Pesach 5631 Last Days Second Ma'amar

On the seventh day of Pesach the nation of Israel crossed the Red Sea and sang Shiras HaYam/The Song of the Sea.¹ The Shirah starts with, “... אָשִׁירָה לַה' כִּי־גָאֹה גָּאָה .../I will sing to God for He is most exalted.” The double wording “גָאֹה גָּאָה/He is most exalted” implies that He is the epitome of exaltedness, of greatness. To say that the difference between God’s exaltedness and that of others is simply a matter of degree is difficult. Instead, the Sfas Emes explains that the double wording teaches us something about the relationship of the greatness of others to God. It implies that the greatness of all others are only for His glory whereas God’s glory is inherent. It has no ulterior reason. How so?

We find in Mishlei (16:18), “לִפְנֵי־שֶׁבֶר גָּאוֹן/Pride precedes destruction.” The greatness of the wicked glorifies God in their destruction. The greater they are, the greater the destruction when they fall and the greater God’s honor when they are destroyed. The greatness of the righteous glorifies God as well when the righteous person even in greatness subordinates himself to God and recognizes His benevolence. The greater the righteous the more he glorifies God when he acknowledges God’s kindnesses. We see that the greatness of others is not intrinsic. The greatness of others is defined by its relationship to God and how it brings out God's glory. God's glory, though, is independent.

According to this we can understand why we find in the Shirah, “אָמַר אוֹיֵב אֶרְדֹּף אַשִּׂיג .../The enemy said, ‘I will pursue, I will reach …” (Shmos 15:9) Why is this part of the Shirah? Do we care to know the intentions of the enemy? Is not the purpose of the Shirah to sing praises to God for having saved us? The Sfas Emes explains that this is exactly the reason that the enemy’s intentions are mentioned. The more impertinent the enemy the greater God’s glory when he is destroyed. The enemy’s intentions are followed directly with God’s action to destroy him, “נָשַׁפְתָּ בְרוּחֲךָ כִּסָּמוֹ יָם .../You blew with Your wind, the sea covered them …” (Shmos 15:10) The enemy’s impudence helped cause his own destruction.

1See Rashi on Shmos 14:5

Pesach 5632 Seventh Day, Third Ma'amar

On the seventh day after leaving Egypt we found ourselves at the shores of the Red Sea with the entire Egyptian army in hot pursuit.  We were fearful and cried out to God.  We complained to Moshe Rabbeinu, "המבלי אין קברים במצרים לקחתנו למות במדבר מה זאת עשית לנו להוציאנו ממצרים/Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you took us to die in the desert?  What have you done to us by taking us out of Egypt?" (Shmos 14:11)  And yet, a few pesukim later we sing, "זה א-לי ואנוהו/This is my God and I will extol Him." (Shmos 15:2) Chazal[1] understand that this pasuk is referring to a level of prophecy.  Even a maidservant at the sea saw more than the prophet Yechezkel!

What happened that caused us to advance from fear and complaining to an incredibly high level of faith and prophecy in such a short time?  The answer to this question is dependant on a better understanding of the salvation and the miracle at the Red Sea. 

Between our complaining and the splitting of the sea Moshe Rabbeinu delivered a crucial instruction.  He said to us, "אל תיראו התיצבו וראו את ישועת ה' ... ה' ילחם לכם ואתם תחרישון/Do not fear.  Stand firm and witness God's salvation … God will fight for you and you must remain silent." (Shmos 14:13,14)  Then we were told to move forward towards the sea!  Chazal[2] teach us that the sea did not split until the water was up to our necks.

The Torah is telling us that the true salvation happened inside us before the sea split.  The true salvation was when we stopped complaining and stopped trying to figure out what to do.  The salvation came when we were silent and gave our fate over to God.  When we walked into the sea at God's behest the pasuk tells us, "הים ראה וינס/The sea saw and fled." (Tehillim 114:3)  When the sea saw that we were ready to deliver ourselves completely to God disregarding any physical obstacle, the sea delivered itself to God as well and split.

Chazal allude to this idea in two Midrashim.  The first Midrash[3] relates that the sea did not want split.  The sea claimed that it was more important that man having been created earlier – on the third day of creation – whereas man was created later – on the sixth day of creation.  The second Midrash[4] as the Sfas Emes explains it says that if man relates only to his physical being and the physical world around him, he was indeed created last and is less important that every other creation.  However, if he negates the physical in favor of the spiritual, he was spiritually first.  When the nation walked into the sea, we negated the physical.  The waters had no choice but to split.

The splitting of the sea then served to strengthen our awe of God and our faith even more as we find, "וייראו העם את ה' ויאמינו בה' ובמשה עבדו/The nation feared God and had faith in God and in Moshe His servant." (Shmos 14:31)

Pesach is called זמן חירותנו/the time of our freedom.  We repeat this every year in our prayers to declare that the events of the Exodus influence us today at this time of year even though they occurred so long ago.  The Sfas Emes explains that the freedom we celebrate is not just the physical freedom from Egyptian bondage.  The main freedom that we celebrate is the freedom from the physical that we experienced at the splitting of the sea.  We can aspire to this freedom even now particularly at this time of year.

The Sfas Emes teaches that anytime we find ourselves in dire straits as we did at the shore of the Red Sea, the best thing we can do is to clarify and accept the will of God with all our heart.  We should desire and look forward to God saving us for the sake of His Name so that His greatness is revealed.  One who can do this is truly free.  His perspective is one of equanimity.

This is exactly what happened at the Red Sea.  We sang Shiras HaYam/The Song of the Sea praising God not so much for splitting the sea.  Rather, we sang the song because He saved us and we experienced Him.  It was the high level of faith and awe that caused us to sing as the pesukim directly preceding the song indicate, "ויושע ה'  ... את ישראל ... וייראו ... את ה' ויאמינו ... אז ישיר .../God saved Israel … and they feared God and believed … Then they sang ..." (Shmos 14:30,31)

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[1] Mechilta BeShalach, Shira 3

[2] Midrash Shocher Tov 114

[3] Shmos R. 21:6

[4] Breishis R. 8:1