Parshas Beshalach

So it’s been a week without any posts. I have ideas sitting in draft waiting for me to write about them. Today with the help and motivation of another, I decided to do some cooking. I didn’t make as much as last time though.  So I made chullent, chicken soup and Pepper steak. While I was cutting up the peppers, I found that the red pepper was pregnant. Lion Of Zion had found a pregnant pepper too one time, and he came up with the idea of it being a segulah, it sounded like a good one. Anyways, here’s the picture of my pregnant pepper:

Now onto the Parsha, this week happens to be my bar mitzvah parsha, in that when I was 13 it was my brothers bar mitzvah parsha. Now this Parsha deals with seeing suffering and crying out. I always feel bad when I see people in pain, and always want to help them out. There was one case, however where I didn’t find myself crying, and I felt guilty for it. It was when my principal was niftar, everyone was crying when they heard the news. I remembered him a bit from when I was younger, and I had some fond memories of him, but I didn’t feel sad enough to cry, I wasn’t that attached to him. But then after seeing everybody else cry, it made me feel guilty about not crying, so I cried because of that.

Something To Say:

Hashem said to Moses, “Why do you cry out to Me?” (14:15).

As Pharaoh and all of his officers pursued the Jews after they left Egypt, God reassured Moses that the Egyptians would shortly drown in the Red Sea.

Why in truth did Moses cry out? Certainly he knew that God was going to fulfill His promise and that the Jews would be victorious. The Sfas Emes answers that Moses had such great love for the Jewish people that when he saw their great distress during the Egyptial pursuit, he could not restrain himself from crying to God on their behalf. It was not a lack of faith, but a spontaneous, protective instinct that prompted him to call out for help for his beloved flock. Such deep caring cannot help but manifest itself in a heartfelt reaction.

So crying is a good thing, it shows you care deeply about the person, and you love them. Crying doesn’t show a lack of faith. Even though you know that Hashem is doing what’s best, you are still allowed to cry.