When Prayer Is Not Enough: Parashat B'Shelach

0:03This is why, when people ask, "How come Hashem doesn't just show Himself? Maybe He'll turn everybody into a believer?" He won't do it. And you know why? It didn't work. He did it once. It didn't work. Look, He just saved them, did all types of things, and a day later they lost emunah. Why? Because emunah is not something that you can just acquire based on seeing something and that's it. That doesn't change you forever. ... jolt of energy that you got from some experience becomes forgotten. You forget. How many people can really, honestly admit that they remember all of the miracles that happened to them? Not their whole life—I'm not going to ask you a ridiculous question—just the miracles that happened to them this week. The truth is, you don't even remember most of them because you don't even know most of them. All miracles—the fact that we wake up is a miracle and... Jolt of energy that you got from some experience becomes forgotten. Do you forget? How many people can really, honestly admit that they remember all of the miracles that happened to them? Not their whole life. I'm not going to ask you a ridiculous question, just the miracles that happened to them this week. The truth is, you don't even remember most of them because you don't even know most of all the miracles. The fact that we wake up is a miracle.

1:27The fact that you take a piece of meat, eat it, and it actually helps you is incredible. Your stomach processes this piece of meat and transforms it into something useful, yet the stomach doesn't harm you. That's a miracle. How does it break down the meat you consume but doesn't break you down, considering you're also flesh? The fact that you have these two little bubbles, your eyes, and you're able to see through them is remarkable. When you actually see the mechanics of the eye, it's unbelievable. It's thinner than a balloon. You take a little balloon, any balloon, any part you see, if there are a lot of balloons, there's a lot of popping happening. Why? Because they're fragile. How come you never see, baruch Hashem, you never see somebody walking in the street saying, "Oh, oh, my eye popped." It doesn't happen. How come? How come it doesn't happen? It's thinner than a balloon. It's thinner than a balloon. How come it doesn't happen? Because HaKadosh Baruch Hu decides. HaKadosh Baruch Hu decides. Now, when Bnei Yisrael failed, they started screaming to Hashem like we scream to Hashem when bad stuff happens to us. Did Hashem answer? No.

2:51They prayed to Hashem. What else do you want us to do? They prayed to Hashem. They didn't pray to idols. They prayed to Hashem. Hashem didn't answer them, showing us that sometimes prayer is not enough. Prayer by itself is fantastic. You have to take advantage of it. Not just for the three times a day Jews are supposed to pray. Women are obligated to pray once a day, while men are obligated to pray three times a day. If you want to pray more than once a day as a woman, go ahead. But a woman's obligation is to recite Shema Yisrael and Amidah once a day. Men are obligated three times a day. However, you should do more if you can. Why? Because when you pray to Hashem, you talk to Him, you cry to Him. He is your Father in Heaven, and He wants you to communicate with Him. Sometimes the prayer that you do independently is much better than the prayer that you're praying with a Beit Knesset. Not to guide you guys to start praying by yourself, without a minyan, but I mean a prayer that's not from the book. Pray just your own words. Cry to Hashem. The Breslovers call it Hitbodedut, and the rest of Am Yisrael just call it prayer. Talking to Hashem. It's good. But the reality is, sometimes it's not enough. How do we know? Hey, look at this parasha, Parashat Beshalach.

4:04It's cool, nice, a little shame, and then answer. So, it's, "Oh, so you know what? I'm gonna tell my rabbi. I'm gonna go to my rabbi. Rabbi, pray for me. I'm gonna go to the kever, outside the kever of the king. I'm gonna go to the Lubavitcher Rebbe's kever, even though some believe he didn't really 'pass away'. I'm gonna go to some other tzaddik's kever, and I'm gonna go pray over there." Why? Because that's where people think the yeshuah (salvation) is. Guess what? Sometimes it doesn't work either. Sometimes it doesn't work. You go, it doesn't work. You go to the kever, you go to Morocco, you go to Eretz Yisrael, to Tiberias, or you go to Tzfat, there are many kevarim in Yerushalayim, many, many tzaddikim. You go pray there and you're waiting for Hashem to bring you the salvation. Sometimes it doesn't work. A person is sick, goes there, prays, cries, comes home, and stays sick. Looking for a zivug, Hoping that if he goes to this kever, everything is going to work out. Not only does it not work out, but the zivug he thought he had, he loses. It gets worse. How come? He went to the rabbi. The rabbi prayed to Hashem. So, Moshe Rabbeinu starts crying to Hashem.

5:22After he calms everybody else down in Exodus 14:14, it says, "God will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace." Just stay calm and believe in Hashem. Moshe gives them encouragement. He says, "I'm going to cry out to Hashem for them." And Hashem responds, Rabotai, this is really a response for us. Hashem says to Moshe, why do you cry out to Me? Speak to the children of Israel and let them journey forward. So Chazal, our sages, are baffled here. I don't understand. What do You mean, Hashem? Who else is he gonna cry to? The Egyptians are there, the anacondas and scorpions over there, and there's an ocean that begins at 20 feet deep. Like, why, who else is he gonna cry to? Mustafa, Pikachu, the desert? Who is he gonna cry to, the idols? But then Chazal tell us no.

6:38What's the answer? The answer is, HaKadosh Baruch Hu says to Moshe, Moshe, this is not the time to cry to me. This is not the time to pray to me. You already prayed. You already showed that you understand that I'm God. You told me that you believe in me because you are the few that were chosen, right? But that's not enough. Now you need to show me. You told me you prayed already in Mitzrayim. You prayed, right? Now you need to show me. Go tell Am Yisrael, I want them to show me they have emunah by making a sacrifice, by doing something. And the reason why is because right now is not a time for prayer. There is a prosecutor against you. The Satan came to me and he said, listen, Hashem, it's not fair. You are going to split the ocean for them. And then the Egyptians are gonna follow, but then you're gonna close the ocean on the Egyptians, kill the Egyptians, but the Jews are gonna survive. That's not fair. Why? Why are you gonna let one survive and kill the other? They're both idol worshipers. They both believe the news. They both pray to idols. How do we know they both do this? Chazal (our Sages) say something scary.

8:00even though the best of us, the best of us that survived Egypt said we're leaving Egypt because of Hashem, they still brought their idols in their bags. Some of them still brought the idols in their bags. They brought the idols just in case it doesn't work out. It's like, no, no, Rabbi, I believe in Hashem. I believe in Hashem. Okay, so how come you're saving so much money for retirement instead of using it to help Am Yisrael do teshuva? No, just in case it doesn't work out, my belief in Hashem assures me that I'm going to be okay. At least I know I'm going to have money for my needs. But you already have money, you already have a house. You don't need to buy another house. No, just in case I need something else. What else could you possibly need? You have insurance, you have other provisions. Yes, it's important to have some type of savings, but chas v'shalom, you're not compromising the mitzvah of buying food for Shabbat because you're saving for retirement. Do you think that extra dollar you save on the challah is going to make a significant difference? We see here, rabotai, that there is a lot that Hashem expects from us when it comes to emunah. But ideally, our hishtadlut, our efforts, should be under control. Don't overdo it.

9:30Shabbat Shalom