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Parshat Behaalotcha - Being Alive to Life’s Blessing

Rav Hanan Schlesinger

Nobody wants to be sick or in pain, to be weak, feverish or disoriented. But I certainly

cherish the day after having been ill. That’s when I am just happy to be alive, to breathe
freely, to walk and talk without aches and pains. We appreciate our blessings when they
are granted anew after having been temporarily revoked. Most of our days pass by
without proper gratitude because we just forgot all the troubles and infirmities and
malfunctions that we are blessed to avoid. We live without proper awareness, and
therefore we are not fully cognizant of the wonders of life. Days pass, we take it all for
granted, and we live without gratitude. We need to be reminded …

In this week’s Torah portion we read that after having been encamped at Mount Sinai for
just under twelve months, the Israelites are about to embark upon their journey towards
the Promised Land, the Cloud of God leading the way by day and the His Fire going
before the camp at night. “We are setting out for the place of which the Lord had said, ‘I
will give it to you,’ says Moses to his father-in-law who has been his guest for as long as
the Israelites have been encamped by the mountain. “Come with us”, he requests of him,
and upon being initially rebuffed, he continues, “Please do not leave us, for you know
where we should camp in the wilderness, and you will be to us as eyes”.

The elder man, here called Hobab, but earlier referred to as Jethro, for sure has all it takes
to be a guide through the desert. He was born there and has lived his whole life in its
environs. He knows its ins and outs, it hazards and how to avoid them. But with all his
expertise, it is still unclear why the Israelites should need a human guide at all. God is
their guide. He has promised to lead them through the desert by way of His Cloud and
His Fire. The way will be shown, manna falls from heaven, and water miraculously
gushes from a rock. What more can Moses’ father-in-law provide?

Schultz Rosenberg Campus, 12324 Merit Drive, Dallas TX, 75251

Phone: 214-295-3525 Fax: 214-295-3526
Email: kollelofdallas@sbcglobal.net Web site: www.kollelofdallas.org
The Community Kollel of Dallas is an affiliate of the Center for the Jewish Future of Yeshiva University
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Many years ago I heard this question posed by my teacher Rav Dov Begun, and the
answer he suggested was simple yet profound. Yes - God’s protective shield may render
the People almost impervious to the perils of the desert – and that is precisely why
Jethro’s services will be so crucial. The Israelites will never encounter all the dangers of
the desert, and may therefore be oblivious to God’s nurturing loving kindness. They may
take it all for granted, for they have no way of knowing how bad it could have been. The
wizened desert scout is the Israelites only portal through which to get a glimpse of the
dangers that God will save them from.

As the Cloud guides them through the wilderness, he will point out the scorpions they
might have encountered had they taken a different path, the impassable mountains that
would have blocked their path had they traveled north, the quicksand in which they
would have gotten mired had they marched south, the howling winds that would have
blinded them with air born sand had they not swerved from their easterly trajectory…

Jethro will truly be their eyes. He will open their eyes to the blessings bestowed up them
each and every day.

We must awaken ourselves every day to the blessings of life. We must make ourselves
fully aware of the fact that every breath is a gift, every step a present. Every day is an
opportunity. There is so much to be thankful for. We must each be our own Jethro, and
never be oblivious of all the things in our lives that could have gone wrong - and didn’t.

Schultz Rosenberg Campus, 12324 Merit Drive, Dallas TX, 75251

Phone: 214-295-3525 Fax: 214-295-3526
Email: kollelofdallas@sbcglobal.net Web site: www.kollelofdallas.org
The Community Kollel of Dallas is an affiliate of the Center for the Jewish Future of Yeshiva University