Condition Considered

Naaleh_logo Shiur provided courtesy of Naaleh.com

Adapted by Channie Koplowitz Stein

Parshat Beshalach records one of the most dramatic scenes in the infancy of our nation. Soon after Bnei Yisroel leaves Mitzrayim, the Egyptians storm after them, but are kept separated by the pillar of clouds between them and Bnei Yisroel. When the nation arrives at the shore of Yam Suf/Red Sea, Hashem tells Moshe to stretch his hand over the Sea. Miraculously, the sea splits, and Bnei Yisroel walk on dry land between walls of water. Naturally, the Egyptians follow them into the dry sea bed, but as soon as the last Israelite has risen onto the bank, Hashem commands Moshe to again lift his hand over the sea. The water returns לאיתנו/to its original power/state, drowning all the Egyptian chariots and their riders

Medrash Rabba picks up on the unusual word איתנו and sees in it an anagram for תנאי (של)ו, an earlier, precondition to the waters. At creation, when Hashem established the laws of nature, He stipulated that these laws could be changed at those times when Hashem deemed that that change, what we call miracle, was necessary.

Interestingly, Rabbi Schwab zt”l points out that the allusion to the precondition occurs not at the splitting of the Sea, but at its return to its original state. Rabbi Schwab explains that one cannot agree to a condition one does not understand. Since the Sea could not understand splitting itself, it could not be a partner in the agreement, a splitting that occurred at Hashem's command. But the Sea could understand and recognize its natural state, and could, return to it. Similarly, Bnei Yisroel could only understand the miraculous splitting of the Sea after the waters returned and drowned the Egyptians. Therefore, it is only after witnessing the return of the waters to its natural state and the drowning of their enemies that Bnei Yisroel could comprehend what they had witnessed and sing those "natural" praises to Hashem, a paean we recite every morning in our tefillah.

The Taam Vodaas offers a different explanation for the necessity of a precondition. While the Sea was happy to split to save Bnei Yisroel, it was not ready to drown the Egyptians. Therefore the precondition was necessary to force the Sea to return to its original state rather than to force it to split. Alternately, the Shem Mishmuel suggests that the Sea had originally refused to comply with the stipulation to split and reveal dry land, and only upon the return to the original state could the initial stipulation be verified.

More in sync with Rabbinic understanding of our world, as attested to in our liturgy, creation was not a one time process, but continues daily, as Hashem recreates the world every day and every moment. As Rabbi Scheinerman says in Ohel Moshe, the moment Hashem commanded the waters to stand upright like pillars, that structure became the new, natural order. Only with a new command could this new nature then return, begin flowing again, and be recreated to its previous natural order.

In truth, writes Rabbi Tatz in Worldmask, nature is only a mask of the miraculous. We have become inured to its miraculous nature by its very routine, while the breaks in that routine are what we tend to label miraculous. In this context, both the splitting of the Sea and its return to "routine" are miraculous, reflecting God's constant interaction with and recreation of the world.

Rabbi Tatz then gives us two words whose roots are in טבע/teva/nature: לטבע /to drown, and מטבע/an embossed coin. On the one hand, nature seems to drown out spirituality, but one must plumb its depths to see the spiritual reality behind nature, the image of God stamped onto and reflecting the image of the Creator.

Obviously, not everyone perceives the Creator in the same way. An individual's perception will form the basis of his relationship with God, continues Rabbi Tatz. Someone on the lowest level acknowledges that God created the world of nature but feels that nature then runs independently of Hashem. His attitude in life is just to ask Hashem to let nature run its predictable course and not interfere so that he can complete his own plans. He forgets that nothing exists outside of Hashem, אין עוד מלבדו.

On the second level, one understands that Hashem is in control of nature, but sees nature as a tool in Hashem's control, implying that Hashem needs nature as a tool for doing that which His hand alone cannot reach. This view subtly implies that without the tool, Hashem would not be capable of acting.

On the third level, one understands that nature is not separate from Hashem, but a manifestation of Hashem Himself. It is a level of full consciousness of אין עוד מלבדו, that all that exists is only a manifestation of God Himself and has no independent existence. Those individuals who have reached this level are capable of performing miracles. This was the level of Rav Chanina ben Dosa whose daughter mistakenly filled the candelabra with vinegar instead of oil. Rav Chanina reassured her that He Who empowers oil to burn can do the same with vinegar, and indeed, the vinegar fueled the flames.

On this level, one has pierced the smokescreen of nature to reveal Hashem's essence in all of creation. Nature provides us with the freedom of choice to either recognize Hashem in all and strive to resemble Him, or to go about life oblivious, in the full "routine" of nature.  

The Ohr Hachaim Hakadosh zt”l points out that the river split for other righteous individuals as well, most notably for Rabbi Pinchas ben Yair, zt”l as cited in the Gemarra. The Ohr Hachaim explains that since Hashem created the world for Bnei Yisroel to accept the Torah, nature itself becomes subservient to those who dedicate their lives to toil in Torah. Therefore, great tzadikim can indeed become miracle workers. However, the splitting of the Red Sea was necessary before we accepted the Torah at Sinai, and therefore the Sea refused to comply until Hashem invoked the precondition. It was only after complying with this precondition, adds the Sifsei Chaim, that Hashem allowed it to return to its original, flowing state.

