bitter waters

1. The WSJ reports that certain "rabbis" have decided they can no longer say the tefilah l'shlom ha'Medinah because they refuse to pray for the success of the new Israeli government.  The article goes on to discuss praying for the secular governments those of us in the diaspora live under.  When Obama y'mach shemo was President, and now continuing under Biden, I thought it best to have them in mind in our prayers every day, not just once a week -- "v'lamalshinim al t'hi tikvah v'kol ha'risha k'rega toveid..."  

2. A well known Rabbi put out a list of halachos pertaining to cruises, some of them specifically aimed at situations that come up on a non-kosher cruise, like whether you can eat food heated in a treif oven, etc.  I think he may have missed an important din that may render all the other questions moot:

 והענין: כי התורה הזהירה בעריות ובמאכלים האסורים, ותתיר הביאה איש ואשתוג ואכילת הבשר והיין, ואם כן ימצא בעל התאוה מקום להיות שטוף בזמת אשתו או נשיו הרבות, ולהיות בסובאי יין בזוללי בשר למו, וידבר כרצונו בכל הנבלות, שלא הוזכר איסור זה בתורה, והנה יהיה נבל ברשות התורה. לפיכך בא הכתוב הזה אחרי שפרט האיסורים שאסר אותם לגמרי, וצוה בדבר כללי, שנהיה פרושים מן המותרות.

3. Ibn Ezra (14:13) famously asks why the 600,000+ of Bn"Y were afraid of the small number of Mitzrim chasing after them.  

 יש לתמוה: איך יירא מחנה גדול משש מאות אלף איש מן הרודפים אחריהם, ולמה לא ילחמו על נפשם ועל בניהם. התשובה: כי המצרים היו אדונים לישראל, וזה הדור היוצא ממצרים למד מנעוריו לסבול עול מצרים ונפשו שפלה, ואיך יוכל עתה להלחם עם אדוניו.

He answers that psychologically, Bn"Y were unable to bring themselves to fight because the years of servitude had conditioned them to respect the Egyptians as their masters.

This explains why Bn"Y had no trouble going to war against Amalek at the end of the parsha.  It was not fear of battle which tied their hands, but fear specifically of the Egyptians, who had held them as slaves.

I noticed that the Seforno does not agree.  He writes (14:8)

ובני ישראל יצאים ביד רמה – כענין ״ידנו רמה״ (דברים ל״ב:כ״ז), היו מתאמצים לנצח את פרעה וחילו שלא היו רבים במספר כמותם. ובזה הודיע שלא היו יודעין ענין המלחמה, כי אמנם היה ראוי לירא מאותם המעטים מלומדי מלחמה יותר ממה שהיה ראוי לירא מכל המון מצרים הנוסע אחריהם אחר כך

He understands that there were two groups of Egyptians, וַיִּקַּ֗ח שֵׁשׁ־מֵא֥וֹת רֶ֙כֶב֙ בָּח֔וּר וְכֹ֖ל רֶ֣כֶב מִצְרָ֑יִם, six hundred crack troops led by Pharoah + a mass multitude of other soldiers.  Bn"Y charged ahead  וּבְנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל יֹצְאִ֖ים בְּיָ֥ד רָמָֽה with reckless abandon, with no fear of engaging these crack troops in battle.  Had Bn"Y been more experienced in the art of war, they would and *should* have been more afraid, since 600 seasoned troops can put up a fight even if greatly outnumbered.

4. Right after the shiras ha'yam we have the episode of the bitter waters.  Bn"Y went from being surrounded by water to not having a drop to drink.  Moshe responded:

 וַיִּצְעַ֣ק אֶל־ה׳ וַיּוֹרֵ֤הוּ ה׳ עֵ֔ץ וַיַּשְׁלֵךְ֙ אֶל־הַמַּ֔יִם וַֽיִּמְתְּק֖וּ הַמָּ֑יִם שָׁ֣ם שָׂ֥ם ל֛וֹ חֹ֥ק וּמִשְׁפָּ֖ט וְשָׁ֥ם נִסָּֽהוּ׃

The word וַיּוֹרֵ֤הוּ suggests that Moshe was taught a lesson here.  Targum Onkelus translates it as וְאַלְּפֵיהּ; Ramban writes לא מצאתי לשון מורה אלא בענין למוד.  Was this simply a botany lesson, that that particular tree could make the water potable?  Ramban writes that there was more to it than that.  He siggests that the tree was bitter, but it miraculously transformed the bitter water to sweet.  It would be like adding salt to salty sea water to make it drinkable.  Rav Baruch Mordechai Ezrachi explains that the lesson Moshe was giving over here is that there is no direct connection between the means and the end.  Your going to work is not the cause of your getting enough money to take home a salary and have a nice home and be able to go on a cruise.  Your spending hours working on a sugya is not the cause of it going into your brain.  Just like adding salt to salty sea water obviously is not the cause of it becoming sweet -- it's has to be a gift from Hashem -- so too with everything else in life.  We put in effort because we have a chuyuv to do so, but the result ultimately comes from Hashem. 

There is a lot to say on this parsha of the bitter waters, much more than I have time to write about.  Why did Hashem deprive them of water to begin with?  When Hashem responded, why did he not give them potable water right away -- why give them bitter water that then has to be sweetened?  Chazal tell us that water represents Torah.  Bn"Y went from experiencing nevuah, singing shirah, so having what seemed to be no connection.  The Ishbitzer writes that there are moments in life when we experience gadlus ha'mochin, when we feel really connected and spiritually uplifted, but then there are moments when we sink and feel that we have nothing, that we are nothing.  Hashem wanted to show Bn"Y this the down moments are also part of the bigger plan.  There are moments in life filled with "bitter waters," but those too can be sweetened.