BeShalach 5631 Fourth Ma'amar

The nation of Israel is standing at the sea, trapped. The sea is before them and the Egyptian army is in hot pursuit behind them. The nation seeing this cried out to God. Moshe Rabbeinu, as well, cried out to God. The Ibn Ezra¹ and the Ramban² both have difficulty with Moshe Rabbeinu crying out to God. God had just finished telling him exactly what would happen. There were no surprises here. God told Moshe to bring the nation back to camp by the sea. He told Moshe clearly that Pharaoh would pursue them and that God would be glorified by the destruction of the Egyptians before their eyes. The nation may not have known all this. It is not clear from the pesukim that Moshe Rabbeinu told them. They certainly had every reason to cry to God in prayer. Why, though, did Moshe Rabbeinu cry out to God? He knew exactly what was about to transpire.

The Sfas Emes explains that it is the way of the righteous to cry out to God even after they are promised salvation. As a vehicle for serving God and coming close to Him, prayer is relevant and required even after God promises to fulfill a request. Chazal teach us that there are no guarantees for the righteous.³ According to the Sfas Emes, this means that the righteous understand that they must turn to God even after assurances are given. In fact, the Sfas Emes takes this idea a step further and says that God only promises those who He knows will continue to turn to Him in prayer even after the promise. Moshe Rabbeinu, therefore, cried out to God even after the promise. For this very reason, God made the promise known to him.

The nation, on the other hand, apparently would not have continued to pray for salvation had we known God’s promise to destroy the Egyptians. It is possible that for this reason God did not command Moshe Rabbeinu to convey the promise of Egypt’s destruction to the nation. Chazal teach us that God wants us to cry out to Him.⁴ In Shir HaShirim (2:14) we find, “ יוֹנָתִי בְּחַגְוֵי הַסֶּלַע ... הַשְׁמִיעִנִי אֶת-קוֹלֵךְ .../My dove, in the clefts of the rock … let me hear your voice …” The Midrash in this week’s parsha explains that this is an allegory. It refers to God telling the nation of Israel at the sea that He wants to hear our voice in prayer.

God wants us to turn to Him always. The Sfas Emes teaches in a different ma’amar that we are required to turn to God in prayer even after our prayers are answered. This approach to prayer is very different from the conventional approach. This approach to prayer is based on the concept that prayer is primarily a tool for coming close to God, may we merit it.

1Ibn Ezra on Shmos 14:15

2Ramban on Shmos 14:15

3Breishis R. 76:2

4Shmos R. 21:5

BeShalach 5631 Second Ma'amar

“דַּבֵּר אֶל־בְּנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵל וְיָשֻׁבוּ .../Speak to the children of Israel and they will return …” (Shmos 14:2)  The children of Israel had left Egypt three days earlier.  God commands Moshe Rabbeinu to instruct the nation to turn around and head back towards the Egyptians.  Pharaoh will think that the nation has lost its way in the desert and will be goaded into pursuing them.  When he confronts the nation of Israel, God will destroy him and the Egyptians.  The obvious question as we read these p’sukim is, “Why?”  What was to be gained by returning?  If God wanted to destroy the Egyptian army, He certainly had ample opportunity to do so before.

The miracle of the Exodus happened very quickly.  Although the Egyptians suffered from plagues for a full year beforehand, our role in the Exodus began only a few days before we actually left Egypt when God commanded us to take lambs for the Pesach sacrifice.  We left Egypt so quickly, the Torah relates, that there was no time even for our bread to rise.  Things that happen quickly rather than gradually tend not to have a lasting impact especially when they are not earned; at this stage we certainly had not earned the redemption.[1]  God wanted the redemption from Egypt to become a part of us.  The lesson we needed to take with us was that God is always with us, an especially encouraging lesson in times of distress when this fundamental fact is not apparent.  We could truly internalize this lesson, only if we left Egypt on our own merit.  This is why God commanded us to return; in order to earn the redemption.

