Parshas Beshalach - What I learned from my teacher

Making G-d beautiful?
Amidst the excitement and glamour of the splitting of the sea, the Jews cried out words of praise to G-d. “This is my G-d and I will make him beautiful”.

“I will make him beautiful”!! How can we make G-d beautiful?

The Rabbis of the Talmud seem to be bothered by this and explain[1]:

“Be beautiful before him with Mitzvos. Make a nice Sukkah, a nice Lulav, a nice pair of Tzitzis and a nice Sefer Torah”. 

We should make His Mitzvos beautiful. He is perfect; we are the ones that need perfecting. 


The guy with the nicest Esrog

I once witnessed the purchase of $700 Esrog. A regular one is priced at about $75. There were about ten other people watching. He took out a special magnifying glass to examine the Esrog. It was beautiful to see a Mitzvah given the respect of a precious gem. 

A teacher of mine had a different style. He told me, that he felt uncomfortable going to Shul with a fancy Esrog. He didn’t want everyone looking at him. He didn’t want to be showy. His Esrog was fancy in a different way.

One had a high-class Mitzvah; the other was a high-class owner.

The Jews at this most awesome time, in the midst of G-dly revelations, felt extremely connected to G-d. They were so ‘one’ with G-d, that they ‘forgot’ about themselves. When a person forgets about himself he can own an expensive Esrog and still be very humble.   


They saw G-d!
“This is my G-d”, the Jews sang to G-d. What did the Jews mean by “this”, were they pointing at something? 

The Medrash[2] says yes, they had such a clear vision of G-d, that they were able to point a finger and say here It is. It was right in front of them.

Based on this Medrash, the Rebbe answers an interesting question[3]:

“How were the women able to sing in front of the men at the time of the splitting of the sea[4]? Possibly, because the Jews (even the simple ones) were experiencing such a clear revelation of G-dliness, the attraction of a woman singing was not a worry”.

With this in mind, the Jews cried out, “Let us make our Mitzvos beautiful”. In such a state, the ulterior motive of having a fancy Mitzvah, is not even considered.

Obviously, it’s better to spend your money on a Mitzvah over a Lamborghini. But, to make it truly beautiful, it has to be coming from a place of “this is my G-d” – a personal deep relationship with our Maker.




[1] Tractate Shabbos 133b, the Talmud goes on with alternate explanations, cf. Rashi on the verse.


[2] See Yalkut Shimoni 244, cf. Rashi on verse.


[3] Lekutei Sichos (Lubavitcher Rebbe) Vol 11 pg. 58 fn 20


[4] This question is based on the Jewish Law that a woman’s voice while singing, is considered intimate, and therefore should not be shared with the public.