Jan 234 min read

Parshas Beshalach

Zechus for all the soldiers on the front lines in Israel to stay safe and succeed! Zechus for the hostages to be returned safely and the wounded and grieving to recover from the terrible tragedy that occurred on Shemini Atzeres/Simchas Torah

Zechus Refuah Sheleima: Miriam bas Chana

Le'iluy Nishmas: Gittel a"h bas Shraga Meir Hakohen

Le'iluy Nishmas Tziporah Chana a"h bas Yaakov Avraham Eliyahu

Le'iluy Nishmas Eliyahu Nuriel zt"l ben R' Chaim Yitzchak and Raizel a"h bas R' Dovid Mordechai

Another great Parsha with many ideas for your Parsha Party. REMINDER - THIS IS A SPRINGBOARD OF IDEAS. YOU CAN CHOOSE ONE IDEA OR A FEW. AND HAVE THE KIDS GUESS THE CONNECTIONS.

Parsha Overview (Feel free to skip straight to the Party below - simply click the arrow next to this text and the overview will disappear.)

The Jewish people leave Mitzrayim. Hashem brings them the far way around via the Yam Suf route so that they don’t have a change of mind and decide to go back. The pasuk says that they left “Chamushim” which means either armed with weapons or only 1/5 of the nation left Mitzrayim as the rest died there during Choshech.

Before they left, they went to find the bones of Yosef that they promised to bring up with them from Mitzrayim.

As they traveled through the Midbar Hashem went in front of them with a pillar of cloud to lead the way. At night the pillar would turn into fire to give them light. It was always there.

Hashem wants to bring more miracles and once again he causes Paraoh to have a change of heart. They panic that they sent out the Jewish People and decide to chase them. Paraoh gets on his chariot with his entire army of horses and men and goes running back after them.

The Jewish people are in their camp at the edge of the sea and they lift their eyes and see Paraoh and his massive army running after them and realize that they are trapped. Of course, they cry out in fear and complain to Moshe saying “What have you done to us!?!?!” Moshe reassures them not to be afraid as Hashem will continue to do miracles for them.

Hashem tells Moshe to lift up his stick over the sea and split the sea so that the people can walk through it on dry land. He placed His cloud also behind the people to protect them from the Mitzriyim chasing them. It would catch the arrows and stones thrown at them. Hashem sends a strong east wind and the sea splits and opens dry land for them to walk on. On each side of them the water stood as a wall for them to pass through. The Mitzriyim see and run right behind them into the sea. Moshe lifts his stick again and the waters come crashing down onto the Mitzriyim and they got stirred wildly into the sea and their army was wiped out. Hashem saved the Jewish People and they in turn sang a song of praise and thanks to Hashem. (We say this song in tefilas Shachris daily – “Az Yashir”)

Miriam, then proceeds to take a “Tof” (tambourine or drum) in her hands as she sings and dances in gratitude along with the women.

The people continue to travel and they find themselves without water. They come to a place called Marah and can’t drink the water there because it’s bitter. The people complain and Hashem shows them a tree to throw into the water that makes it sweet so they can drink it.

Moshe teaches them some laws of the Torah there and tells them if they keep Hashem’s laws then Hashem will not send them any of the sickness that he sent to the Mitzriyim. They travel to a place called Elim and camp there near 12 springs of water and 70 date trees. Then they go to Midbar Sin and once again the people start to complain of hunger. They cry that they should have died in Mitzrayim where they at least had meat and bread to eat.

Hashem tells them that every morning he will rain down bread from the sky called “Mon” (Manna). Each day they should collect one portion only for that day. And on Friday they should collect double portions and not collect anything on Shabbos. At night, because they complained about meat, he also sent “Slav” (Fat quail birds) to cover the ground.

The Mon that came down with the dew in the morning was a thin frost-like layer and the people had no idea what it was until Moshe told them it is their bread to eat. Each person had to take their portion and if they took too much or too little, they would still end up with only the portion amount that they were supposed to have. They were told not to save anything for the morning but some people didn’t listen and left some over. In the morning they found it spoiled and full of worms and Moshe was angry with them for not listening. Whatever Mon was not collected that day would get melted by the sun. Except for Shabbos. They collected double on Friday and the leftover one was for Shabbos as they did not collect on that day. Anyone that didn’t listen and went out to collect on Shabbos saw that there was none to collect on Shabbos.

The Mon looked like a white round seed and it tasted like a wafer fried in honey.

Hashem tells Moshe and Aharon to collect Mon in a jar and put it aside in the Aron Kodesh to remember for future generations. They ate the Mon for 40 years in the Midbar.

The people travel again, this time to Refidim and once again there is not water. They start to fight with Moshe demanding he give them water. Moshe tells Hashem that if he doesn’t give them water soon, they will stone him. Hashem tells Moshe to take his stick and hit a rock and water will come out and this is what happens. Moshe calls that place Masah Umeriva because they fought there.

While they were there, the nation of Amalek brazenly comes up against them to fight with them. Moshe tells Yehoshua to choose men to fight against them. Moshe Aharon and Chur go up to the top of the mountain meanwhile and Moshe held his hands upwards. While they were up then the Jewish army was winning and at any point that his hands lowered, they started to lose. Moshe’s hands got heavy so Aharon and Chur placed a rock underneath Moshe and supported his hands upwards as he davened. Rashi says here that Moshe made the sun stand still instead of setting to mix up Amalek. Yehoshua was successful and won over the army of Amalek. Hashem tells Moshe to write what happened and give it over to Yehoshua and Hashem will wipe out the remembrance of Amalek from under the sky. Moshe builds a mizbayach and calls it Nissi – Hashem is my miracle.

