RABBI WEIN ON B’SHALACH 5777

This week’s Torah reading mentions the eternal problem that all fundraisers for institutions face – namely, that though one may have been successful in raising great sums of money for buildings, it is much more difficult to raise funds for the necessary daily maintenance of the institution and for the salaries of those who are involved with it on a daily basis. The Jewish people truly appreciated and sang God’s praises for extricating them from Egyptian bondage and splitting the sea to allow their exodus to be complete. But they found themselves in the midst of a trackless desert without visible supplies of food, water and shelter. In short, the building has been built but the question of how it would be maintained was still a problem? The Lord’s answer, so to speak, to this fundamental issue is intriguing and instructive. Just as the entire process of the Exodus from Egypt was wholly miraculous, unexpected and beyond mere human comprehension, so too was the sustenance of the Jewish people as they wandered in the desert of Sinai for forty years. It was miraculous, unexpected, unpredictable and also beyond human comprehension.