Beshalach

בשלח

Shabbat Shalom

Paroh and the Egyptians have a change of heart. Not a surprise...shoot, we have to work our land now? What happened to the people who used to build for us?...we barely had to pay them anything...we would just whip them and they didn't complain. Lets get them back....Kind of like the way the sisterhood treats Barbra. Barbra is the best cook in this shule and the sisterhood does not even appreciate her. The sisterhood calls her every time they need the watermelon basket cut...'It is too hard...lets get Barbra. We don't have to pay her.'

Everybody loves free labor...Far East...shoes...cheaper...recession...

It is the Jews who now get scared and start protesting- Not just the Egyptians who are angry, but the Jews are mad that they now have to reap reward for their labor.

14:12- The Jews make the statement- 'Better for us to serve Egypt than to die in the desert.'

A statement not too unfamiliar, as the last shule hike we went on, we got lost and were wondering in the mountain region, with no water, and no beds...

We all have second thoughts

The inter-shule convention last year. We all thought it was going to be a good idea. Then, we showed up, and the members from the other shules were there. There were other rabbis, other congregants. We couldn't even eat, because of the hashgacha (kosher certification)...Who put that event together, thinking it was a good idea...The Anshei Shalom inter-shule event. But none of the members from the other shules defected to our shule and we got no new members. But did we give up? NO...

Sometimes, you have to go into that desert of pain, in order to see the freedom. In order to appreciate a Barbra. In order to understanding the meaning of the hike, so that we can appreciate our beds. In order to see how we have been beaten down by the new building put up by Tiferes Yafes. And how it was wrong to use little children to put up that building, due to lack of building funds.

Yes, it is scary when the people you have been serving start to chase you in the desert and you have no weapons...But at the end, we have to go..

14:13- you shall not see Egypt again

You shall not see the fear of Egypt again

For it is H' who has redeemed you. If you see H's hand in the redemption, you cannot look back...You cannot fear that the kiddush will be without cutup fruit...You cannot go back to a fruit platter, once it is served in a melon...

14:14- 'H' will fight for you and you  shall remain silent.'

Sometimes, you have to tell the congregants to shut up...you have been whispering the whole sermon, back there...

The lesson is to appreciate the people you do not have to pay...you start giving people good wages and then they complain. Which is why it has been decided that the chazan/cantor will not receive a salary this year.

***These are excerpts from the sermon. For the sermon in its entirety, come see David Kilimnick perform at the Off The Wall Comedy Basement, in downtown Jerusalem.

David also tours as a Maggid with very few stories, if you invite him.

Shabbat Shalom uMvorach