Beshalach: Kriyas Yam Suf, Bitachon, and Zeh Keili V’anveihu—Returning Hashem’s Gifts

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. Kriyas Yam Suf. It's one of the focal points of Yetzias Mitzrayim. The culmination of Yetzias Mitzrayim ends with Kriyas Yam Suf. We have a special Yom Tov, Shvii shel Pesach, dedicated in commemorating Kriyas Yam Suf. Kriyas Yam Suf, of course, was a tremendous nes, no question about it. Unbelievable. Sham am yagozun, chil achaz yoshvei Pelashes. Chazal tell us that all the waters of the world split. Unbelievable miracle. Is there a practical lesson that we're supposed to live with from Kriyas Yam Suf? You know, every day we say Az Yashir. Every day we say Az Yashir. So we bring up in the daily davening Kriyas Yam Suf. What is it in Az Yashir that needs to be said every day? Obviously, if we're trying to bring up the memory of Kriyas Yam Suf by bringing up the shirah of Vayosha Hashem, Vayaar Yisrael es haYad gadolah, we bring it up in the pesukei d'zimra, it must have a point, a lesson, an inyan, a daily lesson for the person. Unless you say maybe pesukei d'zimra is to praise Hashem, so we praise Hashem that we made it through Yam Suf. You know, if we haven't made it through Yam Suf, then we wouldn't be here today. Maybe that's the pshat. You know, when a person talks about his life, he'll always bring up he survived Nam, he survived Holocaust, or whatever his past history, that he went through a traumatic event which he survived. So he brings it up. Maybe that's why every day we have to bring up, Vayoshi Hashem. Hashem, You saved us, and that's why we're here today to praise You. Otherwise, we wouldn't be here. Maybe. Or maybe there's a direct lesson. There's a direct reason, daily to say Az Yashir and to bring up the memory of Kriyas Yam Suf. What is Kriyas Yam Suf for us? What are we supposed to take from Kriyas Yam Suf? So I'd like to go back into the basis, the basis. What was Kriyas Yam Suf all about? Many Chassidic sefarim understand Kriyas Yam Suf as an act of mesiras nefesh, mesiras nefesh, that the Yid jumps into the ocean not knowing that he'll survive. Possibly he won't make it. But the Ribono Shel Olam said, Jump, he jumps. And this is Kiddush Hashem Shamayim. This is how Yidden throughout the generations sanctified the Ribono Shel Olam's name, by jumping. By jumping, even if it meant death, to do the will of Hashem. Many Chassidishe sefarim learn and understand the greatness of Kriyas Yam Suf in this light. It's about mesiras nefesh, Kiddush Hashem Shamayim. Reb Chaim Volozhiner, on the Litvish side, the Kedushas Levi by the Chassidim, the Ben Ish Chai by the Sefardim, all learn that it's about emunah and bitachon. The greatness of Kriyas Yam Suf was the strong emunah and bitachon that the Klal Yisroel showed by traveling into the Yam Suf, not knowing what's going to be. The Ribono Shel Olam didn't give them an understanding that there'll be a yeshuah. It doesn't tell them. It just says, Atem tachrishun. Go. Domu Bnei Yisroel v'yis'u. Hashem yilachem lachem. Don't worry. What? How? It doesn't say to the Klal Yisroel, it doesn't say anything. So emunah and bitachon is what brought about Kriyas Yam Suf, and this is the greatness of Kriyas Yam Suf, the ultimate emunah and bitachon the Klal Yisroel showed.

