Beshalach

In order to ‎lure Pharaoh into chasing after the Jews, Hashem commands them to turn back, thus giving the impression that they were trapped in the wilderness and therefore were vulnerable. This causes Pharaoh to say מה זאת עשינו כי שלחנו את ישראל מעבדנו, what is this that we have done that we sent away Israel from serving us?

Just reading those words makes one wonder, says Reb Yaakov Kamenetsky. How foolish could the Egyptians be‎? Did they really think that they were the ones that sent the Jews out of Egypt?  Wasn’t it the ten plagues, ending with the death of the firstborn, that pretty much destroyed Egypt that forced them to send out the Jews? Why the regret? It wasn't their choice anyway.

Also, Hashem tells Moshe ואמר פרעה לבני ישראל נבכים הם בארץ , and Pharaoh will say to the Bnei Yisrael, they are confined in the land, the wilderness has locked them in. This causes Pharaoh to chase them to the Yam Suf where Hashem then performs the great miracle of splitting the sea. 

However, if you look at the Posuk, the wording seems strange. The wording states that pharaoh says to the Bnei Yisrael.. Now, if the Jews had already left Egypt, what Bnei Yisrael is he talking to? Rashi addresses this problem and says that it doesn't mean to the Jewish people it means about the Jewish people. Pharaoh spoke to his nation about the Jews. 

However, the Targum Yonasan says explicitly וימר פרעה לדתן ולאבירם , that Pharaoh spoke to Dasan & Aviram. The Targum is telling us that there were still Jews in Egypt after the Jews left; Jews that didn't want to leave, namely Dasan & Aviram. Since we know that Dasan & Aviram were sinners who didn't even want to leave Egypt, why didn't they die in the plague of darkness with the rest of the reshaim that didn't want to leave?

The מהרי''ל דיסקין answers that Dasan & Aviram were from the Jewish Taskmasters in Egypt who suffered the blows of the Egyptians. When the people couldn't finish their quota & didn't get all the work done, the Taskmasters, Dasan & Aveiram included, would take the beating for them. They would get hit instead of the Jewish people. Therefore, says the מהרי''ל ‎a person that suffers for another Jew, one who really feels another Jew’s pain, can be hurt by nothing; the powers of destruction are powerless against him. In the eyes of Hashem one who feels the pain of another & does something about it can do no wrong & is protected by Hashem . 

‎ 

This shows us how important it is to feel the pain of other people. There was a story told by ר' שלמה זלמן אוירבך about the ברוך טעם who had made a shidduch with a very wealthy family. At the same time, the water carrier took ill & the ‎ברוך טעם was very distraught over it; he couldn't eat & he davened for him to get better. One day, the future in laws came over & saw that he looked all upset. When they asked what's wrong, the family told them that it's because the water carrier is very sick. The woman went into him & said, "Rabbi, what is going on? I understand that you want to daven for him but to be so distraught over the water carrier?" When the ברוך טעם heard that, he‎ immediately broke up the shidduch. He said, if this woman has no compassion & can't join in another's pain, we cannot marry into that family. 

‎

How do we train ourselves to feel another’s pain & not just hear it say, 'how sad' and keep doing whatever we were doing?

Reb Yaakov Kamenetsky answered his previous question by explaining that we see how strong the power of bias is; that the power of want could manipulate the intellect. So much so, that they were able to block out the plagues and forget the death of their firstborn that just happened a few days earlier. Their psychological denial was so strong, that they already were saying, ‘we sent out the Jews’. 

Perhaps, on some level, this is what we do too. As long as something bad didn’t happen to us, we psychologically block it out. We know that the power for good can always overcome the bad so we must make a conscious decision to become more aware of the people around us; what's going on with them. If we train ourselves to be more attentive to the suffering around us & really feel for other people, then we, too, will be protected by Hashem Himself & will know no harm!  ‎

‎

‎