Be Silent!
There are times when we are preoccupied with lofty matters such as prayer, literally or figuratively. G-d then says to us, “Be silent, stop praying, get up and help another person split their sea.” BESHALLACH BESHALLACH
Two Mindsets of Prayer
As the Jewish people were standing at the sea, pursued by the Egyptian armies they did what Jews are expected to do in such situations. They prayed. Their prayer was more than just a perfunctory response to a bad situation; they actually cried out to G-d. Theirs was a heartfelt prayer of persons who are desperate for G-d’s assistance.
There are two mindsets of prayer.
One is where we ask G-d to help us. In our minds, we feel that we are essentially in control of our situation—whether it is good health, sustenance, having children, success in raising them, peace and prosperity—but we want G-d to give our efforts a boost. It’s not that we are desperate, but that we recognize that G-d’s blessing can be helpful. In a medical situation, for example, we may put our trust primarily in the physician and the medication, but still reach out to G-d for His input as well.
BESHALLACH
The other mindset is when the situation seems hopeless and our only recourse is to turn to G-d for His salvation.
This approach is truly what prayer is all about.
According to Maimonides, prayer is the means by which we demonstrate that we depend on G-d. In truth, in every situation—no matter how good the prognosis may be for the future, G-d is totally in control. And a person with this understanding will always pray with the feeling that they utterly depend on G-d. However, in most situations our prayers do not seem that urgent and are not as powerful and meaningful as those when we are desperate and feel our total dependence on G-d.
In light of this analysis one would have thought that when the Jews were standing between the pursuing Egyptian armies and the sea, with absolutely no where to go, their prayer was clearly the most urgent, desperate, heartfelt form of prayer, and an expression of their profound faith in and dependency on G-d. Yet, we are told, incredulously, in this week’s parsha, that G-d told Moses to tell the Jewish people: “Be silent!” Desist from prayer. Why?
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Paradox of Prayer
One Kabbalistic answer is based on the paradoxical nature of prayer. On the one hand, for one to pray they must generate the feeling that they are standing before G-d whom they petition for the things that they need. On the other hand, if we were truly aware of G-d’s awesome presence we could not open our mouths to say anything. When a person reaches that point of total submission to G- d they are speechless, and there is no need for prayer. Their needs are automatically taken care of.
When G-d told them not to pray, He was not shunning their heartfelt prayers, He was just saying to them, that the experience of the splitting of the sea will be of such a magnitude as to preclude the ability and the need to pray.
Stop Praying and Help Someone!
Another dimension of this answer that conveys a practical message to us in our own lives is the realization that there are times when we are preoccupied with lofty matters such as prayer, literally or figuratively. G-d then says to us, “Be silent, stop praying, get up and help another person split their sea.”
BESHALLACH
The splitting of the sea, besides its literal meaning, also alludes to the things in people’s lives that cover up their inner goodness and spirituality, as the sea covers and conceals all that is in it. Helping someone else “split their sea” can be a far more G-dly experience than the preoccupation with our own spiritual and material needs. Certainly prayer and self-refinement have their place, but it can sometimes be overridden and enhanced by our efforts to help others.
Helping Others Prepare for Moshiach
This message is especially poignant in the present pre- Messianic era, as we stand ready to enter into a world in which the sea will always be split. Nothing will truly conceal the treasures that lie within the world and humanity. As we prepare for that momentous occasion, it would serve us well to reflect on the message of reaching out and helping someone else be prepared for the momentous spiritual reenactment of the splitting of the sea, the coming of Moshiach and the ultimate Redemption.
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From the book Light from the Future: Parshas Beshalach by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.
