Winds of War - This year, we went beyond the description of Beshalach as a primal model of transition (exact split in dual ambience). We discussed the new idea of “va’ya’aminu”, and the centrality of war (Ish Milchama, Amalek), all of which points to a fourth, integral element of Yetziah and the progression towards Har Sinai. It is introduced in “peter chamor” of the previous parasha, and the question of the ben hatam: “מה זאת?” This parasha is the גאולה of Mah zot—throughout the story, there is a stress on the direct apprehension of the tam, as opposed to the Chacham’s intellectualization (that soon invites Amalek). This “Moshe Avdo” is that of flesh—the flesh of korban pesach, of brit milah, and of בשר חמורים .
Here, we also define the primal nature of war as the opposite of כבידות (weight of our בשר that expresses itself in עצלות—inertia). When Moshe himself suffers from kvedut, (his atzlut in putting things off for “tomorrow”), we realize how destructive it can be, causing a breakdown in milchama, and therefore freedom itself. For Milchama is the vision of freedom without cages, a vision where cages are no longer important; therefore, the failure to achieve Milchama is the failure of atzlut. In the end, the parasha reveals that the most profound failures are always failures of inertia—resistance to change, resistance to doing what’s necessary to fulfill potential, and our insistence on clinging to the cages we construct for ourselves.

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