Parshas Beshalach – Learning to Love All Types of Jews

Learning to Love All Types of JewsONE NATION UNDER G-DWe all know already that the children of Yaakov were inMitzrayimfor two hundred and ten years and it was there that this small family of twelve brothers developed into one great nation. And because they didn’t have any territory to divide among themselves; they were primarily in the area ofGoshenand couldn’t spread out and settle into separate districts, we would have therefore expected that they should have lived together as one people, theAm Bnei Yisrael. L’havdil, like they say in America, “One nation, under G-d.” That’s whatwewould have anticipated.And yet, what do we see? That the developing nation of the children of Yaakov remainedtwelve separateshevatim. For more than two centuries they maintained the boundaries; everybody knew hisshevetand identified primarily with his own tribe. Everyone knew where he belonged.For two hundred years they didn’t give up their individual identity.Yehudah remained Yehudah, Reuven remained Reuven, and Shimon was Shimon. And that’s a remarkable thing because it was inMitzrayimthat they were supposed to grow intooneunified nation. And therefore we should study that; it’s a strange thing and it deserves a great deal of attention.THE GHETTO OF 1776Imagine that for two hundred and ten years Jews lived in America.Let’s say, in 1776 some Jews came to America from Germany and others came from Spain. Some immigrated from England and the Turkish Jews also arrived on the shores of America. So by