One step can split your “sea”!
By Rabbi Yaakov Marks
SAN DIEGO — After witnessing unimaginable events and then being personally forced out of Egypt by Pharaoh and the rest of the Egyptians, the Jewish people are now standing on the shore of the sea. Burned into their memories are dramatic and earth-shattering images of the ten plagues. They witnessed everything from all the waters of Egypt turning to blood to the death of the first born living in Egypt. They saw the unbelievable physical devastation and heard the unbearable noise that was generated.
They grappled with the dramatic division between Goshen, where all the Jews lived, and the effects of the plagues throughout the rest of Egypt. Not one Jew or inch of land in Goshen suffered even a minute displeasure while all of mighty Egypt felt the full force of every plague and its aftermath. The Jews have by now totally rejected any form of idol worship and have whole-heartily accepted G-d’s kingship. They felt the joy of success as they exited Egypt with a raised hand. Now at last they are free, G-d-fearing people on their way to their promised land, believing that they have cast off the trauma of their slavery.
Suddenly, their joyous mood turned to terror as they saw, felt, and heard the massive Egyptian army quickly closing in on them. In their minds their plans of freedom and nationhood quickly shattered. The Midrash Mechilta says that the Jews formed four groups at the sea. One group said, “Let’s jump into the sea!” another group proclaimed, “We will return to Egypt!”, and yet another group declared, “We will meet them in battle!” Finally, the last group proclaimed, “We will scream out against them!” While there are several different interpretations given for this Midrash, they all indicate that either the majority or seemingly all of the Jews went from euphoria to despondency in this one moment. What happened to their joy and dreams? Where is their belief in G-d? Where did all their positive energy and motivation go?
Many commentators (1) say that there were two major reactions amongst these groups. One they term as being sinful and the other as mediocre. A person’s subconscious is made up of all of their life experiences, whether they consider them as good or bad. These experiences are bestowed upon us by G-d for a constructive reason in order to facilitate our personal growth and prepare us for our destined role in life. At the sea when plans of freedom and nationhood seemed to have failed, everyone was challenged about how to react and was confronted with their life experiences.
The people who screamed, “Let’s jump into sea!” saw their plans unravel. They only focused on their “failed” past, believing there was no hope and gave up. The other sinful group also gave up, but in their minds they construed that it was better to go back to their old miserable and painful life than to take any more risks or face failure. Both of these groups doomed themselves to a life of hopelessness. The mediocre groups took paths which would never allow them to reach their potential. The group that wanted to fight was being reactive, not wanting to solve their problem, preferring to push them off for a while. The group that wanted to scream sought to scare off the Egyptians without solving the problem. None of these groups could experience any modicum of success.
Rabbi Joseph Meir Weiss, (1838 – 1909) a Hungarian rabbi and founder of the Spinka Hasidic
dynasty wrote in his book Imrei Yosef (Exodus: Beshalach 60b) that there was a fifth group which wasn’t mentioned with the other four because that group acted properly. They didn’t say anything because they had total faith in G-d. By using their life experiences, they understood that they needed to take some kind of positive, forward-looking action. Moshe told them to walk ahead. Even though that meant walking into the sea, and the majority of people told them what they were doing was not possible, they were willing to take that risk and eventually split the sea for everybody.
Similarly, when a person tries to develop a healthy habit to replace a bad habit which is negatively impacting his health and wellbeing, he understands that change must occur before he can get out of his bad rut. Typically, things go well in the beginning. Also typically, things rarely go completely as we planned. When this happens people react in similar ways similar to how the Jews reacted when approaching the sea. A person can bemoan his lack of ability based upon past experiences and failures and just give up. We can say that change is just too hard and go back to our old familiar, unhealthy, and harmful habits. Some people will try to fight, putting all of their energy into reacting rather than changing; others will start screaming, claiming that they know best, blocking out any possibility of ever listening to reason.
However, the group who will experience success and who will feel happy with their progress will step out of their comfort zone. They will walk into the sea, face their problem directly, and the “sea” will split. They will not let their past shut them down. Instead, they’ll use their past to motivate and propel themselves forward. Instead of dwelling on the hurts of the past, they race to the contentment of the future. G-d knows what is best and we have to take appropriate actions to bring that “best” about. If a person persists upon facing his problem, it will split like the sea and his future on the other side will be positive and rewarding.
May we merit to use our past experiences for positive motivation. When our plans crumble and life seems impossible, may G-d grant us the courage to face our problems and solve them. May we have the strength to take the risk of going through the problems that try to block our paths in life. May we merit to stand on the other side of our personal sea in joy and contentment.
Shabbat Shalom.
Rabbi Marks is a certified health coach who may be contacted at
ahealthyrabbi@gmail.com
(1) Rabbeinu Bachya Exodus 14:11, Imrei Yosef Exodus 14:13 page 60b, Torah Temima Exodus 14:13 note 6