Parshat Beshalach

B’nei Yisrael left Egypt. They took along the remains of Yoseph to bury them in the Land of Cana’an. During their travels from Egypt a cloud column led the way during the day while at night a column of fire took its place.

Paroh sent along spies with the departing Jews. After seeing the strange route that they took leaving Egypt
they reported to Paroh that the Jews are lost. This news encouraged Paroh to rally his people and recapture the freed slaves. The Egyptians pursued the Jews with their armies. The B’nei Yisrael panicked when they saw the Egyptian armies coming. Moshe comforted them by telling them that Hashem would fight for them.

Seven days after leaving Egypt they reached the Red Sea. Miraculously, the waters parted to let the Jews
through, however, when the Egyptians followed, the waters went back to normal. The Egyptians drowned. Moshe and B’nei Yisrael sang a special song of thankfulness and praise to Hashem – Az Yashir, also called Shirat Hayam. Miriam, Moshe’s sister, also led the women in song and dance.

B’nei Yisrael then came to a place called Marah. The Jews could not drink the water there because it was bitter. Hashem told Moshe to place a nearby tree into the water. This sweetened the water so that the Jews could drink it.

They next reached the wilderness of Sinai. The Jews complained about a lack of bread and meat. They said
that they thought they would have been better off staying in Egypt. In answer to their request they received Mun (manna). This “bread” was found outside each morning on the ground between two layers of dew. On Erev Shabbat they received a double portion since they received none on Shabbat.

To honor the request for meat, Hashem sent low flying quail which the Jews caught and prepared.

The B’nei Yisrael traveled on to Refidim. Once there they complained about the lack of water. Hashem instructed Moshe to hit a certain rock in front of all the Jews. This caused water to come rushing out. Now there was plenty available.

The parsha closes with the nation of Amalek making a surprise attack upon B’nei Yisrael. They attacked the
weak stragglers. Yehoshua was sent by Moshe to lead the battle against Amalek. Meanwhile, Moshe prayed for victory. The B’nei Yisrael were victorious. Moshe was instructed by Hashem to write down the story about this battle so as to remember this event.

Also the nation of Amalek was to be erased from the earth.

The Parsha summary and questions are from: 

The Karasick Department of Synagogue Services of the Orthodox Union