The Gemara tells us in Pesachim, daf kuf yud ches, kashin mezonosav shel adam k'kriyas Yam Suf. A person's livelihood, his sustenance, his mezonos, his parnassah, is difficult as was Kriyas Yam Suf. Difficult for who? For HaKadosh Baruch Hu? The Zohar asks this for a question, and he says, How can it be difficult? Is there such a thing as difficult to the Ribono Shel Olam? Can't be. What does it mean, difficult? Kriyas Yam Suf was difficult. Parnassah? The Eibishter's mezan and mefarnes the whole world in one word, b'maamaroi. Why is it called kashah? Why is it termed as something which is difficult? The Chazon Lublin gives a beautiful teretz, not to the Zohar's question, but in general, to understand the connection between Kriyas Yam Suf and parnassah. I mean, if you're putting an example between parnassah and Kriyas Yam Suf, there must have some connection. It's not just an example of something which is difficult. Not saying, Oh, it's difficult like... you know, you want to bring as many difficult things in the world. But obviously it's not just because it's difficult. There's a connection between the two. Say the mefarshim explains the Chazon, what is the connection? The connection is that just like Kriyas Yam Suf needed extreme bitachon, mezonos shel adam, the parnassah of the person also needs a lot of bitachon. The catalyst to bring out parnassah is bitachon, just like by Kriyas Yam Suf. I'd like to use this pshat from the Choizim Lublin to now answer the Zohar's question: why is it called kasha? Why is it deemed that something is kasha? To the Eibishter, there's nothing difficult. And the answer is, for the Eibishter there's nothing difficult. But it's not up to the Eibishter; it's up to the emunah and bitachon of the person. So for the Ribono Shel Olam it's difficult. You know why? Because He's waiting to give, but He's being held back because it's all dependent on the bitachon of the person. And even the bitachon of the person sways, and it goes up and down. It moves around daily, from minute to minute. And I'm depending on the bitachon of the person the Ribono Shel Olam is going to give. That's kasha, very difficult for the Ribono Shel Olam. The Ribono Shel Olam is waiting to open the doors of chesed, of hatavah and chesed and giving, but He has to open and close it and open and close it, to give and to hold Himself back, depending on the emunah and bitachon of the person. And that was the same by Kriyas Yam Suf. There are many midrashim that say that as Klal Yisrael was going, the water split. It wasn't that they came to the Nachshon ben Aminadav and then the whole split opened. No, as they were going, in front of them it was splitting. And the pshat probably is, like what we're saying, because every moment the test of bitachon could change from moment to moment. And as they were going, they had to portray constant bitachon. And this is kasha. This is difficult on two levels: on the person, and on the Ribono Shel Olam, who's looking to give, who has to start and stop and start and stop and give, and yes, one minute more, one minute less. The Eibishter wants to give constantly a lot. Kasha. That's why it's difficult. Tefillas Yam Suf is difficult. You know, the Gemara, the pasuk says that when Klal Yisrael saw they were in trouble with Paro, they began to daven. They began to daven. Vayitzaku, they started to scream out. Rashi says, Tafsu umnus avoseihem. They did what their fathers did. They davened. The Eibishter says, Ma titzak elai? Why are you screaming to Me? Tell the Jewish people, daber el Bnei Yisrael v'yisa'u, and they should travel. The mefarshim will ask, What's wrong if you daven? I mean, what's wrong if you daven? Of course you should daven. How could you tell a person to stop davening? The opposite, daven more. What do you mean, don't daven? Reb Chaim Volozhin explains that the emphasis of the pasuk has to be on the word, Ma titzak, a lie, not Ma titzak. Ma titzak, a lie.

What are you coming to me? It's not up to me, it's up to you, because it depends on your bitachon. Matitzak elai. This is not dependent on me. I know I'm the Rabbeinu Shleilam, it's true, but these things need your hishtadlus. And Chassidus sefarim, it's discussed in the wording of his'orusa d'le'eila, his'orusa d'letata. The makkas was his'orusa d'le'eila, that the Rabbeinu Shleilam came and did. Kriyas Yam Suf needed his'orusa d'letata, that Klal Yisrael had to bring it about through their bitachon, through their emunah. So matitzak elai, don't come crying to me. This is not me now anymore. It's not up to me. Not in my hands. Matitzak elai, don't come. It's not matitzak. It's not the, you know, pashut pshat, what are you davening for? It's not the davening, it's the elai. Don't come to me. It's up to you. It's up to you. It's up to you, his'orusa d'letata to have bitachon. And this is kasha, I believe. That's the pshat. It's difficult for the Rabbeinu Shleilam, because he's the boss, and he's saying, I can't do anything, my hands are tied, it's not up to me. The Rabbeinu Shleilam wants, but it's not up to me, it's up to you. So it's kasha, it's difficult for the Eibishter. In Sefer Tallei Oros on Siddur, he brings an interesting thing on Az Yashir. He brings down that there's a sefer called Birchas Avraham, written by someone in the time of the Beis Yosef. As a matter of fact, he has a haskamah from the Beis Yosef. The sefer has a haskamah. R' Yosef gave a haskamah to the sefer, and in it he writes that he had a dream, that the mechaber, the Birchas Avraham, had a dream that he was learning in a beautiful beis medrash, and an older man came to him and asked him the following question: How come, by all other situations where Klal Yisroel was in trouble, there was a navi that came and would tell them that if they do the mitzvahs, and if they keep the whatever they're supposed to