Parshas Beshalach
Divine Multitasking
By Rabbi Shlomo Jarcaig
“And Israel saw the great hand that G-d inflicted upon Egypt; and the
people feared G-d, and they had faith in G-d and in Moshe his servant.”
(Shemos/Exodus 14:31) The Midrash expounds that prior to this moment
in
history when the Sea of Reeds came crashing down upon the Egyptian army
the Jews did not truly fear G-d, but from that point forward they did.
But the Jews had been eyewitness to ten miraculous and devastating plagues
that wiped out the largest empire in the world. If that did not cause
them to fear G-d, what was unique about the splitting of the sea that
suddenly led them to change their minds?
Bais Halevi (1) explains that the miracle at the sea was completely
different from anything they had witnessed until then. Since the Jews had
not yet been commanded to fulfill mitzvos (Divine commands) while they
were in Egypt, they had not performed these meritorious acts that would
deem them worthy of miraculous salvation. Thus, the miracles that took
place in Egypt were Divine retribution for the unusual cruelty they
inflicted upon the Jews. Indeed, this was why they initially only asked
to serve G-d in the desert for three days rather than to be set free. The
Egyptian denial of such a small request was all the more rationale to
punish them.
At the end of their Egyptian exile, G-d gave the Jews their first few
mitzvos and, with them, the opportunity to merit their own salvation. At
great personal risk, the Jews took lambs, an Egyptian deity, and offered
them as sacrifices to G-d. They also demonstrated an immense trust in G-
d, wandering into the desert to serve Him, and staying there with neither
any natural form of protection from the elements nor sufficient food and
water to last them for an extended period of time. In the merit of these
acts the sea split for them. Unlike the plagues of Egypt, the splitting
of the sea was an act of kindness and mercy. The water crashing down on
the Egyptians was wholly consistent with nature; the miracle was that it
stood up for the Jews. Previously they had seen G-d suspend nature to
punish the perpetrators of evil. But now they saw, as G-d performed a
miracle for them in His infinite love and benevolence, His attribute of
justice used the same miraculous event to punish the Egyptians. This
national epiphany for the Children of Israel was the source of their
newfound fear and awe of G-d. The Oneness of the Divine dictated that they
benefit from G-d’s acts of Divine justice against the Egyptians while the
Egyptians suffer from His mercy for the Jews.
Unlike the finite human, whose acts of kindness are simply that, G-d
always maintains all of His attributes: all of His acts are multifaceted
and impacting the world in more ways than we can fathom. None of His acts
are simple, so even when an event appears to us to be a simple kindness or
a warranted punishment - how much more so a tragedy we cannot attempt to
explain - we must remember there are other facets and ripples that we not
only do not see, but cannot even begin to comprehend.
Have a Good Shabbos!
(1) Rabbi Yosef Ber Soloveitchik, 1820-1892; great grandson of Rabbi Chaim
Volozhin, foremost disciple of the Vilna Gaon and founder of Yeshivas
Volozhin; living during a period of great turbulence and transition, he
possessed the highest level of scholarship, absolute loyalty to tradition
and extraordinary sensitivity for the plight of the poor and unfortunate;
renowned as Rabbi of Slutzk and, later, Brisk
Text Copyright © 2006 by Rabbi Shlomo Jarcaig
and Torah.org.
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