by Rav Moshe Leib HaCohen Halbershtadt, Founder and Director of YORU Jewish Leadership, yeshiva.org.il, translated by Hillel Fendel.
In honor of this week's Torah portion of Beshalach (Sh'mot
13,17-17,16), let us recount the amazing story of the Splitting of the Red Sea
and what followed it. The Children of Israel had lived as a sub-caste, and even
as tortured slaves, for hundreds of years – and then suddenly find themselves
in the midst of one of the most magnificent chapters in human history. They saw
with their own eyes how G-d smacked their Egyptian tormentors with supernatural
plagues, one after the next. They also watched how their Egyptian neighbors suffered
the plagues, while they themselves, in the same places and at the same time,
were untouched. They saw the Egyptians drink blood, while they themselves enjoy
pure water; and the same for each plague afterwards. Thus was revealed before
their eyes Divine Providence in its full strength and glory, with G-d Himself
accompanying them the entire time: "G-d walked before them by day in
a pillar of cloud to show them the way, and at night in a pillar of fire for
light" (13,21).
But then, suddenly, the story takes an about-turn: The Children
of Israel, having left Egypt, abruptly find themselves caught in a deadly trap.
The Egyptians were taking chase, and even at the very shoreline the Egyptians
keep coming – and the Jews have nowhere to go! They are trapped and begin
panicking. What can they do? They begin complaining to their leader Moshe
Rabbeinu, as if they had not just been miraculously rescued from bondage: "Are
there no graves in Egypt, that you have taken us to die here in the desert?
What have you done to us by taking us out of Egypt!?" (14,11)
Moshe calms the nation and encourages them: "Do
not fear! Stand and watch G-d's salvation!" (14,13) Moshe raises
his arms over the sea, G-d brings a strong wind, and – one of the most
astonishing miracles in history happens in front of their eyes! The sea in
front of them splits open! Israel goes through dry land and reaches the other
side, while the cruel pursuers keep coming and are decimated by the power of
the returning waves.
The miracles that Bnei Yisrael were exposed to at this time
were so tremendous that our Sages of blessed memory say that the Jews were then
on the highest level of prophecy. We are taught that what a simple maidservant
saw at the Red Sea at that time was greater than all the prophecies ever seen
by the Isaiah and Ezekiel!
From the Red Sea, the Jews traveled towards the Promised
Land through the Shur Desert – but something then came up: "They
walked for three days in the desert and did not find water. They came to Marah,
and [found water] but could not drink it, for it was bitter."
(15,22-23) What would be expected now of Bnei Yisrael, now that they have been
miraculously saved both in Egypt and at the Red Sea? Would they not probably
pray to G-d? They did not: "The nation complained to Moshe…"
(15,24) What happened to even a bit of faith and trust in G-d after all they
saw and went through?
G-d is not bothered. He immediately solves the water
shortage with another miracle: "G-d showed [Moshe] a tree, he threw
it into the water, which then became sweet…" (15,25)
Bnei Yisrael continue to the Sin Desert, and they find
themselves without food. They complain yet again, saying they would rather have
died in Egypt where they had lots of meat and bread to eat. So strange! Not
only do we see a nation without faith, but they have even managed to so quickly
forget the tortures they underwent in Egypt!
Yet, once again, G-d performs a miracle for them: "I
will rain down for you bread from the heavens…" (16,4).
The next station is Refidim, where another water shortage
strikes them. Here already the nation openly revolts: "The nation
fought with Moshe and said, Give us water! … They complained to Moshe: 'Why did
you raise us up from Egypt to kill us by thirst?' Moshe cried out to G-d,
saying: 'What shall I do with this people? They are close to stoning me.'"
(17,2-4)
G-d lost no time, and told Moshe, "Strike the
boulder, and water will come out of it for the nation to drink."
(17,6)
How are we to understand this phenomenon? Bnei Yisrael see
and experience so many unprecedented miracles and the hand of G-d before their
very eyes, time after time – and yet when something goes wrong, they forget
everything! How is it that with every test, they enter a state of hysteria, and
instead of trusting Hashem, they fall into a pattern of complaints, and
sometimes even worse?
---- ---- ---- ----
I recall during the Persian Gulf War days, I was with my
wife in Ashkelon when we beheld a long line of very worried citizens, many of
them even in a panic. I asked what was going on, and a man told me, "What,
haven't you heard? The U.S. has attacked Iraq again with cruise missiles, and
Saddam Hussein threatened to retaliate by attacking Israel! So we all need
masking tape to secure our windows, and gas-masks [for those who didn't have]! Scary
and dangerous!"
I asked my wife, "I understand that there is a need to prepare for different eventualities, but why such panic? Have they forgotten the great miracles when Iran sent Scud missiles our way, and though 39 of them hit us, in major population centers, only one or two civilians were killed! Why such panic now?"
But the answers are simple: The headlines that morning blared out. "Dozens of U.S. Tomahawk Missiles Landed in Iraq" and "Israel Says, We'll Respond if Attacked," and all the columnists and commentators discussed and debated the dangers and chances from every possible angle. And the immediate result, precisely as expected, was the fears and panic of the media-addicted masses. The powerful influence of the press and its obsessive pre-occupation with doomsday scenarios explain exactly why the masses go into panic-mode.
This insight can help us understand Bnei Yisrael's constant
complaints and fears in the desert. It was the fault of "the media" of
those times – none other than the erev rav, the Mixed Multitude of
stragglers who joined up with the Jewish nation on its way out of Egypt. They
were the "commentators" who constantly harped on the dangers and the
fearful prospects of what could happen and all the dangers ahead. They explained
what would befall babies if there was no water, and the terrible diseases that
awaited the elderly if there was no food, and even provided in-depth analyses
of the process of death by dehydration. Israel's fears were the natural
outgrowth of the erev rav's success in shining their spotlights away
from the miracles of the past and directly onto the fears of the future.
However, there were some who did not fall into this trap.
They focused on G-d's saving presence in their midst, and concentrated on their
trust that G-d would continue to be with them, hand in hand, all the way - just as he had been until now. Nachmanides
explains that when the Israelites jeered Moshe, "Is there a lack of graves
in Egypt?" – it is not likely that this was the unanimous opinion:
"People who are crying out to be saved are not likely to speak in this
manner. Rather, there were different groups, and it was only one of
these groups that denied G-d's providence."
We thus learn a great fundamental in the attribute of Trust
in G-d, one that is very relevant to today. Every person has the free choice
whether to pay careful attention to every peep that comes out of the mouth of a
reporter or commentator, and be enchained to it and its resulting frights, and
thus to live a life of worry. Alternatively, he can refrain from overly
worrying about the future, and rather remember to always look back at the
successes of the past, at how Hashem saved us time and again, and to live a
life of serenity, faith, and trust in our Father in Heaven.
May we merit to be of the latter type!
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