Parashat Beshalach: Splitting The Sea

0:03Parasha where we see that HaKadosh Baruch Hu hears Am Yisrael cry out to Him. They're scared to death. They're in front of Yam Suf; on the right, there are snakes and scorpions; on the left, there are snakes and scorpions; these snakes and scorpions are of giant size. Behind them, you have the evil Egyptians, and in front of them, they have the ocean. Nobody knows how to swim. What do we do? What do we do with all of this? They start crying out to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. And the Pasuk says, Hashem says to Moshe Rabbeinu, "Why are you screaming? This is not the time. This is not the time to scream." Onkelos, on the other hand, is saying, "Yeah, what Hashem is telling Moshe Rabbeinu..." can stop screaming. I accepted your prayer. I accepted your prayer. Go and take your staff, raise it up in your hand over the sea, and split it. Now, here we learn a critical lesson, a critical lesson. You're there, you have an issue, you have a financial issue.

1:25You have a job issue. You have a zivug issue. Whatever issues you're dealing with. An obstacle. It's in your life. You're struggling to find somebody to get married to. You're struggling to stay married to the person you chose. You're struggling to have kids. You're struggling to make money. You're struggling to make ends meet. You're struggling to do a lot of different things. People are struggling. Trust me. I get the messages. I get the tears. Just yesterday, I got messages from a couple, a family, In Eretz Yisrael, not only are they struggling with health, where one of them had an accident and lost the ability to walk, but on top of that, they are tenants in a house owned by an evil gangster who is throwing them out for no reason whatsoever. they're trying to come up with money to figure out what to do. I mean, these are people who are suffering, and there are so many people suffering. Certainly, there is suffering out there that each and every single one of us has gone through or is going through. What do you do with the suffering? How do you deal with life's tribulations? I get it, Am Yisrael suffered when they were in Egypt. I get it, Am Yisrael suffered when they left Egypt. They have no idea what's going on; they don't know what they're gonna eat, what they're gonna drink, and

2:35What school their kids are gonna go to, they don't know anything. All they know is they're in a desert, and before you know it, before they even got to rest for a moment, the evil Egyptians are behind them. There are anacondas, there are scorpions. Everything is scary. So, of course, we see this. How could I connect this to my life? All of those troubles that you have currently, that you had in the past, and perhaps you'll have in the future, because there's no such thing as life without trouble, as the Ramchal says, and... The overwhelming majority of life is trouble, is difficulty, is suffering. And if a person lives without Torah, that suffering is simply endless. Now, of course, if a person knows that HaKadosh Baruch Hu runs the world, they know who is responsible for all of the suffering, and that all of the suffering is simply a choice, because if you know where it's coming from, if you know where the suffering, the difficulty is coming from, then suffering becomes a choice, because you know that the difficulty is to your benefit. Here we see Am Yisrael clueless about what to do. Clueless about what to do. Praising Hashem. And then Hashem says to Moshe Rabbeinu to split the ocean. Now, did Moshe Rabbeinu go to a school for splitting oceans?

3:58When was the last time that Moshe Rabbeinu split the ocean? How would Moshe Rabbeinu know what splitting the ocean even looks like? What does it look like? Now, I know anybody that watched the movies and the shows, and has the pictures, of course, you see, there’s an old man with a staff and he puts it down and... Great. How did he know that's what it's going to look like? How did he know to split the ocean? How did he know that's what splitting the ocean means? I mean, why don't you just take it the other way, just like hit it that way, and you know, it hits it flat on. But why would that split the ocean? The stick will just go in it. Why would he put it down straight? Well, the stick would just go in it. How do you split an ocean? How would Moshe Rabbeinu know what is Hashem talking about here? Now I thought about this today. You see, a couple of verses before, Moshe Rabbeinu says, this is a verse for my name. It starts with the Yud, for the name of God, and ends with the Nun, with the word, that Hashem will wage war for you, and you shall remain silent. This is Moshe Rabbeinu telling Am Yisrael, calm down.

