serpents emanate. Moses was afraid to approach him, because his roots are in supernal regions, and he approached only his subsidiary streams. When G‑d saw that Moses feared the serpent, He said, "Come in to Pharaoh."
(Zohar)
https://w2.chabad.org/media/pdf/62696.pdf