Why should I buy a special Esrog?

Remember: Tubeshvat is the time to daven for a special Esrog.

The pusuk says, "This is my God and I will glorify him", what does it mean to glorify Hashem, to glorify the Mitzot.  This is one of the sources to explain why we buy a beautiful Esrog, and special Tefilin.  When we do the mitzvot in a special way, we are really glorifying ourselves.

from a Shiur on Naaleh:

Parshat Beshalach: Glorifying the Glorified

Teacher: Mrs. Shira Smiles

Why did I fail in my Nisayon?

Sometimes people have Nisyonos that they are not able to withstand, and they fail.  This seems to contradict the idea that we are never put in a Nisayon that we do not have the ability to withstand.  The answer to this contradiction is that sometimes we put ourselves into a situation, that we were not meant to be in.  In that case Hashem has not given us the ability to withstand the Nisayon.

Another reason is that we can choose to fail.  Even though we have the ability to pass, we can choose to fail.

from a Shiur by Rabbi Noson Weisz about Beshalach from Aish Audio

Bringing our potential into reality

Hashem gives us tests, Nisyonos, to help us to bring our potential into reality.  If a person is never challenged they can live all of their lives in their comfort zone and never grow.  Hashem brought B'nei Yisrael through the dessert, giving them exactly the food that they needed for that day, to help them to grow in their Emunah.

from a Shiur by Rabbi Noson Weisz about Beshalach from Aish Audio.

Hey Mom I need Money

From A Shiur By Shira Smiles on Parshas Beshalach

When you have a child who is away at school and you know that they only call because they need money, you do not enjoy the call as much as a child who calls just to say hello.

If we only turn to Hashem when we need something we are like the child who only calls to ask for money. If we have kavanah while davening and saying Brachas we are like the child who calls just to say Hello.

I remembered this when my phone rang and it was a child away at Yeshivah and I thought to myself, "how long since I sent this child money?", even if the child was only calling to say Good Shabbos.

Spiritual Healing

From a Shiur by Shira Smiles on Parshas Beshalach

Parshat Beshalach: Ultimate Healer

Why does Hashem send us illness. Hashem does this for 2 reasons. Sometimes as a nisayon to help us grow and sometimes as a punishment. A punishment is not a negative things, but a way that Hashem is lovingly trying to guide us to move in a certain way.

The reason that Hashem caused the bitter water to become sweet through a tree(a symbol of Torah), was a lesson to us that we should not go 3 days without Torah.

This is to teach us that when illness strikes we have to look inwards and strengthen our Torah learning and observance. Our job is to look for a spiritual cause, not to view it as the reason, but a reason, and to look to correct it.

When we daven to Hashem to send us a Refuas Hanefesh, we should have in mind that Hashem should send us a spiritual healing, a way of knowing what we need to correct so that we should not come to need a physical healing.