keep, teshuvah, tefillah, whatever it may be, the result will be so and so. Even in Mitzrayim, we were told the end result: the Ribbono Shel Olam will take us out, and ... we were told all this. How come over here we were not told? Not told that the Ribbono Shel Olam will split the Yam Suf and you'll come out and everything will be fine. Why were we not told in a nevuah, in a prophecy, like all other times? So he writes over there that he answered the question to the older man, and he said because there'll be people at the time that won't believe. The people were so weak when they left Mitzrayim that till after Kriyas Yam Suf, because don't forget the pasuk says, Vayaaminu baShem uv'Moshe avdo, after Kriyas Yam Suf. Soon we're going to learn that some learned that this was actually before Kriyas Yam Suf, but pashut it was after. So therefore we weren't told in nevuah that the water—because, you know, you'll say the water split, you know what people are going to say? Come on. You're right, frogs, yeah. Barad, yeah. All right, ara, yeah, okay. Kriyas Yam Suf. Nah, come on. That's, that's—you know what it is, that the whole world ocean should split? Ah, come on, we can't. So the only time they would believe it is only after the fact. So he says this—he answered this to the older person, and he writes that the older person liked very much the answer, and then he writes that later on he figured out it was Eliyahu Hanavi. I don't like to argue with people who had dreams about Eliyahu Hanavi, nor do I like to argue with Eliyahu Hanavi for sure not. But I would have said a different answer, if I may, and that is the reason why we were not told the end result that there'll be a Kriyas Yam Suf, because we had to jump into the ocean not knowing. Because since Kriyas Yam Suf was about emunah and bitachon, all we had to know is Hashem yilachem lachem—who, what, when, and where, how. Years ago we even spoke, even davening is a way out. It gives you comfort. No davening also not, just straight bitachon, straight emunah. Now, if it was Eliyahu Hanavi and Eliyahu Hanavi likes this teretz better, okay, so I take back my teretz.

But Torah hi, v'Torah lav bashamayim, and therefore I give my own teretz. And that is that the pshat in the pasuk is, notice that Moshe Rabbeinu was told that I'm going to split the Yam, not Klal Yisroel. They were not told. And the reason I believe is because they had to jump into the waters with emunah and bitachon, not knowing, not knowing. They had to daber el Bnei Yisroel v'yis'u, you just go. No questions asked. No questions asked. Just go. Hashem yilachem lachem, v'atem tachrishun. What does the word tachrishun mean? Tachrishun is a very interesting word, you know. Tachrishun can have many meanings. Now, if you're davening, it should have said, like shtika. Shtika means to not daven. Tachrish means don't utter a sound, which means don't even ask questions. Don't think about it. Don't talk about it. Just numb, go. In English we say, no questions asked, because it had to have extreme emunah, bitachon, to the point that nobody was going to ask any questions. And that's how Kriyas Yam Suf came about. This is possibly why every day we bring up the memory of Kriyas Yam Suf, because the mezonos of shel adam is also about the bitachon and the emunah. Oz yashir Moshe was about emunah and bitachon and how the Ribono Shel Olam could turn the whole world upside down. Split the waters of the world when a person has emunah and bitachon. And this is needed every day as a lesson for a Yid, as he begins his day, that if he has emunah and bitachon, at the end of the day he'll say shira, as I soon will explain the connection between emunah and bitachon and shira. It's interesting, rabboisai, what is tefillah? Is tefillah not an expression of emunah and bitachon? Chayrim, a person who davens, that itself is emunah and bitachon. So how could it be that when Klal Yisroel is told, Don't daven. What? Like we're explaining, travel, have emunah and bitachon. What is tefillah? Tefillah is not emunah and bitachon? You want to say it's hishtadlus. Tefillah is also hishtadlus. I'm doing something. So I want to tell you over, there's a very interesting Maharal, and the Rav, his peirush on Chumash. If you look at the wording of the Rashi on the pasuk that they davened, Tafsu emunas avoseihem. They grabbed the emunahness, which means the umanut, which means what they were good at. The avos were good at tefillah, so the children took on the—what the parents have, like a sword, a special weapon. They took on the weapon of the parents, umnus avoseihem. So l'choira that's a good thing, right? Tefillah, that's a good thing, right? Says the Maharal, says the Rav, say many other mefarshim that was a bad thing. Because they took it on without really having bitachon. Sometimes a person could daven thinking that it works. Yeah, make a mishaberach. Are you having bitachon that the Ribono Shel Olam will help you? Maybe not. Like a good luck charm. Tavsu emunas avoseihem. So what was lacking was the bitachon from within the tefillah. This, chabosai, is what we're discussing. Even if they davened to the Ribono Shel Olam, that wasn't what we were looking for. We were looking for true emunah, true bitachon, and that's only what's really going on inside the heart of the person. A person could, in his words, talk emunah, bitachon, words. What's really going on inside? Tefillah might be words of emunah, bitachon. I trust in You, emes emunah, and I trust, and I talk from today till tomorrow. Comes the maaseh, what's going on inside? That's the daber bnei Yisrael v'yiso. Maybe that's what you meant. You have to put it into action. Maybe that's what you meant. It's not enough to talk. A person could talk all day emunah, bitachon, and then comes the maaseh. It's not in there. Comes the maaseh. The Baal Shem Tov writes, Elokeinu...