(Adapted partially from Chabad.org, and The Pesukim and Rashi)

And now for the fun part

PARSHA PARTY

SNACKS LISTED FIRST SO YOU CAN TRY AND GUESS TOO!

Long laces candy
Gummy bones
Cotton Candy
Candy Corn
Heart candies/lollies
Cherries
Breath mints
Cry Babies Gum
Ice cream (think of the chant/song…)
Pretzel sticks
Blue candies (Jelly beans, sour sticks, sour belts, gushers, fruit rollups, etc)
Tradition or Gefen soup (cooked before Shabbos or save for after Shabbos)
Banana split (freeze bananas and cut down the middle – put scoops of ice cream down the center)
Rock candy
Blue Jello
Fruit candies
Gushers
Music notes shaped chocolates or cookies / musical jellies
Veggie Flutes
Mixed nuts or snack mix
Toffees / Toffee fudge cake
Sugar cubes / Sippies/ Fizz Straws
Flavored spring water
Dates
Mini Marshmallows/ white chocolate cookie balls / White crystal candies / garinim seeds / honey candies / wafers
Frosted Flakes / Frosted cookies and cakes
Double Bubble / Double chocolate cookies / double dipped donuts
Gummy worms
Chow Mein Noodles covered in chocolate in shape of bird nest
Candy Jar filled with white jelly beans
Fruit attack candies
Wine cups for drinks
Blue powerade
Fruity Peak
Sun cups chocolate or Sunkist candy

THE PARSHA PARTY ANSWER LIST!

Long laces candy – Hashem led the Yidden on the long route away from Mitrayim

Gummy bones - They brought up the bones of Yosef

Cotton Candy - The pillar of cloud that Hashem led them with in the Midbar

Candy Corn - The flame that led them at night

Heart candies/lollies - Paraoh had a change of heart and runs after them

Cherries or Honey nut cheerios - “Cherry”ots of the Mitzriyim as they ran after the Jewish People (For Honey see Honey candies)

Breath mints - The Mitzriyim chased after them so fast running out of breath

Cry Babies Gum – The Yidden cried and complained many times

Ice cream (think of the chant/song…) - The yidden screamed at Moshe (I scream, you scream, we all scream for Ice cream)

Pretzel sticks - Moshe’s stick that split the sea

Blue candies (Jelly beans, sour sticks, sour belts, gushers, fruit rollups, etc) – The water of the Yam Suf that split

Tradition or Gefen soup or any soup (cooked before Shabbos or save for after Shabbos) – They went into the Yam “Soup”

Banana split (freeze bananas and cut down the middle – put scoops of ice cream down the center) - The sea was split

Rock candy or chocolate– 1. The cloud behind them protected them from rocks of the Mitzriyim 2. Moshe was afraid the people would stone him when they complained of no water 3. Hitting the rock 4. A rock was placed under Moshe by the war with Amalek to help support his hands Heavenward

Blue Jello – The water stood like pillars or walls

Fruit candies – The Yidden were able to pull fruits off the walls of the Yam Suf to eat (Medrash)

Gushers - The water gushed back on top of the Mitzriyim

Music notes shaped chocolates or cookies / musical jellies – (May be available on Amazon, Walmart, or craft and baking stores) – the Yidden sang Az Yashir and the women had a special song and dance

Veggie Flutes - The music and dancing in song (a “flute” is a musical instrument)

Mixed nuts or snack mix - The water came crashing down on the Mitzriyim and mixed around a bunch of nuts 😊

Toffees / Toffee fudge cake – The instrument that Miriam took to sing was called a Tof (“Tof”fees)

Sugar cubes / Sippies/ Fizz Straws – Sweetened the water of Marah so they could drink

Flavored spring water - 12 Springs of water in Elim where they camped. Also can be for any of the water stories in the Parsha

Dates – Date trees in Elim

Mini Marshmallows/ white chocolate cookie balls/ white crystal candies / garinim seeds / honey candies / wafers - Representing the Mon – small white pieces that looked like seeds and tasted like wafers fried with honey

Frosted Flakes / Frosted cookies and cakes - Mon came down as dew looking like a layer of frost

Double Bubble / Double chocolate cookies / double dipped donuts - Collected double on Friday for Shabbos

Gummy worms – Any Mon they left over to save got spoiled and had worms

Chow Mein Noodles covered in chocolate in shape of bird nest - The Slav birds that came at night

Candy Jar filled with white jelly beans – Aharon was told to put Mon in a jar to keep for the future

Fruit attack candies - Amalek attacked the Yidden. Also Fruit grew on the walls of the Yam Suf

Wine cups for drinks – The people were “Whining” at Moshe when they were thirsty

Blue powerade - Hashem said hit the rock and water came out. Also can be for the Yam Suf and other water mentioned in the Parsha

Fruity Peak - Moshe went up to the peak of the mountain with Aharon and Chur by the war of Amalek

Sun cups chocolate or Sunkist candy - Moshe’s hands were up in prayer for the war with Amalek until the sun set. According to Rashi he made the sun stand still.

GOT MORE IDEAS? COMMENT BELOW ↓

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Have a wonderful Shabbos!

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