In this week’s Torah portion, Beshalach, we read about that pivotal moment in Jewish history which followed the exodus from Egypt - the miraculous splitting and crossing of the Sea of Reeds. Even though the Exodus had happened seven days earlier, the Jewish people were not completely free until the splitting of the sea, as they were still being pursued by the Egyptians.
It was only after they crossed the sea and the Egyptians drowned, that the Exodus was complete. Because the crossing of the sea marked the culmination of our liberation, we mention the splitting of the sea in our prayers. Because we have an obligation to mention the Exodus every day, and according to some, one must also mention the splitting of the sea, the end of the Exodus, otherwise it isn’t considered as if he mentioned the Exodus at all. Because until the splitting of the sea, we weren’t completely free.
From this is understood, that in order to free ourselves from our personal Egypt, as we say in the Haggadah, “In every generation, a person is obligated to see himself, as if he came out of Egypt.” And as it is explained to mean, “In every generation, and every day,” we have to act in the way of “journeying forth.”
In other words, there are two stages in the Exodus, first leaving Egypt, and second, the splitting of the sea. Leaving Egypt is the first stage, in it we negate the confines and the servitude to the evil inclination and the animal soul, and we serve G-d through accepting His yoke. Without which there is no freedom, because if he is not able to keep even one mitzva (commandment), because of the hold the evil inclination and animal soul have on him, he is not truly free.
The problem he faces after entering this stage, is that since he is only serving G-d through accepting His yoke, Pharoah and the Egyptians, the evil inclination and the animal soul, continue to chase after him and cover up the light of the G-dly soul that is in him.
However, when he enters the second stage, he starts to serve G-d in a way that “turns the sea into dry land,” he uncovers and reveals the G-dliness that is hidden in the world, he sees G-d in everything, then he is truly free, the evil inclination and the animal soul can’t bother him anymore.
When he works on himself and reveals his true purpose, and follows the path that G-d wants him to take, in other words, the path that allows him to “journey forth,” then he is truly free.
Adapted by Rabbi Yitzi Hurwitz from the teachings of the Rebbe, yitzihurwitz.blogspot.com. Rabbi Hurwitz, who is battling ALS, and his wife Dina, are emissaries of the Rebbe in Temecula, Ca.
