31 Jan PARASHAT BESHALACH- STAYING AWAY FROM TROUBLE

The Torah in Parashat
Beshalah tells the famous
story of “Keri’at Yam
Suf” – the splitting of the
sea. Beneh Yisrael were
trapped against the sea by
the Egyptian army which pursued them, and
Hashem miraculously split the waters to al- low them to cross, and then threw the waters
back upon the Egyptians, drowning them.
King David briefly recounts this miracle in

one of the chapters of Tehillim which we re-
cite as part of our Hallel service: “Ha’yam

Ra’a Va’yanos” – “the sea saw and fled.” The
implication of this verse is that the waters of
the sea “fled,” giving way to Beneh Yisrael
so they could escape from the Egyptians,
only after it “saw” something. The Midrash
explains that the sea split after seeing “Arono
Shel Yosef” – Yosef’s coffin. As we read in
the beginning of Parashat Beshalah, Moshe
took Yosef’s coffin with him when Beneh

Yisrael left Egypt, in fulfillment of the prom-
ise Yosef’s brothers made to Yosef before his

death, that his remains would be brought to

Eretz Yisrael for burial. The presence of Yo-
sef’s coffin, the Midrash teaches, is what led

the water of the Yam Suf to split and thus
rescue Beneh Yisrael. The Midrash explains
that this miracle was done in Yosef’s merit
because he fled from Potifar’s wife when she
tried to lure him to sin when he worked in her
home as a slave. In the merit of Yosef’s flee- ing from Potifar’s wife, the sea “fled” when
it saw Yosef’s coffin, allowing Beneh Yisrael

to cross to safety.
Rav Haim Shmuelevitz (1902-1979), in
one of his classic discourses, remarked that
the Midrash’s comments teach us of the vital

importance of “fleeing” situations of temp-
tation. Yosef chose not merely to refuse Po-
tifar’s wife’s advances, but to flee from her

presence. He did not want to be tested or
challenged; he felt it necessary to run away,
knowing full well that she would likely cast
false allegations against him. And in this
merit, the merit of fleeing from temptation,
the entire nation was saved and experienced
an extraordinary miracle.
The Gemara in Masechet Baba Batra (57)
states that if a person walks through a place
that has inappropriate sights, despite the fact
that he could have taken a different route,
then even if he closes his eyes as he walks,
he is considered sinful. The person in this
case did not actually commit any sin, and
even tried to avoid temptation by keeping his
eyes closed. Nevertheless, he is considered a
sinner for unnecessarily choosing that route.
If he had the possibility to avoid a situation
of temptation, then he is held accountable for
voluntarily placing himself in that situation,
even though he resisted the temptation.

We should not be knowingly placing our-
selves in positions that test our religious

commitment. Maintaining our loyalty to
Torah and Misvot is difficult enough as it is
with the ordinary, day-to-day religious chal- lenges that life presents us. We need to be
smart enough to avoid places and settings

which present especially difficult challenges.
Parents walking with their small children
instruct their children to keep far away from
the curb. Even though no car would hit
somebody walking right next to the curb,
nevertheless, as an extra precaution, people
generally walk several inches, at least, away
from the edge of the sidewalk. This should
be our policy when it comes to spiritual safe- ty, as well. We should never put ourselves on
the “edge,” in a place where it is very easy to
slip into sin. We must steer clear of trouble,
rather than putting ourselves in a situation of
spiritual challenge.
The Gemara in Masechet Sota teaches that
a person sins only if he is overcome by a
“Ru’ah Shetut” – some kind of “insanity.”
After all, who in their right mind would

knowingly transgress the command of Hash-
em? This is possible, the Gemara states, only

because one’s rational faculties were some-
how compromised. Nevertheless, the Gema-
ra proceeds to explain, we are punished for

our misdeeds because we expose ourselves
to this “Ru’ah Shetut.” We put ourselves
in situations that lend themselves to sinful
temptation, and we are therefore accountable
for the sins we commit due to these tempta- tions. We might draw an analogy to a driver
who is ticketed for running a red light. He
might try excusing himself by saying that he
was driving so fast as he approached the light
that he could not stop the car in time, but this
excuse, of course, would not help him in
court. True, he could not stop the car in time,

but he should not have been driving so fast as

he approached the light. We, too, are held ac-
countable for putting ourselves in positions

where we are susceptible to a “Ru’ah Shetut”
which leads us to sin.
One of the important applications of this

message is drinking. Jewish tradition has al-
ways frowned upon intoxication and exces-
sive drinking that lends itself to intoxication.

As mentioned, it is difficult enough to live
as a Torah Jew and withstand the religious
challenges that life normally throws our
way. When one is inebriated, his judgment
is clouded, he is less disciplined, and thus he

is less capable of withstanding sinful tempta-
tions. While our society encourages drinking

and getting drunk from time to time, Torah
Judaism strongly opposes such behavior. We
are to avoid unnecessarily compromising our
ability to properly observe the Torah, and
must never knowingly place ourselves in a
situation which tests our loyalty and makes it
more difficult to follow Hashem’s laws.