Parshas Beshalach

Time for Action

"ויהי בשלח פרעה"

“It happened when Pharaoh sent out the people…” (Shemos 13:17)

Chazal teach us that the word ויהי  - “it happened” –denotes צער, pain. This is the moment of redemption, when the yidden are being taken from the hands of their oppressors.   Why would this moment even be tainted with the slightest feeling of pain? What is this world doing here?

The Midrash Rabba (Shemos 20) explains that the word “בשלח -sent out” means that Pharaoh “escorted” them. The Shem M’Shmuel, quoting his father, the Avneir Nezer,  taught the  Midrash is referring to a spiritual force that Pharoah was trying to infect the yidden with to ensure that these spiritual impurities “escorted” the yidden out.  He wanted there to be a remnant of that impurity embedded in the hearts of the Jews.  They might be physically free, but their spiritual bondage would continue.

What does this mean?  What was Pharoah truly trying to accomplish?

The seforim teach that there is a process called an isrusa d’sata, an inspiration or action below, something that we do.  And, in response, there is an isrusa d’laila, a reaction in the Heavens.  This   is a dynamic of cause and affect that has been baked into the fabric of creation.   When we do a mitzvah or work in an area of our Avodas Hashem, Hashem responds by infusing a flow  of bracha into our lives. 

However, there are times when the yid can be so lost, can be so entrenched in the darkness, so distant  that he lacks the very ability to do anything.  He has lost the desire to learn Torah or perform Mitzvos.  For such a person, Hashem, who wants more than anything else for the yidden to succeed, overrides this dynamic and takes the first step.   Hashem sends a moment of inspiration, He awakes a yearning from within the yid to grow closer to Him, to cling to the Torah and to try to the mitzvos. 

This was the case in Eygpt.  The yidden  were enslaved physically and spiritually.  The impurities of Egypt had infected their spirituality to the point that they had fallen to the 49th level of impurity.  They were at risk of losing everything if they slipped to the 50th level; they would have been unredeemable, and all hope would have been lost.

Therefore, Hashem had to initiate and hasten the redemption.  However, the yidden hadn’t done anything  to earn that salvation. They were still void of any actions that warranted the miracles that they were experiencing.   It was a pure isrusa d’laila, an arousal from Above.

When Hashem takes that first step, the process  cannot stop there. We still have work to do.  We need to take that awakening from Above and internalize it.  We must act and place that inspiration into practical application. We need to do our  part, the  isrusa d’sata.  If we do not, we are at risk of that inspiration being fleeting. It may not endure.  If we do not internalize the inspiration and transform it into action, the Sitra Achra might be able to snatch it away.

Reb Tzadok HaKohen in the very first teaching in Tzidkis HaTzadik teaches that when a yid has a moment of inspiration, a thought to change his behavior, he must act with haste, to seize that moment. Later, there can be time to internalize that inspiration and to create a process or system around that behavior.  You can establish implementation later.  Now, when the gift from Hashem is there, seize it. Reb Tzadok explains that we learn this lesson from Yetzias Mitzryaim.  When the time had come to leave, to change their lives, to abandon the impurities of Egypt and become servants of Hashem, the yidden left with a haste and a sense of urgency. 

Pharoah sent the yidden out.  And, he knew that  that they did nothing to deserve the  redemption and all miracles.  He felt that they had lacked the  isrusa d’sata.  Pharoah, the embodiment of the Sitra Achra, believed that he could still infect the yidden with his impurity since they had done nothing to change who they were. They hadn’t internalized the change yet.

This is what the Midrash is referring to when it taught that Pharoah “escorted” them out; he tried to imprint on their souls the evilness and impurity of Egypt.  This was the “pain” that the yidden felt as they were leaving.  They felt that impurity clinging to their souls as they left and they realized that they hadn’t yet earned what they were given and, therefore, it could not possibly endure; it could not last. 

Therefore, Hashem brings them to the shores of the sea providing them with an opportunity to place that original inspiration, that redemption, into an action of their own.  The miracle of the splitting of the sea, explains Chazal, was in the merit of the mesiras nefesh and emunah that the yidden had as they began entering the waters.  This was the culmination of the cause and effect, of the isrusa d’sata and the isrusa d’laila. 

Hashem’s Children

The Imrei Emes of Ger notes that throughout kriyas yam suf – both in the Torah and in the blessings of Shema –the yidden are referred to as בנים, Hashem’s children.  What is the connection between this miracle and the father/son relationship that the yidden have with Hashem?

The seforim frame Pharaoh’s pursuit after the yidden in spiritual terms.  The yidden carried with them a spiritual burden from their experiences in Eygpt.  As the Midrash says, “Pharoah escorted” the Jews out of Eygpt. Therefore,  Chazal taught that there was an accusation in the heavens that both the Egyptians and Jews served idols.  Why should the yidden be freed!?