We need both. A person has to have a likeinu because it's a likeviseinu, because his father believed in Hashem. He accepts it because tafsu emunah avoseihem. Our fathers already were into the emunah and bitachon. But we also need a likeinu, that a person should understand on his own. It should come from him that he trusts and believes in the Ribono Shel Olam. The Ribono Shel Olam wanted it shouldn't only be tafsu emunah avoseihem; it should become their emunah too. And so He tells him, Go into the water. What does it mean, Vayar Yisrael es hayad hagdolah? Vayaru am es Hashem, vayaaminu baHashem uv'Moshe. Was it Yisrael, or was it the am? Which one was it? Make up your mind. Was it Yisrael, Vayar Yisrael es hayad hagdolah? Vayaru haam es Hashem, vayaaminu baHashem uv'Moshe. Which one is it? So the truth is, the Kedushas Levi explains that Yisrael, of course, is a higher madreigah, and am is a smaller madreigah. The Rokeach in the peirush hatefillah says the opposite. Haam is the bigger madreigah, and the regular people were Yisrael — the women, the children, Rokeach, harishon. And he says, Vayar — they saw. Who? Yisrael. But haam... They were vayiru vaya'aminu. There's one thing seeing, and the next thing is, ha'am, the tzaddikim shebo, says the Rekeach, they were vayiru vaya'aminu. They reacted to what they saw. That's how the Rekeach learns. Interesting. Vayar Yisrael. Yisrael, they saw, you know, the ... Hashem in Mitzrayim. And what is that? That's the simple people, because everybody's called Yisrael. Hashem kein ha'am, they didn't just see. They learned from it. They grew from it. So mimeila, what did they have? Vayiru vaya'aminu. L'maaseh, Kedushas Levi and all other mefarshim learn the exact opposite. Yisrael, of course, is bigger, and the smaller is the am. Am is erev rav. And what's the pshat? Vayar, to understand, es hayad hagdolah, that was Yisrael. Vayiru, to remain only with fear, that was the am. L'maaseh, Mitzrayim, it says they had emunah. Vaya'amin ha'am, it says clearly they believed. So what changed over here? So the mefarshim explain there's different levels of emunah. Emunah is not a one—Ben Ish Chai says emunah is not a one-time thing. Emunah is not that there's emunah and then there's hiddur more and hiddur more. Emunah just keeps on going; you have to be tochen. Levels are all part of the mitzvah. It's not pshat there's a basic mitzvah and more. So there's levels. That's the Ben Ish Chai. You look at the Ben Ish Chai, he explains that emunah is an interesting mitzvah. There's no base and no high. It just keeps on going. Maybe, vayamein, they went from madrega to madrega to madrega. Derech Chaim learns, in Mitzrayim they had yiras ha'onesh, and now, vayamein, yiras ha'romemus. They started to see Hashem's greatness. Dusha's Levi learns there's two groups. Vayar Yisrael es ha'yad gedolah, they saw, they understood. The smaller people, vayiru, they remained with yiras ha'onesh. They saw Hashem's greatness, es ha'yad ha'gedolah asher asah Hashem b'Mitzrayim, vayira ha'am. So the question is, what's the vayira ha'am? And the answer is, it could be two different groups. This is a lot of talk. L'maaseh, I don't understand why it says Vayar Yisrael. It should say Bnei Yisrael, always, till here and from here on. Whenever it talks about Klal Yisrael, it doesn't say Yisrael. No, it doesn't. It says maybe by Har Sinai, but over here it says Vayar Yisrael. Why does it say Vayar Yisrael? So I saw that the Sfas Emes—and yeah, it's interesting—even till here it says Bnei Yisrael, and all of a sudden, Vayosha Hashem es Yisrael, and then it continues again, Az yashir Moshe...