Chazal allude to this idea when they say that at the time of the splitting of the sea we were being judged whether to be saved or destroyed with the Egyptians.[2]  This also explains why we were afraid and cried out to God when we saw the approaching Egyptian army.  Considering all the miracles we witnessed in Egypt, it is clear that we had not the slightest doubt in God’s ability to save us from the Egyptians.  Why, then, did we cry out to God in fear?  The reason is because we doubted ourselves.  We were not sure if we really deserved to be saved.  It is possible that this doubt was the reason we complained to Moshe Rabbeinu for having taken us out of Egypt, “... כִּי טוֹב לָנוּ עֲבֹד אֶת־מִצְרַיִם מִמֻּתֵנוּ בַּמִּדְבָּר/… for it is better for us to serve the Egyptians that to die in the desert.” (Shmos 14:12)  Why were we redeemed before we merited it?  We could have stayed in Egypt until we were deserving of redemption.  Also, God had promised Ya’akov that He would redeem his children from Egypt.  If we were still in Egypt we would still have had God’s promise.  Now that we had left, this promise had already been fulfilled, hence our fear at the approaching Egyptian army.

God commanded us to return so that we could leave on our own merit.  However, this really only begs the question.  Why was the Exodus a two step process?  Why redeem us with undeserved miracles first, then redeem us again because we earned it?  Why not redeem us once on the basis of our own merits?  The Sfas Emes explains that the first miraculous Exodus was needed in order for us to deserve the second redemption at the splitting of the Red Sea.  The miraculous Exodus taught us that God is with us.  We used the miraculous Exodus from Egypt to strengthen our faith and trust in God.  In the merit of our strong faith and trust in God, we were saved at the Red Sea.

Chazal use the same concept when they teach us that if Israel would keep two Shabbosim we would immediately be redeemed.[3]  For the entire nation to keep two Shabbosim is certainly a great thing but what is the connection between this and redemption?  The Chiddushei HaRim answers this question in the name of Rav Shmelke Z"L.[4]  First, we need to know that Shabbos is a high level spiritual day.  This means that on Shabbos we and the entire Creation are closer to God.  It is easier on Shabbos to become more aware of Him that it is during the week.  In fact, Shabbos, as a concept, means closeness to God.

God wants us to become close to Him.  He wants us to be aware of Him.  He also wants us to earn closeness to Him.  In order to help us, He first gives us an undeserved experience of closeness to Him.  If we take advantage of this experience by using it as a stepping stone to become even closer to God, we are rewarded and God reciprocates. 

God gives us Shabbos even though we may not deserve it.  We can have an undeserved spiritual experience of closeness to God.  Our job, then, is to take advantage of this gift.  We do so by drawing the Shabbos experience into the following week.  We can use the spiritual experience of Shabbos to help us maintain an awareness of God in our lives during the week as well.  Based on our work during the week, we are rewarded with an even greater spiritual experience on the next Shabbos.  The second Shabbos is an earned experience.  By earning closeness to God, we bring the redemption which by definition is closeness to God. 

---

[1] See Yechezkel 20:5-9 and Sfas Emes Bo 5631 Second Ma’amar

[2] Mechilta Beshalach 4

[3] Shabbos 118b

[4] Rabbi Shmuel Shmelke HaLevi Horowitz of Nikolsburg (1726 - 2 Iyar 1778) was a major disciple of the Maggid of Mezritch.  Many of the leading rebbes in Poland and Galitzia were originally his disciples. Among the books he authored are Divrei Shmuel and Nezir HaShem.

BeShalach 5632 First Ma'amar

“דַּבֵּר אֶל־בְּנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵל וְיָשֻׁבוּ ויחנו לפני פי החירות/Speak to the children of Israel and they will return and encamp before the mouth of Chiros (lit. Freedom)” (Shmos 14:2)  The children of Israel had left Egypt three days earlier.  God commands Moshe Rabbeinu to instruct the nation to turn around and head back towards the Egyptians.  Pharaoh will think that the nation has lost its way in the desert and will be goaded into pursuing them.  When he confronts the nation of Israel, God will destroy him and the Egyptians.  The obvious question as we read these p’sukim is, “Why?”  What was to be gained by returning?  If God wanted to destroy the Egyptian army, He certainly had ample opportunity to do so before.

