Parshat
Beshalach
Will the Real
Miracle Please Stand Up?
The Israelites
have made it to the shores of the Sea of Reeds. In front of them lies an
impassable giant lake. Behind them, Par'oh's army
approaches. What do the Israelites do? Thinking quickly, they begin to
complain. Moshe keeps his cool. "Don't you worry!" he says.
"Gather and watch the amazing save that God is going to do for you
today!"
But God seems
to have different view. "What are you crying out to me for?" God
says. "Speak to the Israelites, and they will go forwards!" Then God
offers Moshe a second suggestion. "Raise your staff, stretch your hand out
over the sea, and split it!" A few pesukim
(verses) later, Torah tells us: "Moshe stretched out his arm over the sea,
and Hashem drove the water with an east wind blowing
all night. It turned the sea into dry land, and the sea was split."
The Torah
gives four explanations of what made it possible for the Israelites to travel
forwards:
(1) Moshe
reasoned with the frightened Israelites and they listened.
(2) Moshe, the
skilled magician, who had esoteric knowledge of many specialized laws of
energy-matter connections, used his knowledge to split the sea.
(3) God
exercised hashgachah peratit,
divine providence, and directed the forces of nature to help a particular group
of people in mortal danger.
(4) Luckily,
the weather cooperated that day, and the Israelites took advantage of the east
wind rearranging the waters.
Which of these
four miracles took place? The beauty of the Torah's account is that you don't
have to choose.
Return to Reb Laura's "Taste of
Torah" list.
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