Bishalach
Be'er
moshe brings a two interesting medrashim. Immediately preceding the attack of
Amalek, the Passuk states that the place where klall yisroel complained about
the water was called massah u'merivah because they "argued" with
Hashem. The Mechilta explains their argument was that "if Hashem gives
takes care of all our needs we will serve him, if not, not. Rashi relates the
mashal of a person carrying his son on his shoulders while giving his child his
every fancy. After a while the child asked a stranger where his father is
whereupon the father threw his son down allowing him to be attacked by a dog.
The
medrash relates that when Amalek initialized their attack, they first called out to
the shevatim of Reuvain Shimon and Levi
to do "business" with them.
The b'er Moshe explains That when Amalek sensed that klall
yisrael's relationship with Hashem was brought down to a level of a
"business relationship", Amalek tried to seize the moment and to
teach klall yisroel the ways of a business relationship with G-d. To remove the warmth and passion of "father and son relationship" and
to serve Hashem with a distant coldness - al m'nas l'kabel pras - Instead of relating like a ben and Av, klall
yisrael would speak "business" with Hashem. That is the mashal Rashi
uses with the son being carried by his father only to then ask a stranger if he
knows where his father is… Their tikkun as
well was when in battle they raised their eyes and committed their hearts לאביהם שבשמים .
We
see here the importance of not working
al minas l'kabel pras… some mitzvos come with a bit of pras, like we spoke
about at Chap, there are some mitzvos that grant peiros b'olam hazeh. But
interestingly enough, shabbos is not in the list! The pleasures we enjoy on
shabbos are the actual mitzvah itself of
Oneg Shabbos! So on shabbos we have the opportunity reap the benefits similar
to "pras" but to really serve Hashem with warmth, enjoyment, passion
and love to our Avinu Shebashamayim. So now on shabbos shirah let's express
that warm relationship & let us join and sing shirah tonight l'avinu
shebashamyim!