The Sfas Emes answers that God wanted us in a situation that would require His direct intervention to save us so that we would then sing praise to God.  The Exodus was not enough for this.  The Exodus was the fulfillment of God's promise to our forefathers.  While we, of course, would be thankful, we would not feel the need to burst out in spontaneous song upon our leaving in Egypt and in fact, we did not do so.  The splitting of the sea and the destruction of the Egypt army before our very eyes in what can only be described as a clear miracle was something else.  This was totally unexpected.

However, this begs the question.  Why did God want us in a situation in which we would sing His praise?  To answer this question we need to understand what was accomplished through the Exodus.  The primary purpose of the Exodus, the Sfas Emes teaches, was to rectify a flaw in the Creation.  The physical world hides God.  At least once in the history of mankind, God needed to reveal Himself so that mankind would know that He created the world.  This He did at the Exodus through a direct and unambiguous intervention in history and events.

This is the reason first commandment of the Ten Commandments describes God as the One who took us out of Egypt and not as the One who created the world.  His direct intervention in the events leading up to our leaving Egypt, events that our entire nation as well as the entire nation of Egypt experienced, is the proof that He created the world.[1]

What then was the purpose of the splitting of the sea?  The splitting of the sea teaches us that we can have a higher level interaction with God.  God split the sea in response to our prayers to teach us that as a result of our good deeds, God will relate to us in a way that is totally not bound by nature.  Conventionally, we view miracles as a suspension of the natural order that happen in an unpredictable manner.  However, the Maharal[2] establishes that just as there is an order and laws in nature, there is an order and laws in miracles.  The splitting of the sea teaches us that we have the ability live in a way that is not be bound by the order of nature.

God commanded us to return to the sea.  Essentially, He was asking us to return to our spiritual roots that are outside of nature.  Significantly, the specific place that He commanded us to return to was called the Mouth of Freedom.  True freedom, the Sfas Emes teaches us is attained at our spiritual roots that are above nature.[3]  May we merit it!

---

[1] Viz. Ramban at the end of Parshas Bo, on the pasuk ולטוטפות בין עיניך.  He discusses this idea at length.  Also see Ramban in Parshas Yisro on the pasuk, אנכי ה' א-להיך.

[2] Maharal, Gevuros Hashem, Second Introduction

[3] Zohar 2:45b

BeShalach 5631 Fifth Ma'amar

In this week's parsha we find Shiras HaYam/the song of the sea that the nation of Israel sang after being saved from the Egyptian army with the parting of the sea.  "אז ישיר משה ובני ישראל את השירה הזאת .../Then Moshe and the children of Israel sang this song …" (Shmos 15:1)  The Hebrew for "ישיר/sang" is in the future tense.  Why?  Rashi explains that the future tense signifies premeditation.  Moshe Rabbeinu first desired to sing and then sang.  This explains the future tense but why does the Torah tell us this?  Obviously all actions are premeditated.  We first think to perform an action and then act.  Even if the Torah had written שר/sang in past tense we would not have assumed otherwise.  What, then, is the Torah teaching us by using the future tense here?

Understanding the significance of song and by extension of all our actions will shed light on this question.  Singing the Shiras HaYam was more than just a message of thanksgiving to God.  Each letter of the Torah contains deep mysteries that we cannot even fathom.  Singing the Shira, or for that matter, learning any part of the Torah should have great ramifications in the spiritual realms and in this world.  However, is anyone of us on a level to effect such ramifications?  And yet the Torah tells us that the nation of Israel sang the Shira.  

The answer is that even though no one is on the level to influence the spiritual realms through his action and words in this world, God structured the world such that the spiritual is affected by our actions and words anyway.  A Jew has the power to "activate" the power latent in the letters of the Torah so that they enlighten spiritual realms not because he is on a high spiritual level.  Rather, we have this power because God gave it to us.

The Torah tells us that the nation sang the Shira, meaning that the spiritual power inherent in their words was activated and lit up, as it were, the spiritual realms.  Chazal teach us the same concept when they said that if one person starts a mitzvah and another completes it, the mitzvah is considered to "belong" to the one who completed it.  Whatever spiritual effect the mitzvah has is activated only when the second person completed it.  So, the mitzvah is considered to "belong" to him.