5:16Know the Egyptians are there, I see it too. I know they're going to kill you, I see it too. I know there's an ocean right here, I'm here. Anacondas, scorpions, I got it. Calm down. Hashem will fight your war. First and foremost, give us rule number one of dealing with difficulties. have enough emunah that HaKadosh Baruch Hu is watching and is monitoring every single situation, including this one. And He is the One that allowed this situation to happen to you. So stop acting as if you're the only one in the world suffering, as if this is the first time this thing has happened, as if the world is going to end; relax. God's watching. If He's watching, surely there's a positive reason why this is happening. Don't lose yourself, even when it's easy to justify losing your mind. Calm down. God will fight your wars. You stay quiet.

6:33Don't start screaming. Don't start cussing. Don't start losing your mind. Don't start becoming a heretic and questioning God. Why is He doing this to me? Like somebody sent me a question today: "Oh, ever since I started becoming more modest and more religious over the last few months, all I have is trouble. And now my boyfriend left me." Well, you know, you were doing good with the modesty thing until you said, "the boyfriend left me." I mean, it's not exactly so modest to have a boyfriend. But needless to say, why do you think that's a bad thing that your boyfriend left you? What do you mean? I loved him. Yeah, perhaps Hashem is protecting you from this person because he's not good for you. Why is the immediate response to life not going according to your likings that Hashem is punishing you? Did you ever think maybe He's helping you from something that you don't even know exists? Did you ever hear of the story of the father who fell down the stairs with his newborn baby?

7:34Ended up going to the hospital and finding that this newborn baby had a tiny little thing in his brain that he was born with. Had he not fallen down the steps—10 flat, 10 storey steps—and gone to the hospital to get checked, they wouldn't have checked his brain. They wouldn't have found this thing, and a week later he would have died. But because he fell, that baby is still alive to this day. But question: there, I think maybe... You're that baby. Do you ever think that the trouble you have, Hashem is giving it to you for your benefit? Yes, but it hurts. Everything good in life involves a little pain. Pain is necessary in order for you to achieve something good. You want to give birth. That's not fun. Not the pregnancy or the labor or the delivery.

8:36And guess what? Neither is raising the kids. But you do it anyway. Why? Because you know it's worth it. Working is not fun. Who wants to work endless hours for some people that are ungrateful? Always feel underpaid. Always feel challenged for no reason. Who wants to do it? Nobody. But yet you do it. Why? Because there's a benefit. And it makes it worth it. And every single part of life has a certain element of pain in it. So this current pain that you have and are unfamiliar with, why do you assume that G-d is punishing you? Don't you know that we have an entire concept called Gehenom, where HaKadosh Baruch Hu tells us... Punishment is not really designated for this world. This is not really a world that's well suited for punishment. There's a much better place for punishment. Here, Hashem tries to guide you with the different difficulties. And every time He tries to guide you, it's certainly to a better destination than you're in and heading towards currently. So, calm down. Stay quiet, stay silent, and pray to Hashem. He'll fight your wars. The Torah teaches us the first step in dealing with tribulation and difficulties: calm down. Don't lose your mind, don't lose your faith, and don't become a heretic. Now, have a little emunah that He knows what He's doing. We are meant to be a light.

9:58Stay quiet, stay silent, pray to Hashem. He'll fight your wars. Who teaches us the first step of dealing with tribulation, with difficulty? Calm down, don't lose your mind, don't lose your faith, don't become a heretic. Now, have a little emunah that He knows what He's doing. We are meant to be a light unto the nations. unto the nations, not to follow their misguided practices. Remember, every Jew must remember that he is a Jew and she is a Jew. We don't celebrate non-Jewish holidays, even if they seem harmless. It's a zilzul, a disrespect to the Torah and could lead to a chilul Hashem, a desecration of God's name. Stick to our holy Torah and our own holidays. That's the path of a true Jew.