U, Bnei Yisrael. Again, Bnei Yisrael. How come in Vayosha Hashem it says Yisrael? So I found the Sfas Emes brings down either a medrash, it's got to be something, a medrash or something, that it's referring to Yaakov Avinu, that they took Yaakov Avinu, they brought him to Kriyas Yam Suf. Vayar Yisrael, that Yaakov Avinu, Yisrael should come to see. Thinks the medrash, beautiful, very nice. Why? Why? Why does Yaakov Avinu have to come to see Kriyas Yam Suf? So I always understood that Yaakov Avinu, he went down to Mitzrayim. He didn't know what the end is going to be, and he was all upset that he has to go down and with golus, and the Eibishter promised him. So the Ribbono Shel Olam said, Come, let me show you the last, the result. Let me show you the end of the whole story. You'll be there to witness. And the truth is, shirah. Why did we say shirah only at the end and not in the beginning? The mefarshim discuss, they should have said shirah right away in Mitzrayim when they left. And the answer is, shirah is when you see the sum total of the whole story. All the different parts come together. Oz yashir Moshe. What's oz? From oz he came and he said, Me'az basi el Paroh, heira. It was bad. He used the word oz. So there now he says shirah with the word oz. Pshat, he saw the full cycle. It all came from the oz, from the bad, all the way to the shirah, the toitza'os. So they bring Yaakov Avinu maybe. To see it. It's good, that makes sense. I would say a different pshat, rabosai. Ready? You know there was different inyonim, yeah, different inyonim that the Avos were teaching. I told you many, many shiurim ago, could be almost many years ago as well, that Yaakov Avinu was about emunah. And the reason—notice that Yaakov Avinu is that emunascha baleilos. He was Maariv, he was at night, it was emunah. Emunah, when you understand well, turns into bitachon. Emunah, when it's understood, emunah when it reaches deep levels of havanah, of understanding the emunah, all of a sudden it turns into bitachon. This is the words of the Chazon Ish. Emunah is the haschalah, it's the beginning. It is the shoresh of bitachon. When a person works on emunah and it becomes that clear to him, all of a sudden it comes over him a sense of bitachon. Yaakov Avinu was emunah. Kriyas Yam Suf was bitachon. That's why I believe the beginning of Pesach is emunah, the night of Pesach is about emunah. Hashem took us out of Mitzrayim. Seven days later, the end of Pesach is the second phase of emunah, which is bitachon, the jumping into the Yam Suf and the world turns upside down and the ocean split. of the bitachon of the Jew. This is the lesson that Yaakov, a Yar Yisrael. It's Yaakov Avinu. I don't know if it has to be physically Yaakov. The point isn't physically Yaakov. In Mitzrayim, Yaakov began emunah. Yaakov brought them down to Mitzrayim. They needed emunah in Mitzrayim. Now the Yisrael. Yaakov is teaching another lesson. That's pshat, Yisrael, ayar Yisrael, another lesson, and that is the lesson of bitachon. You hear, rabosai? Emunah, says the Chazon Ish, when a person reaches clarity in emunah, begins bitachon. He becomes engulfed in a sense of bitachon and happiness from that bitachon. Now Klal Yisrael is moving into, from emunah to bitachon. Da'agah b'nei Yisrael, that's pshat. Matai tzakei elai? What's pshat, matai tzakei elai? Till now you were davening because you had emunah. Now the time is not emunah. Now the time is to have bitachon, and vayar Yisrael. This is Yaakov Avinu again. The lesson that Yaakov's emunah is now turning into bitachon. You know, rabosai.

When was this said? When was this Oz Yashir said? Parshah, of course, after. Reb Chaim Brisker explains that the reason why it's after, because the only time you say shirah is after the fact of a nes. Ashirah laShem ki gamel aloi, only after. A person can't say shirah before. You don't say shirah till it's over, and you look back, that's called shirah. Ashirah laShem is what? Only ki gamel aloi. So says Reb Chaim Brisker, famous Torah. He has a question if a navi comes and tells you for surely that there will be a yeshuah, is that good enough? So many want to learn the pasuk, V'ani b'chasdecha batachti, yagel libi bishuasecha, mei'lashirah laShem ki gamel aloi. Depends. When is it Ashirah laShem ki gamel aloi? Only after the fact. But if it's V'ani b'chasdecha batachti, then maybe it could be yagel libi bishuasecha. Reb Chaim didn't learn like that. Reb Chaim learned, V'ani b'chasdecha batachti, yagel libi. I can be happy, but a shirah, that's only ki gamel aloi. So that's Reb Chaim Brisker's Torah. Do you know that the Mechilta, and the Kedushas Levi goes with this mahalach as well, learns that actually Oz Yashir was said before Kriyas Yam Suf. Look at the Gaon, he speaks about it, that actually it was said before. Before they went into the Yam Suf, the Kedushas Levi wants to go one step further, and he says even Vayosha Hashem es Yisrael, Vayar Yisrael, Vaya'aminu