This week’s parasha , Parashat Beshalach, describes the final steps of the liberation of the Jewish People from Egypt. In last week’s parasha , the Torah describes b’nei yisrael leaving Egypt. After destroying the Egyptian firstborns, Hashem guided b’nei yisrael out of Egypt – leaving Ra’amses on the way to Sukkot. The Torah then inexplicably leaves aside the exodus story and introduces a series of commandments – specifically, the mitzvot of Pesach, tefilin , and redeeming the first born. The Torah resumes the exodus story in the beginning of our parasha . Why does the Torah interrupt the exodus story with the presentation of specific mitzvot? In resuming the exodus story, the Torah writes: vayasev Elokim et ha’am derecho yam suf; vachamushim alu b’nei yisrael me’eretz mitzrayim – And Hashem took the nation the long way, the way of the desert to the Reed Sea; and the children of Israel brought arms up from the land of Egypt. (Shemot 13:18) The Midrash is puzzled by the Torah’s incl...
Rabbi Benjy Owen, Dean, Margolin Hebrew Academy-Feinstone Yeshiva of the South, Memphis, TN