We see this concept as well in a Zohar[1] that says that our prayers split the heavens.  Certainly no one has the spiritual power to do this and yet the Zohar tells us that the prayers of every one of us split the heavens.  How is this?  The answer is that God made it so.  Our prayers split the heavens even though we have no knowledge of this and are not on a level to do it.

Even though left to our own devices, we do not have the power to affect the spiritual through our actions we do have the ability to desire this.  Our job is to cultivate a strong desire to achieve God's will.  God does the rest. 

The Torah uses the future tense ישיר/he will sing, which according to Rashi indicates premeditation, in order to teach us this.  Rashi says that Moshe Rabbeinu first cultivated a desire to sing – with all the implied spiritual ramifications.  Once he cultivated this desire, he was able to do it because God made it so.  

Our intent and desire is the key.  God knows that we do not have the spiritual power on our own.  In Tikunei Zohar[2] Chazal teach us that the Torah that a person learns without love and awe of God does not rise up to the spiritual realms.  Here too, we see that what is happening in our minds is the primary mover.

---

[1] Zohar 2:201a

[2] Tikunei Zohar, Tikun 10, 25b

Beshalach 5631 First Ma'amar

God’s providence on every aspect of Creation became known and revealed to all when He split the Red Sea to save us and destroy the Egyptians. We know this from the following Midrash. The Midrash states on the pasuk, “נכון כסאך מאז מעולם אתה/Your throne is established from then; You are eternal,” that even though You are eternal, Your throne became established only at the time of אז/Then (an allusion to Shiras HaYam/The Song of the Sea which begins with the word אז/Then.) The Midrash explains that God’s throne becoming established means that His providence became known in the world.

When the children of Israel realized that everything, including their very actions and the actions of every creature, is enabled because of the Godliness within, they sang. So, the song that the children of Israel sang was not so much a thank you to God for having saved them. Rather it was a spontaneous outburst of praise upon the realization that God is in everything. The Midrash, in fact, states this explicitly, “As soon as they came to the sea and saw God’s strength, how He punishes the wicked and immersed the Egyptians in the sea, ‘'ויאמינו בה/They believed in God.’ In the merit of this belief, Ru'ach HaKodesh/the holy spirit rested upon them and they sang.” Clearly, the key to their singing was their belief in God’s providence.

For this reason the introduction to Shiras HaYam is in the future tense, “אז ישיר/Then they will sing,” rather than the past tense, “אז שר/Then they sang.” The song is not thanks for a one time event. Rather it is an ongoing praise of God’s direct providence in the world. This is why the first pasuk of Shiras HaYam refers to השירה הזאת/this song, an allusion to a specific already known praise that rises from each part of the Creation.

When we praise God, indicating our belief that God is the force that gives everything its existence, we influence all His creatures to sing. How does a creation sing? To understand this we need to define song. Song is the physical expression of a spiritual essence within. Each creation is unique, has a unique task, a unique spiritual essence and therefore sings its own unique song to the Creator. This is the meaning of Perek Shira/The Chapter of Song which comprises the songs that each creature sings to glorify God. When we are aware of God in the Creation, when we sing God’s praises, the Creation can be said to be singing, as well. We know this from the pasuk "כל פעל ה' למענהו .../God created everything for His praise.

Chazal inform us that King Chizkiyahu did not sing (praise to God.) This is why he did not become the Mashiach. The Chiddushei HaRim explains that Chizkiyahu did not sing because God’s Providence was so clear to him that he was not moved by miracles. Chizkiyahu saw clearly the miracle of God’s life force in nature. To Chizkiyahu there was absolutely no difference between natural and supernatural phenomena. As we’ve said, singing to God is an outburst of praise stemming from the realization that God’s Providence is behind all. To Chizkiyahu this was so obvious that he was not moved to sing praises to God about it.
For us, though, singing God’s praise is a result of that special “aha!” that happens when we realize that God is the source Who gives life to every thing, creature and action in this world enabling us and the entire creation to come close to Him.