baShem uveMoshe avdo, was before. Even that was before. Why? Why? Because he says, after the fact, Va'aminu baShem, thank you. They pointed, they saw Hashem. Well, Va'aminu baShem, that's not emunah anymore. If you see Hashem clear, that's called emunah to you. How could you be praised, Va'aminu, that you believed if you saw Hashem once? Of course you believe in Hashem. Va'aminu baShem, what's the chiddush? What's the chiddush, Va'aminu baShem uv'Moshe avdo? They saw it. Says Kedushas Levi that not only the shirah was said before, but the whole parsha, Vayosha Hashem es Yisrael, and they had bitachon, Va'aminu baShem uv'Moshe avdo, and on that they said Az Yashir. They already said shirah. So I want to explain, how does that work? Two chazonishes. One Chazon Ish at the end of Emunah u'Bitachon writes that a person who has bitachon, true bitachon, strong bitachon, is overcome by a sense of relaxation. A sense of relaxation, he says. What is that? As if he is being mevusar, which means he's being pre-told. Besurah, besurah. Give me the right word in English. Besurah, he gets an information. He's being told a besurah, a besurah, that nothing is going to happen to him. Yeah? He gets a— And this is ruach hakodesh. That's what the Chazon Ish writes. You know, the Mechilta writes clearly that when they said Az Yashir, you know why they said Az Yashir? Bizchus ha'emunah, because they had emunah, shoras aleihem Shechinah, v'amru Az Yashir. With the Chazon Ish, it's beautiful. Emunah bitachon brings about that a person has this ruach hakodesh, that what? He gets told b'surah that everything will be fine, which is this kedushas Levi. This Kedushas Levi, beautiful, that it was actually before. But since they jumped into the waters, Vaya'aminu baShem u'veMoshe avdo, az yashir Moshe, then they were able to sing. Again, of course it makes sense. You don't understand it maybe, but it makes a lot of sense. Right. Correct, because they had already, already, they saw they would die. Already, already. Vaya'ar is because already they had emunah, and they saw in the future the result.

Sharsa aleihem ruach hakodesh. The ruach hakodesh came on them. He saved them on that day. Correct, like I just told you. V'ani b'chasdecha batachti, yagel libi bishu'asecha, ashirah laShem ki gamal alai, because I have so much emunah bitachon, it's as if it happened already. A person lives with emunah bitachon, and he... You know what a shiur is about? A shiur is about realizing that I don't know, and I'm being taught. That's what a shiur usually is all about. Now, if it was that I'm teaching you, it's still a good enough reason to say, you know what, Rebbe knows more. But if I tell you over a mechilta, and a Gra, and a Kedushas Levi, and a Chazon Ish, I think we could say, you know what, let it sink in, and then I'll see, maybe I still... So I'm clarifying. The answer is, it comes out very good that way. It comes out, because in the... Moshe רבינו was told in Mitzrayim that I'm going to take you out. Was he happy already? Was he dancing from the joy? This is a shiur, not a seminar, so let's just learn it as a shiur, okay? And that is that a person could see in advance the yeshuah, that the Ribono Shel Olam tells him that it's going to be good. This—where are you going? You have to run because of the mussi, you have to go already? It's a funny thing, the minute I gave mussar, he has to run. Okay, I agree with you. Huh? Where are you going? Okay. Work on it, because it's a big yesod in life. You have to worry. I know, I know. You see, you know what it is? The first time I learned all this, it was a big chiddush to me also. But throughout my life, I realized that this is the reality of life. Otherwise, we cannot. The answer is that a person is able, with tremendous bitachon, to realize the outcome will be perfect. And here the Ribono Shel Olam gave him like neviim to see the outcome in advance. Now, this is the pshat in, Bitachon, emunah, v'haminu baShem uv'Moshe avdo, az yashir Moshe uvnei Yisrael es hashirah hazos. Yeah? Because of the emunah and the bitachon. There's another Chazonish. Chazonish writes that when a person reaches that level of emunah, bitachon, nothing in the world means anything. Life, monetary things, nothing. He reached the pinnacle of what life is all about. And at that moment, he's like a malach. It's fine. Everything is exactly the tachlis of why a person is in this world. He feels, he experiences it. You know, in the Haggadah we say, Ilu kara lanu es hayam, if Hashem only split for us the waters and He didn't let us go through, v'lo he'eviranu b'socho, it would have been enough. All the mefarshim ask, you would have died. So what do you have from Kriyas Yam Suf? You're splitting Kriyas Yam Suf and half and saying if the waters would have split, it would have been good enough, even though we wouldn't have made it out. If we wouldn't have made it out, why do you care about Kriyas Yam Suf? The way we're