We Shall Overcome (Parashat Beshalach)

This week's parasha begins with a bit of a conflict that I found very troubling.  In the very first pasuk we are told that Hashem led B'nei Yisrael through the wilderness rather than Eretz Pilishtim because "Perhaps the people will reconsider when they see a war, and they will return to Egypt."  However, only 5-6 sentences later Hashem tells Moshe that He is going to send Pharaoh after B'nei Yisrael.  This seems very odd!  Why would Hashem send them through the wilderness to avoid them seeing a war if He was then going to place them in a war anyway??

Often we see or hear of others going through difficult situations and think to ourselves "I would never be able to handle that."  Even before we are faced with the situation we already make up our minds that we are going to fail.  In reality, however, we do not know whether or not we are capable of handling any situation until we are actually facing it.  Furthermore, we are taught that Hashem does not place us in any situation that we are not capable of handling.

That is the reason Hashem chose to lead us through the wilderness rather than Eretz Pilishtim!

Had we traveled though Eretz Pilishtim, Hashem feared we might have seen someone else at war and thought "I would never be able to handle that"at which point we would have wanted to return to Egypt.  The war that He placed us in while in the wilderness  - though it still caused some to want to return to Egypt - we were able to overcome.

As my father's yahrtzeit approaches, I find myself noticing more and more traits and strengths of his that I (regrettably) hadn't noticed before.  The trait of bitochon (trust in Hashem) that the above conflict teaches us was one such trait.  No matter the situation, I never recall my father panicking.  He always approached things with a sense of "things will work out."

May we all strengthen our bitochon and, in doing so, develop the ability to handle any situation we are placed in.  After all, if Hashem put us there - we can over come it!

Shabbat Shalom!