Throughout the Torah, the Jews have different descriptors.  Sometimes, they are called Hashem’s servants, avadim.   Other times, His children.  Gemara asks: which is it?  Are we servants or children.  One opinion explains that when we are doing Hashem’s Will, when we are learning Torah and performing mitzvos, we are considered children; that our relationship with Hashem is paternal.  When we are not, chas v’shalom, learning and behaving according to halacha, we are considered servants.  Another opinion says either way – whether we are keeping the mitzvos or not behaving in accordance with Hashem’s Will  – we are considered Hashem’s children.

The Bnai Yissachor explains that teshuva only works for the yidden and not the non-Jews because there is a fundamental difference between our relationships with Hashem.

The halacha is that a king cannot forgo is his kavod, his respect.  He must always demand that his people treat him with the honor of a king, with all the formalities, protocols, and respect.  A father, on the other hand, can forgo his kavod with his children.  Every transgression, every time we act in contradiction to Hashem’s Will, we are disgracing the honor of the King of Kings.  However, unlike the no-Jews, we are Hashem’s children.  And, therefore, we can be forgiven for those acts of disgrace. 

After the yidden left, the Egyptians complained: What is this that we have done that we have sent away Israel from serving us?” (Shemos 14:5).  They knew that the yidden were void of merits; that they had been spiritually deprived.  As a result, the Egyptians felt that they were like servants, avadim, and therefore the teshuvah would not be effective or accepted.  The evilness and impurity of Pharoah and Egypt can still capture them.  So, they pursued the yidden.

However, Hashem placed an opportunity before the yidden: Hashem set the stage for the yidden to demonstrate that they are בנים אתם לה"- children to Hashem.   Emunah, faith, is a reality only for someone who truly loves what or who they believe in.   Servants to kings don’t believe in their king, they fear their king.   When the Jews reached the shores of the sea, Hashem told them to go forth into the waters.  They had complete faith and self-sacrifice.  Even though the waters remained, they believed that they would split because Hashem said they would. As the Midrash says (Shemos Rabbah 21:8) that because the Jews had faith, Hashem split the sea.

In that moment, they demonstrated that they were truly Hashem’s children and, therefore, merited to have their teshuva accepted and all of the Heavenly accusations silenced.

The Vishitzer Rebbe has a beautiful insight that reinforces this idea. The pasuk says (14:29): והמים להם חומה מימינם ומשמאלים- that the waters created a wall on their right and their left. The word והמים is numerically equivalent to emunah if you count the word as well (102 ). The word להם is numerically equivalent to bitachon (75). We learn from here, said the Rebbe, the emunah and bitachon create a wall that protects us.  This reality came to fruition during kriyas yam suf. 

This powerful faith that motivates this level of self-sacrifice is innate  and deeply rooted in the heart of every yid.  As the Baal HaTanya writes, even the most distant and simple Jew is willing to give up his very life in a moment’s notice.  That faith burns bright in the hearts of every Jew.  It was the merit of that faith that caused the sea to split.  It was that faith that proved to Pharoah that the yidden are children to Hashem, always.  They might have lived a life of impurity, a life that was in contradiction to the Will of Hashem, but in a moment, they can sacrifice everything, their very lives, to fulfill Hashem’s Will.   They can change everything about who they are in one moment of repentance.  

The Halacha is that if a wicked person, someone who lives a life intentionally against Torah and mitzvos marries a woman on condition that he will be righteous, the marriage is legitimate.  Why? The condition may not be met! The seforim explain that even a rasha, a completely spiritually deprived person, can become a tzadik in a single moment of teshuvah. 

Two Redemptions

The Sefas Emes explains in multiple places that there were two redemptions taking place: one during Yetzias Mitzryaim and the other during Kriyas Yam Suf.   Each of these events served a very specific purpose in the evolution of the yidden’s spiritual development. 

The Sefas Emes explains that during Yetzias Mitzryaim, the yidden were not yet prepared to internalize the miracle that was happening.  As the seforim teach us that the servitude of Eygpt went beyond their physical bondage.  There was a spiritual decay to the point where the yidden  sunk to the 49th level of impurity and had they stayed in Eygpt a moment longer, they would have slipped to the 50th level and been unredeemable. Therefore, Hashem hastened the redemption; the geulah came even though the yidden were not yet ready or worthy of the redemption.

The Sefas Emes  continues and explains that when a yid experiences a miracle, but he wasn’t worthy, he didn’t earn that salvation, there is a tremendous accusation against him in the Heavens.  That accusation places the yid in tremendous danger. This was the “pain” that accompanied the yidden out of Egypt.  Being that they weren’t worthy of the spiritual redemption, Pharaoh believed that he could have a hold on them, that he could chase them down and conquer them, physically and spiritually.  

Therefore, Hashem created the second redemption: the miracle of the splitting of the sea; a miracle that occurred solely because the yidden had faith and took action: they walked into the waters simply because Hashem told them to.  That faith brought that miracle into actualization and was the miracle that purified the very essence of the yidden.