Parshat Beshalach - 5764

“Fear No Evil”

The great theme of Parashat Beshalach is “Kriat Yam Suf,” the “Splitting of the Sea of Reeds,” an act by which HaShem demonstrated that He had a special role “in Mind” for the Jewish People – to be recipients of His Torah, to be a “Kingdom of Priests and a Holy Nation,” and to be His emissaries to Mankind. But there is a Midrash, the version of which according to Rabbi Yehuda speaks of the role of the individual in the great play of nations. “When Israel stood at the Sea, this Tribe said, ‘I will not be first to go down into the Sea;’ and the other Tribe said ‘I will not be first to go down into the Sea.’ In the midst of this argument, one individual, Nachshon ben Aminadav, Prince of the Tribe of Yehudah, seized the initiative, and went down first into the Sea, inspiring the rest of his Tribe to follow...At that moment, Moshe was deeply engaged in Prayer. The Holy One, Blessed is He, said to him, ‘My beloved friends are drowning in the Sea, and you stand in Prayer before Me!’ Moshe said, ‘Master of the Universe, What should I do?’ He said to him, ‘Speak to the Children of Israel, and let them move...’ Therefore, Yehuda merited to become king of Israel, as it says, ‘Yehuda sanctified His Name; by this he merited to rule in Israel.’ (Tehilim 114:2)” (Mechilta Beshalach 5)

We see from this Midrash that individuals are key players in Jewish History: Nachshon ben Aminadav, Moshe, Shmuel, David, Ezra, Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai, Rabbi Akiva, on and on, through the ages. It is true as well in World History, where it is easier to find villains: Nimrod, Lavan, Esav, Pharaoh, Nevuchadnezzar, Haman thru Stalin and Hitler in modern times. Throughout history, “They stand up against us to destroy us, but the Holy One, Blessed is He, saves us from their hands.” And “In every generation a person is obligated to see himself as if he had personally left Egypt.” (Pesach Haggadah)

I just finished reading “Fear No Evil” (about twenty years behind the times, “ke-darki ba-kodesh,” as is my wont in matters of holiness), the autobiographical work by Anatoly (Natan) Sharansky, one of just a few individuals who dared stand up to the KGB, the secret police in Russia, and eventually succeeded, by strict adherence to his own standards of conduct vis-à-vis their uniform practice of evil, “broke the back” of that organization, and of the nation it represented. (Sharansky now lives in Jerusalem and is head of a political party representing the interests of Russian Jews.)

The Russian Revolution in 1917 introduced a 70-year Period of Darkness into the Jewish World of Russia, during which Jewish Education was suppressed with an iron hand, and more than two generations of Jewish youth grew up in total ignorance of its culture and tradition.

How did Sharansky accomplish his great feat of defiance? The answer is that he adopted a simple set of rules of survival, and never deviated from them. They included great faith in G-d and in the righteousness of his cause, the principle that he would have nothing to do with or say anything to the KGB on their terms, maintaining a relationship of trust and love with his wife, Natasha (Avital) and his immediate family, who never stopped struggling for his freedom, and trust in the prayers and support of well-wishers inside Russia as well as in Israel and the West.

Before beginning a sentence of thirteen years in prisons and labor camps, Sharansky made this statement in court:

“Five years ago I applied for an exit visa to emigrate from the USSR to Israel. Today I am further than ever from my goal. This would seem to be a cause for regret, but that is not the case. These five years were the best of my life. I am happy that I have been able to live them honestly and at peace with my conscience...”

“I am also happy to have been able to help many people who needed help and who turned to me. I am proud that I came to know and work with such people as Andrei Sakharov,...But most of all, I feel part of a marvelous historical process – the process of the national revival of Soviet Jewry and its return to the homeland, to Israel...”

“...And today, when I am further than ever from my dream, from my people, and from my Avital, and when many difficult years of prisons and camps lie ahead of me, I say to my wife and to my people, ‘Leshana haba’a b’Yerushalayim.’ ”

“Now I turned to the judge and replied to his question, ‘And to the court, which has only to read a sentence that was prepared long ago – to you I have nothing to say.’ ”

Rabbi Pinchas Frankel
Rabbi Frankel is an Educational Coordinator at the OU

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