Sea and Land
(Copied and slightly adapted from an essay by Yanky Tauber based on a talk of the Rebbe.) The Exodus set them free from the paganism of Egypt. It removed the shackles of “landism” from their souls, exposing them to the all-consuming spiritual truth of the sea. The Exodus liberated them from the prison of self, allowing them to merge with the infinite essence of all. BESHALLACH BESHALLACH
(*Copied and slightly adapted from an essay by Yanky
Tauber based on a talk of the Rebbe.)
Splitting of the Sea and Sinai: Twin Events
The Torah portion of Beshallach features the miraculous crossing of the Sea of Reeds. Next week’s Torah portion of Yisro highlights the revelation of G-d to the Jewish people on Mount Sinai. Superficially, these two unprecedented events had nothing in common, but, a deeper reflection on these two events will demonstrate that the crossing of the sea was a prelude for the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai.
The splitting of the Sea of Reeds and the subsequent drying up of the water where the Israelites were able to “walk on dry land within the sea” epitomized the very objective of the giving of the Torah.
BESHALLACH
“Land” and “Sea”: Two Modes of Being.
“Land” and “sea” represent parallel worlds- mirror realities, if you will. “Every creature which exists on land,” says the Talmud, “has its equivalent in the sea.” The defining difference between land and sea creatures is their relationship with their respective environments. The land animal is utterly dependent on the terrain he inhabits: the land either nourishes him directly, or nourishes the creatures that nourish him etc. The same is true of the sea creature’s dependence on the sea.
Nevertheless, there is a marked difference between the manifest nature of this dependence. There is nothing to prevent the land animal from severing all direct contact with the land for extended periods of time. Conceivably a land creature can live an entire lifetime without acknowledging, or in any way demonstrating, from where his sustenance is derived. Sea creatures on the other hand, live submerged within their source of nourishment.
Thus, “land” and “sea” represent two modes of being. A “land creature” is one who lives his life on the material surface of reality, with little mind to the underlying forces that sustain it. A spiritual essence, source and purpose to life, of which the material is but an embodiment and expression, seems to him a fantasy or, at best irrelevant.
BESHALLACH
In contrast, the “sea creature” is a being wholly submerged and demonstratively dependent upon, his source of sustenance. To him, life is inseparable from its root and aim, and he lives and breathes this truth his every living moment. He is one who has drowned his ego in the sea of divine truth, who has merged his self with the spiritual essence of reality.
Removed the Shackles of “Landism”
But seven days after their liberation from Egypt, the Jewish people experienced a splitting of the sea.
The Exodus had set them free from the paganism of Egypt. It had removed the shackles of “landism” from their souls, exposing them to the all-consuming spiritual truth of the sea. It had liberated them from the prison of self, allowing them to merge with the infinite essence of all. But until the sea was split before them and they were to “walk on dry land within the sea” -until they were to learn to transcend their sea-identity as well- their redemption was not complete.
For just as the material is but an iceberg-tip of the spiritual reality that underlies it, so too, the spiritual world of the “sea creature” is but a face, an expression of a more quintessential reality. G-d created both matter and spirit, BESHALLACH each to express a facet of His truth; He created both the human ego and man’s capacity for self-effacement, each to its distinct end. The purpose of life is not to divorce the self from its divine source, but neither is it to drown it in the identity-obliterating waters of unfettered spirit.
After freeing them from the constraints of self, G-d freed the Jewish people from the constraints of selflessness as well. He split the sea before them, showing it to be but another tool and medium to access His truth, a truth transcending matter and spirit alike. he showed them that man can walk on dry land within the sea - that he can live a life that is aware of, and servant to, its divine source and, at the same time retain and constructively apply his identity and individuality.
He then brought them to Sinai to await detailed instructions.
From the book Light from the Future: Parshas Beshalach by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.
