The Splitting Sea
Looking at the ocean all we see is water.
The ocean is full of life, it is home to creatures of all sizes and shapes, yet when we look at the ocean all we see is water. The great diversity of creatures, living beneath the surface of the sea, submerged beneath its waters, are hidden from our view. In fact, more than 95 percent of the underwater world remains unexplored[1].
It is for this reason that the Kabbalists use the sea as a metaphor for the “concealed worlds”. The spiritual worlds are indeed full of spiritual life - angels, souls, energy, Divine light - yet they are concealed from our eyes. Like the sea, the spiritual worlds are rich with life, like the sea, this life is mostly hidden from our eyes. Dry land, by contrast, is a metaphor for reality as we perceive it. If something is tangible enough to be grasped by our five senses, then it is a creation living on dry land. If it is a spiritual reality that cannot be perceived with the naked eye, it is a creature of the sea, it resides in the concealed world of the sea.
This explains the spiritual significance of the Biblical story of the splitting of the sea. When the Children of Israel were traveling from Egypt toward Sinai, they were pursued by Pharaoh and the Egyptians, they were trapped at the red sea. Miraculously, the sea split before them, they traveled on dry land in the midst of the sea. The Egyptians followed them, and the waters of the sea came crashing down upon them, drowning them. One look at the map of the Middle East will show, that the Jewish people, who were en route from Egypt to Mount Sinai, had no business being at the red sea, which is southeast of Mount Sinai and therefore in the opposite direction of their destination. In fact, the Jewish people did not cross the sea and emerge on the opposite side, rather they emerged from the sea on the same side on which they had entered the sea.
What was the purpose of traveling to the Red Sea and of the splitting of the sea? Was it just a theater for G-d to drown the Egyptian army? Couldn't G-d have found an easier way to punish the Egyptians?
The answer is, that in order for the people to receive the Torah, they would first need to experience the splitting of the sea.
The sea represents that which is concealed. The sea represents the Divine energy within every created being. The sea represents the spark of holiness that is at the core of every creation.
When the sea split, when the waters were transformed to dry land, when the concealment was transformed to revelation, then the hidden core within every creation was revealed. As the sea split, all of the concealment of the world was torn open, revealing the truth of the oneness of G-d. As the sea split, each and every individual experienced a Divine revelation, the concealed became revealed, to the extent that the Talmud teaches that “a maid-servant at the sea was able to see what the prophet Ezekiel was unable to see"[2].
When we received the Torah at Sinai, we were charged with a mission which seemed impossible. At Sinai we were commanded to connect the physical to the spiritual, the mundane with the holy, the earth to the Divine. How is that even possible? They seem to be polar opposites.
The splitting of the sea explains it all.
Before G-d could command the people to connect the physical and the spiritual, they must first have experienced the splitting of the sea, the revelation of the concealment. They must understand that the hidden core of all of creation is indeed the creator. They must realize that, in truth, the physical is nothing more then concealed spirituality. Tear open the concealment, and discover the essence. Split the sea, and find that every physical creation craves to be used as a vessel for a Mitzvah, craves to be reunited with its divine source.
To split the sea in the world around us, to reveal the hidden essence of the world, we must first split our own sea. We must first reveal the hidden reality of our soul. Once we reveal the essence of our soul, we discover that the world around us is disguising a deeper truth, a truth waiting to be revealed.
When the Torah tells the story of the split sea, the Torah emphasizes more than once that the waters of the sea became protective walls for the Jewish people as they traveled through the split sea. When we look at our personalities we like to divide things into two categories: the first is the category of the things that we tell ourselves that we are capable of doing, the things we believe we are good at, the accomplishments that we are comfortable striving for. The second group, are the things we believe to be beyond our grasp. The things that are inconsistent with our nature, ability and inclination. We have a long list of things, we tell ourselves, that we cannot accomplish.
When the sea split the verse emphasizes, more than once, that: “The waters were to them as a wall from their right and from their left”[3]. The Midrash[4] teaches that the protective walls on the right and on the left represent the spiritual protection of the study of Torah - the right side - and of prayer - the left side.
Torah teaches us, that as the sea split, as the concealed world was revealed, the core of the soul was also revealed. At that moment of revelation they realized that the soul defies definition. They realized that they could express themselves in opposite ways. They could excel in opposite fields. They could be introverts as well as extraverts, scholars as well as people of action. “The waters were to them as a wall from their right and from their left”, both the right side and the left side are protective walls. A soul is not limited to a single form of expression. A soul cannot be boxed into one model of achievement. As soon as we reveal our essence, there is nothing that we cannot achieve.
The stories of the Torah are not merely stories about the past, they are the stories of our life. To achieve the purpose of our creation, we too must experience the three most fundamental events of Jewish history. We must experience the Exodus, the splitting of the sea, and the giving of the Torah.
Each and every day we have the opportunity to escape our Egypt. To escape the enslavement to our perceived limitations. Each and every day we receive the Torah at Sinai empowering us to connect creation to its creator, to reveal the hidden core of the physical. To do so, however, we must first reveal the inner core of our soul, we must split our own sea, reveal our hidden truth, and discover that our essence is indeed limitless.
We must split our sea and reveal the hidden spark of infinity within our souls.[5]
[1] http://www.noaa.gov/ocean.html
[2] Rashi Exodus 15:2.
[3] Exodus 14:22.
[4] Mechilta, Exodus 14:29.
[5] Inspired by the teachings of the Rebbe, Lekutey Sichos vol. 3, Sicha for Shviei Shel Pesach.