learning, it's beautiful. The emunah and bitachon, the clarity of seeing the hand of Hashem was enough, that even if they didn't make it out, it was still worth it. Ilu kara lanu es hayam. The dveikus, that connection that we felt with HaKadosh Baruch Hu, dayeinu, was enough. Because the emunah, like the Chazonish writes, makes that a person is so attached to the Eibishter that the whole world, it's meaningless. This is az yashir Moshe. So according to one pshat, they said it after the fact. Chaim Brisker, pashut, he said it after because only after. According to the other mahalach, they said it before because they said it about the emunah. Vaya'aminu baHashem uv'Moshe avdo. That's Vayar Yisrael. Yisrael means the darga of Klal Yisrael, vayar, to see as a yad Hashem, to understand as yad Hashem. That's Vaya'aminu baHashem uv'Moshe avdo, az yashir Moshe. On this we say, Ilu kara es hayam v'lo he'evrenu b'socho, it would have been dayeinu. You know, Rishonim talk how the—

Mitzrayim didn't appreciate Kriyas Yam Suf for the nes that it was. The Rishonim say that Mitzrayim, Levanezra talks about it, that the Mitzrayim claimed there was a natural event in science. It was a natural occurrence, a hurricane, a volcano. The Rishonim talk about it. You want to know that the Rambam himself actually says that that's really what it was? The Rambam in Peirush HaMishnayos, in Perek Hei of Avos, where it says, Basar maamaros nivra ha'olam, and there it says ten things were created bein hashmashos. And then it says over there that there were many nisim, says the Rambam, that were not bein hashmashos. But don't think that it's not teva; everything is teva, because the Ribono Shel Olam put it into the teva that these nisim should happen. That's what the Rambam says. The Rambam says that tenai hisnah HaKadosh Baruch Hu. The Ribono Shel Olam made a tenai with maaseh Bereishis that it's going to split when Klal Yisrael comes. So it's part of the nature. It's part of the nature. Tenai hisnah HaKadosh Baruch Hu, maaseh Bereishis, it's part of the nature. So I want to explain. So what is the Rambam trying to say? If it wasn't a nes, and if it was a nes, you're trying to say that it looked like teva. What does the Rambam want? You know what I think the Rambam is saying? An unbelievable thing. When you look from outside, we could see it as a teva, as a natural occurrence in the world. But the Yid knows that inside— It all depended on how much emunah and bitachon he had. That the goy outside can't see. See, he looks at it and says, teva. Only the Yid knows that it all depended here, the milchamas Amalek, the gavah Yisrael when the hands went up, when the hands went down. The goy doesn't understand. He's looking, it's winning and losing. Natural. The Yid knows, how come when I'm having bitachon I'm winning, and when I don't have bitachon, and that's on the inside, no one can see that. So the Mitzriim looked at Kriyas Yam Suf, and they say, it's a natural event. The Yid looks at Kriyas Yam Suf, what does he say? I realize it has to do with my emunah and my bitachon. To bring out the point, I'd like to say over something Reb Shimshon Pinkus, zecher tzaddik livracha, pointed out a brilliant, brilliant idea. He says that you notice there's pictures from the Holocaust. People look at it and they say, Wow, that's like really unbelievably bad, how terrible, how low, and tragedy. Says Reb Shimshon Pinkus, that's only for one who looks at the picture, who sees the bodies being burnt and so on and so forth. But the Yidden who were there, they knew what was in their hearts. They knew that the Eibishter was with them, and they didn't have such a difficult time to go into the ovens. But the picture doesn't capture that. The emunah... what's a brilliant talk. A picture on the outside can't capture what was really going on inside. Emunah bitachon, it's very hard. And that's what I think pshat is, kashim zonos shel adam bikrias Yam Suf. A person goes to work, on the outside you don't really know. You think it's teva, it's nature, it's life, it's business. I make money, I bring, I buy. But no one sees what's going on inside to know that it all depends on how much emunah and bitachon the person has. That's kashim zonos shel adam bikrias Yam Suf. That just like by Krias Yam Suf there was a natural component to it, yet at the same time, emunah bitachon governed the teva, which is something nobody, only the Yid from the inside could tell. That's pshat kashim zonos shel adam bikrias Yam Suf. And this is why every day we bring up the inyan of Krias Yam Suf, because life is a Krias Yam Suf, and the emunah bitachon govern the Krias Yam Suf. And then we could say shirah, Az Yashir Moshe, on this emunah bitachon, knowing that I'm in the hands of the Ribono Shel Olam, like the lashon of the Chazon Ish, a certain eimus, a certain happiness, a certain level of enjoyment reaches a person when he understands he's in the hands of the Ribono Shel Olam.

