27 Jan BESHALACH: HISHTADLUS

The Chofetz Chaim
asks: Why did Hakadosh
Baruch Hu split the sea
only after Bnei Yisrael
entered it? This is a
lesson for all
generations: A person
must do hishtadlus; he
must jump into the
sea. He mustn’t be
idle. And then Hashem
helps him.
Bnei Yisrael entered
the desert without
preparing food for the
trip, as stated in last
week’s parashah
(12:39) “They had not

made provisions for themselves.”
Rashi writes, “This is to tell the praise of
Yisrael. They didn’t say, ‘How can we go to the
desert without food prepared?’ They believed
and went.”
But one can ask, what about the obligation to
make hishtadlus? The answer is that if they
were going for three days to the desert, there
would be an obligation to make hishtadlus.
They would have to bring along enough food
for the trip. But they were going to be in the
desert for a prolonged time. It was impossible
to prepare enough food for the entire journey.
Therefore, they were exempt from the
obligation to make hishtadlus.
The Chofetz Chaim zt’l asked an older bachur
what was the issue that was holding him back
from getting engaged. The bachur explained
that he sought a shver who would support him
for the first five years after his chasunah.
The Chofetz Chaim asked, “How many years
do you think you will live?”
Startled by the question, the bachur replied that
he hopes to live until he will be seventy or
eighty years, as it states in the pasuk (90:10),
“The days of our years because of them are
seventy years, and if with increase, eighty
years.”
The Chofetz Chaim said, “You want your
father-in-law to support you for the first five
years of your marriage, but who will support
you for the decades after that?”
The bachur replied that he had bitachon that
Hashem would support him.
The Chofetz Chaim replied, “If you believe
that Hashem will support you for forty, fifty
years, why don’t you believe that Hashem can
support you for the first five years after your
chasunah as well?”
The Chofetz Chaim said that Dasan and Aviram
made a similar mistake. The manna fell in the
morning – enough for one day – and it was
forbidden to leave it overnight for the next day.
What will be for breakfast the next day? People
placed their trust in Hashem, and every day,
more manna fell.
Dasan and Aviram, however, were afraid they
wouldn’t have manna the following day, so
they left it overnight. Their manna spoiled.

Their hishtadlus didn’t help them. The Chofetz
Chaim explains that part of the problem of
Dasan and Aviram’s way of thinking was that
even if their attempts would have helped them
have breakfast the following day, how would it
help them eat supper, and how would their
attempts help them the next day or the next

week? They anyway had to rely on Hashem, so
they should have immediately placed their
trust in Hashem and not worried about the next
day.
The Chofetz Chaim explained to the bachur
that his fears were similar to Dasan v’Aviram’s.
Because even if he can somehow guarantee

parnassah for five years, he can’t guarantee his
entire life. He will anyway need to place his
trust in Hashem, so he can begin trusting in
Hashem today.