Parashat Beshalach
January 28, 2026
Netta Pack, Twelfth-Grade Student
Wednesday morning, at the Senior Sendoff Ceremony for the Class of 2026 as they embarked on their Lev v’Nefesh experience, twelfth-grader Netta Pack delivered her Senior Drasha, which we have edited for clarity and are proud to share with you below.
This week’s parashah is Parshat Beshalach. Beshalach means “to be sent out.” And that could not be more fitting because today, at our Senior Sendoff, we too are being sent out.
In Parshat Beshalach, the Jewish people are sent out of Egypt, finally free, but not yet fully ready and unaware that they will soon be faced with their first real test: the parting of the Red Sea.
I think I can speak for everyone in the room when I say we have all had our “freeze” moment. A moment where we are stuck and have no idea what to do. Imagine standing there with the walls closing in. In front of you is a sea. Behind you are the Egyptians. There is nowhere to go. No clear plan. Just fear and pressure. What do you do?
There are really two clear options.
Option one: Go forward. Are you a risk taker, someone who jumps in even before the sea splits?
Option two: Go up. Are you the type who looks up to God and prays in a moment of crisis?
But perhaps there is a really obvious third option that everyone misses. Just turn back and fight. Take on the Egyptians. All our lives we heard the same story. With the Jewish people’s survival on the line, Hashem is needed to miraculously split the sea. But…why? Three million Jews left Egypt. A few thousand Egyptians are chasing after them. And back then, there was no advanced weaponry. No guns. No iron domes. War is all about the numbers. So why not just fight back?
The Ibn Ezra explains that Am Yisrael wasn’t ready yet. They have barely become a nation. This generation leaving Egypt was born into slavery. It’s all they know. They can’t read. They can’t write. They were like children. Emotionally. Mentally. Spiritually. They didn’t yet have the maturity to fight back. They were scared. They still needed to grow up.
And that’s why the desert journey was so crucial. It gave them a 40-year journey through life. To learn lessons. To grow and develop as people before entering Israel.
We can relate to this. We’ve gone on our own 13-year journey in school. Take a second and reflect back to your elementary school years, wherever you were at the time. Everything feels new and exciting. Everything is “wow.” Kids take risks because they don’t yet have fear or embarrassment holding them back. That’s Nachson. He doesn’t overthink; he jumps right into the sea before it splits. But kids are also easily overwhelmed. When something is too big or intense, they get scared. At Mount Sinai, the Jewish people are so overwhelmed by the experience. They back away and hide behind Moshe like a kid hiding behind their parents. But that makes sense! It’s only been 50 days since they left Egypt. No wonder they’re still acting like children. They are amazed by the Torah, amazed by the miracles, but also so incredibly afraid.
Then comes Bnai Yisrael’s awkward stage. The Middle School years, when the rebelling begins. It’s every complaint you’ve ever heard on a school trip. They say, “I just want to go home.” After leaving Egypt, the Jewish people ask to go back on at least five occasions. They say, “I don’t like the food.” We have nothing but manna. Who will feed us meat?
And lastly, they say “there’s not enough water.” This is their final complaint. Known as Mei Meriva, it’s the tragic moment that the Jewish people demand water, and it leads to Moshe hitting the rock and losing his leadership.
But for the Jewish people, this might actually be their turning point. This story, at the end of Bamidbar, marks the end of their Middle School years. And now a new generation rises. A generation that is finally ready. Moshe will no longer be their leader, but they’re no longer dependent on him. They’re becoming their own people. Thinking for themselves and developing their own beliefs and value systems.
And that’s exactly the transition that we have made as a grade through high school.
High School has been our desert. Not a place of punishment, but a place of preparation. A place where we weren’t just learning information, but learning who we are as individuals and as a group. We came in as freshmen, unsure, awkward, figuring things out. We didn’t always know our place or where our voice fits in. But year by year, we grew more confident. Not just academically, but as people.
We learned how to speak up. How to lead. How to care about something bigger than ourselves.
And now look at where we are.
So many of us are choosing to take responsibility for our future, through gap years, through service, through joining the IDF, through leadership, through giving back. Not because anyone is forcing us to, but because we want to. Because we understand what it means to be part of Am Yisrael.
And that’s what makes this trip different from any other trip we’ve ever taken.
This isn’t just a vacation. This isn’t just a school program. This is a moment of transition.
We are going not as children, but as young adults. Not just to see Israel, but to begin our relationship with it.
Just like Bnai Yisrael stood at the sea no longer as slaves but not yet as a nation, we are standing at our own crossing. We are no longer who we were when we walked into High School, and we are not yet who we will become. And that space in between is powerful.
Editor’s Note: We wish Netta and the entire Class of 2026 a safe and meaningful time in Poland and Israel.