This Shabbat we study the Parshah Beshalach, meaning “When he sent” (Exodus 13:17). Soon after allowing the children of Israel to depart from Egypt, Pharaoh chases after them to force their return, and the Israelites find themselves trapped between Pharaoh’s armies and the sea. G-d tells Moses to raise his staff over the water; the sea splits to allow the Israelites to pass through, and then closes over the pursuing Egyptians. Moses and the children of Israel sing a song of praise and gratitude to G-d.

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In the desert the people suffer thirst and hunger, and repeatedly complain to Moses and Aaron. G-d miraculously sweetens the bitter waters of Marah, and later has Moses bring forth water from a rock by striking it with his staff. He causes manna to rain down from the heavens before dawn each morning, and quails to appear in the Israelite camp each evening.

The children of Israel are instructed to gather a double portion of manna on Friday, as none will descend on Shabbat, the divinely decreed day of rest. Some disobey and go to gather manna on the seventh day, but find nothing. Aaron preserves a small quantity of manna in a jar, as a testimony for future generations.

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Chabad.org

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This week's haftorah describes the fall of the Canaanite general Sisera and his armies, who were swept away by the Kishon River, and Deborah's ensuing song of thanks. This parallels this week's Torah portion which discusses the drowning of the Egyptian forces in the Red Sea and the subsequent songs led by Moses and Miriam.

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Deborah the Prophetess was the leader and judge of the Israelites at a difficult time; the Israelites were being persecuted by King Jabin of Canaan and his general Sisera. Deborah summoned Barak son of Abinoam and transmitted to him G-d's instruction: "Go and gather your men toward Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and Zebulun. And I shall draw to you, to the brook Kishon, Sisera, the chieftain of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his multitude; and I will give him into your hand." At Barak's request, Deborah accompanied him, and together they led the offensive.

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Sisera was informed of the Israelites' mobilization and he gathered his forces and proceeded towards the Kishon River. Barak's army below and the heavens above waged battle against the Canaanites and utterly destroyed them. The river washed them all away; not one of the enemy survived.

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The defeated general fled on foot and arrived at the tent of Jael, wife of Heber the Kenite. She invited him in and offered to hide him. When he fell asleep, Jael took a tent-peg and knocked it through Sisera's temple.

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The next chapter of the haftorah is the Song of Deborah, which describes the miraculous victory and thanks the One Above for His assistance.

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Chabad.org

A boundless Creator hides in plain sight. He camouflages Himself within His own creation, cloaked within the consistent patterns that provide the illusion of a closed, natural order. As though this world were something other than His infinite light.

A miracle is a tear in the cloak, a disruption of that order, a crack in the wall of creation through which the human mind can glimpse beyond the illusion. So that the wise will understand, and seekers will find a path to know, that there really is no cloak, no nature. That all is divine. Every day, miracles greater than the splitting of the sea occur in your life. Stop and wonder.

And then allow that wonder to crack the shell of your cramped little world.

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Rabbi Tzvi Freeman

 A Jew is to remember every day what Amalek did, and we are commanded to “blot out the memory of Amalek” (Ki Teitzei 25:19). Nowadays we cannot identify Amalek as a nation. But there is also a spiritual Amalek lurking in the recesses of our hearts:

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Of Amalek it is said, “karcha-he made you cool off ” (Ki Teitzei 25:18). That is, he cooled Israel’s fervor and enthusiasm for G-dliness after the exodus from Egypt on their way to Sinai to receive the Torah. This spiritual Amalek is anything that would cool our bond with Torah and mitzvot. It is our task to fend off this spiritual Amalek and clear a path to the revelation of the inner dimension of the Torah that will be manifested by Moshiach, speedily in our days.

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Rabbi J. Immanuel Schochet

In the Torah portion Beshalach, after the Jewish people left Egypt, Pharaoh sent his army of charioteers after them, cornering the Jewish people with Egypt at their back, the vast desert on both sides and the sea in front of them. Short of a new miracle, the Jewish people were facing imminent slaughter.

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According to Midrashic commentary, some people wanted to surrender and go back to Egypt. Some were ready to commit suicide. Some were willing to fight the Egyptians. And another group started to pray. Moses cried out to G-d, and G-d replied (in essence): “Stop praying and journey forth. Do something!” It was at that point that the famous Nachshon ben Aminadav moved into the sea, and when the water reached his nostrils, the sea began to part. Was he an optimist or insane? Irrational or grounded?

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In his book, Learned Optimism, Martin Seligman, the father of Positive Psychology explains that there are two ways of looking at life: as an optimist and as a pessimist. And he gives an example. A young couple has their first baby. The father looks at her in her crib and he calls out her name. Although the baby is awake, she doesn’t respond. Dad picks up a toy with a bell and shakes it. No response. His heart starts to beat rapidly, and he summons his wife. The mother was also unable to get the baby’s attention with loud sounds. “My G-d, she’s deaf,” concludes the father. Mom consults a baby book for advice, reading how there is no reason for alarm since it takes time for the startle and sound reflex to kick in. Mom is reassured. Nevertheless, she leaves a voice message with the pediatrician’s office to schedule an appointment, and she goes about her weekend as usual. Dad, on the other hand, remains a worried mess, ruminating that he has a “bad feeling about this.” On Monday, the pediatrician administers a neurological exam and finds the baby perfectly healthy. The father does not believe the test results, and still remains depressed and worried. A week later, when the baby startled at the noise of a backfiring car, the father began to recover his spirits and was able to enjoy his child once again.

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[There are] two basic outlooks on life. The pessimist “awful-izes” events, viewing harmful situations as long-lasting, if not permanent, and allowing the upset to permeate all areas of life, taking it personally. The optimist, on the other hand, doesn’t anticipate defeat but when it happens, sees defeat as a challenge to be surmounted, limits it to this pertinent situation, and sees the cause as something external. I think there is another explanatory style, which I am calling “Jewish optimism.” [It] takes the best aspects of optimism, such as looking at events in their most favorable light and rising to the challenge with an “I can” or an “it can be done” attitude. But when it comes to causality, “Jewish optimism” would not regard events as external and impersonal. Just the opposite. In “Jewish optimism,” everything is “about me” (for my spiritual growth, that is). And this brings in the quality of faith—believing that the universe is not out to “get me,” but to “teach me.”

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Getting back to the scene at the banks of the Sea of Reeds, in facing Pharaoh’s army, the same G-d that liberated the Jewish people through His Divine intervention was now telling them to go, to “do something.” And so Nachshon, the Jewish optimist, walked calmly into the sea, and in so doing, he also paved the way for the Jewish expression of faith.

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And this sets Judaism apart because Judaism calls for belief-driven behavior, and the expression of faith through deliberate action. Judaism teaches that the garments of the soul are for us to actualize our potential. The trick is knowing when the focus needs to be our thought, when it is about speech and when it must manifest through action.

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So the next time you face a challenge, decide first whether grounded optimism is appropriate, and if so, try adding a little faith. Know that whatever test you are undergoing is the test you were meant to have—that you can pass it, and that you will emerge emotionally stronger, intellectually wiser and spiritually higher. Become a Jewish optimist, and there is no telling how many seas you will be able to part in your life.

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From an article “Is Your Optimism Grounded In Reality” by Hanna Perlberger