From On High (exodus: beshalach)

The lesson that keeps coming up is that the path to the Promised Land is fraught with obstacles, & we each must overcome our doubts & confusions and continuously clarify our goals. This happened with Avraham, having to go to Egypt first & then we see it happening to the entire Jewish nation. Instead of being led on a direct path, God took them around. As Mac Miller sings on Hurt Feelings, “I’ve been going through it, you just go around it.” It sometimes feels like the only way to power through something is to push directly through it, but sometimes a circular path instead of a direct one is more healing & conducive to holiness. It allows time for healing & clarity & that is exactly how we as a nation pushed through the waters of the Red Sea & became free. This week we read the song that Moshe & the 3 million Jews burst into in unison after being saved by the splitting of the Red Sea. Spiritual exile corresponds to Egypt, & we find ourselves spiritually stuck & often feeling trapped in our own lives, sometimes in indecision, other times by a series of obstacles that seem insurmountable. It’s each of our willingness to draw close to God that represents our own exodus from impurity & indecision, to purity & clarity, from faithlessness to a life more faithfully balanced. Often, when we do feel trapped & feel that we have no viable options left, we are only left with crying out, speaking out, praying out to God & in those times we’ll see the waters open up & the beginning of a redemption will reveal itself. Carlebach says that in order to sing one has to be free. The slaves from Africa used to sing to tell you that no matter how much you tried to enslave them, they were still free. Singing comes from the world of freedom. When you sing, you are telling evil, “You don’t have dominion over me.” The Zohar says whoever sings Az Yashir (the Song of the Sea, the Song of Deliverance) every day with kavanah (sincerity) will have their sins forgiven and will merit singing it together with mashiach and all of Israel in the time of our ultimate redemption. It’s not enough to ask for the redemption, as we already know it is coming; we must ask for it speedily at this very moment! ** dive in deeper in my 2nd 𝐋𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐈𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐞 book, ‘ 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙴𝚡𝚘𝚍𝚞𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝙳𝚊𝚛𝚔𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚜.’ Get your copy on @Amazon, https://amzn.to/3uvdfxw or read it online at https://lightofinfinite.com/the-song-of-the-sea/ Stay *Safe*, & Shabbat *Shalom*! Love y'all! - @ErezSafar 🪬🤍🧿🕊️