Parashas Beshalach features incredible lessons in emunah, and among them is a yesod taught to us by the holy Noam Elimelech in the Likkutei Shoshanah section, where he says as follows on the pasuk הלכו ישראל ובני הים, בתוך ביבשה and the Children of Israel went on dry land in the midst of the sea (Shemos 14:29):
Klal Yisrael during Kriyas Yam Suf witnessed Hashem’s great wonders, His exaltedness, and His greatness. But there are tzaddikim who always walk with deveikus, and their hearts are always mindful of the exaltedness and the greatness of Hashem—such that even on dry land they see the tremendous wonders... that they are without end and without estimation in every single thing in the world. (That is, the tzaddikim see the exaltedness of Hashem, and His wondrous miracles not only הים, בתוך in the midst of the sea, but also ביבשה, on everyday dry land.)”
Learning a New Concept
When a person absorbs a new idea, he begins to see the world in a new way, and he henceforth understands things in a new light. For example, a person studied the way people tend to converse with one another: how they speak and how they answer. From now on, every time he encounters another person, he speaks differently. Or think of a person who studied food science and healthy eating. From that point on, this person will view the food he eats differently.
Says the Rebbe Reb Elimelech: Klal Yisrael at Kriyas Yam Suf learned a new concept. They witnessed the sea split, and this then opened their minds to the fact that nature can always be altered by the Word of Hashem. From that time on, the tzaddikim among them always go with deveikus, and they see Hashem’s wonders in everything found in the world. They always remember that the Ribbono shel Olam “suspends the world upon nothingness” (Iyov 26:7), and every day is like the splitting of the Yam Suf.
Continues the Rebbe: And this is the meaning of הים בתוך ביבשה—the tzaddikim go with the same exaltedness of Hashem on dry land, just as they went when they experienced the wonder הים, בתוך in the midst of the sea. This is also the meaning of the words ליבשה, ים הפך He changed sea into dry land (Tehillim 66:6); because, for the tzaddik, the miracles and the wonders that were seen in the sea can also be seen on dry land, for they always walk with the exaltedness of Hashem, and with His greatness, blessed be His Name.
The World Is Filled with the Miracles of Kriyas Yam Suf
Let us therefore elaborate on this teaching, so we may draw out practical lessons in our avodas Hashem. The Yismach Yisrael of Aleksander (in his derushim on Chanukah) cites this quotation from the Noam Elimelech, and he adds an explanation of his own: “A person is obligated to believe that the course of nature in This World is much deeper than what can be seen by the naked eye.”
We have become accustomed to certain rules in the order of nature, and according to this, we decide what is normal and what isn’t. But if a person only opened his eyes, he would realize that these “rules” don’t apply at all. To take one example: The miraculous endurance of Klal Yisrael throughout the millennia, being surrounded by nations that wished to destroy us—לכלותינו עלינו עמד בלבד אחד שלא—and yet here we are, alive and thriving. From the moment that we became a nation, they have all pursued us with a desire to annihilate us, R”l. Immediately upon our exodus from Mitzrayim, Amalek arrived to fight us, and from the time, the onslaught has never ceased—and yet we remain alive and well.
Is there any greater proof than this that the entire nature is really revealed miracles?!