We can further argue that the Jordan River split for Yehoshua zt”l, but that, too, was after the Torah was given. Nevertheless, both these events were supernatural and openly miraculous. As Rabbi Weinberg explains, Hashem effectuates some miracles through natural means, such as a floating log passing a drowning man, while others have no natural explanation. When the Sea split, Bnei Yisroel witnessed a manifestation of God as the Creator of all, the God Who had pre-programmed nature itself, and when the waters returned to their regularly programmed state, Bnei Yisroel were spontaneously motivated to sing praises to Hashem.

Our Patriarchs were on such a high spiritual level that they did not see miracles as anything unusual, but rather as another manifestation of God in the world. Therefore, for example, Avraham Avinu did not sing praises to Hashem when he left the fiery furnace that Nimrod had thrown him into unscathed. Similarly, after Bnei Yisroel had lived a totally spiritual, miraculous existence in the desert for forty years, the splitting of the Jordan under Joshua's leadership was no more miraculous than receiving the manna. Therefore, they were not prompted to sing Hashem's praises as their parents had upon leaving Egypt. This was also a generation that had already received the Torah and saw with clarity that everything comes from Hashem They understood that everything comes from Hashem, and that our observance of Torah will affect Hashem's interaction with us and the world, a truism that we recite daily in the second paragraph of Shema.

Just as we must submit to Hashem's sovereignty through Torah observance, so must all nature submit to Hashem's sovereignty. As Rabbi Zechariah notes in Omek Haparshah, we can now understand how people on the exalted level of integrating the reality of "Nothing exists except Hashem," have the ability to control and change nature. Hashem has implanted in nature to submit to the will of the tzadikim, of those who are living Sifrei Torah, teaches Rabbi Yosef Albo zt”l.

But we are all created in the image of God. It is this fact that explains why the river Ginai split for Rabbi Pinchas ben Yair so that he could proceed to the Beit Medrash to study Torah. When his disciples asked if they too would be able to cross, Rabbi Pinchas replied that he who had never belittled or slighted another Jew would also be able to cross. In other words, for the one who respected the image of God in all others, the river would respect the image of God within him, and subject itself to the will of this Divine image.

In truth, the human being is just one level below Hakodosh Boruch Hu Himself, as Dovid Hamelech zt”l attests to in Tehillim. It is this tzelem Elokhim that empowers man to rule over animals and over all creation, writes Rabbi Eliyahu Baruch Finkel. And when one denigrates any element of creation, one loses the ability to "rule" over it. As proof, Rabbi Finkel notes that because David tore King Saul's garment while fleeing from him, later, in his old age, David Hamelech could not be warmed by clothing. This reasoning also explains why our prayers today are less powerful than those of our ancestors and forefathers, for we do not give our prayers their proper respect and devotion.

Now we can further understand why the Gemarra says that one of the reasons for the destruction of the Second Beit Hamikdosh was that Bnei Yisroel didn't "bless the Torah תחלה/first." It was not that they did not recite the blessing, but that the Torah was not primary in their lives, and therefore they did not respect the Divine image in each other. When we recognize and acknowledge our own Divine image, we must by extension also recognize and respect the Divine image in others, and be careful in our treatment of others.

Rabbi Elias, in his adaptation of the Tomer Devorah, explains how the part of Himself Hashem has placed within each of us, our neshamah, is the connection to Hashem that teaches us how to emulate Him and become what Hashem envisions for us, and the Torah is the guide to reaching that potential. This is a matter of choice, of exercising our free will. As Rabbi Berkowitz writes, we must choose to work on perfecting ourselves, and pray for Hashem's assistance. That choice is no different than the choices facing Moshe Rabbenu.

Each of us makes choices every day, and each of us performs "miracles" in our own way, according to our belief in Hashem. The difference is that because these miracles occur on a regular basis, we perceive them as "nature' and not as miracles. But it is our free choice that prompts Hashem to enable these miracles to happen, just as the choices of Moshe Rabbenu and other tzadikim brought open miracles for Bnei Yisroel. But first we have to believe in our own power to effectuate the miraculous, whether through means appearing natural or through the supernatural, and then we must realize and appreciate that the actualization of the miraculous lies solely within the power of Hashem Himself. We are in control only of our free willed choices, not of the results. At least appreciate that even every function of our human body is a result of Hashem's command.

The existence of the world is in itself miraculous, but our perception is clouded by the routines Hashem has built into creation. Hashem sometimes lets us witness occurrences beyond nature, that which we call miraculous, to appreciate His control over everything. Whether it is the splitting of the sea, the flammability of vinegar, or the daily functioning of our physical body, we are meant to acknowledge and thank Hashem for all that exists, whether routine nature or "miraculous".