And that's why we say shira, Az Yashir Moshe, every single day. I'd like to bring out another point, not directly related to Kriyas Yam Suf and bitachon, but I'd like to bring out a point. In this shira, we say at the beginning, Ze keili v'anveihu, that they pointed, this is my Ribono Shel Olam, v'anveihu. What does v'anveihu mean? So there's many different pshatim. One pshat, v'anveihu means, I will make a house. V'anveihu means I will make Him a home, a Beis HaMikdash. So I could hear, you know, they're telling the Ribono Shel Olam, we love You, we'll make You a Beis HaMikdash. But there's another pshat. V'anveihu means hiddur mitzvah, that when I take the mitzvah, I'll make it pretty. How did that come into the shira? Why is that one of the main points? Maybe you could say, Ze keili, I'll keep Your mitzvahs. I could hear that. I'll keep Your mitzvahs. I'll learn Your Torah. But where did hiddur mitzvah, how did it come into—what, hiddur mitzvah is part of the shira? How did it become part of the shira? It's a question bothering me all my life. I mean, is that the place that we're supposed to, Ze keili, this is—now I'm going to make beautiful? Where did beauty of mitzvahs come into the shira? I believe pshat is, let's follow, rabosai. The Rav on the Mishnayos, it says ten nisim happened in Mitzrayim, and ten nisim happened on the Yam Suf. What are the ten nisim that happened in Mitzrayim? says the Rav on Mishnayos. That the ten makos and we were saved from it. What were the ten nissim that happened on Yam Suf? Says the Rav, a list. One is that the waters split. One is that the water split into twelve. One is that the ground turned into dry land we could pass. Then for the Mitzrim it turned wet. And he goes through a list of ten things. One of the things he writes over there is, number four or five, that it turned into an ohel, that the waters weren't like this, but actually canopy style. Number six, leveinim, it turned into a brick like a building. That's what it says. Number seven, that they were able to pass by in twelve different routes. And number eight, that it was like glass; they were able to see each other. So the Tosafos Yontif comes along and asks, why is it so important that they should be like an ohel, like a tent? It should be like leveinim, like a building. Who needs that? Everything else I understand we need. Here, one of the things was they were able to drink water. Okay, they were able to drink water when they passed by. But why did they need that it should be like an ohel and it should be like a binyan? Says the Tosafos Yontif, v'li nira, I think the pshat is, l'noi u'letiferes Yisrael. L'noi u'letiferes Yisrael, like a canopy, a building. The Ribbono Shel Olam wanted that when they pass by, it should be beautiful. I believe, rabosai, that we can explain also this, the idea of the glass. I always understood, why was there like a glass? The water turned into like a glass. They were able to see each other. I explained two years ago. They had to go as twelve because there were different parts of Klal Yisrael. But imagine you saving yourself not knowing what's with the other part of Klal Yisrael. That's not called yeshuah. That's not called... So they needed that they should be able to see each other. Oh, you see, we're all getting saved. Look at my brother. Look at my friend from Shevet Levi. We're all getting saved. You look at the lashon of the Rav. It says more than just it turned to glass. The waters turned into shoham, yahalom; it turned into diamonds. And it says that the amud ha'esh came and lit it up. I wanted to say this year, after seeing the Tosafos Yom Tov and learning it well, the Ribono Shel Olam made it, it should look like crystals. It should be beautiful. Why? The Yidden, when they left, they left as avadim. They left as avadim. You know, each one saw their brothers in the lowest of matzav: avadim, slaves, avodas perach. I can imagine what the Ribono Shel Olam wanted them to be, Bnei Yisrael yotzim b'yad רמה. Beautiful. So it was like diamonds.

They should see each other and say, Wow, look, look at Klal Yisroel, beautiful. It's like a chandelier. There's a chandelier called Klal Yisroel. Look at the lashon of the Rav: Yaloimim shoyam. It doesn't say just it should be like glass. The twelve shevatim came together as a crystal, with the light shining on it. This was tiferes, beauty of Klal Yisroel. Klal Yisroel sees this, so what do they say? Ribono Shel Olam, I take this tiferes and I return it to You. Zeh Keili. You didn't just take me out of Mitzrayim; You took me out of Mitzrayim, Oti Yisrael b'sifarah, and You made me beautiful. You made me beautiful, and I return to You this beauty, Zeh Keili v'anveihu, and I'll make You beautiful. That's where the inyan, and I want to explain to you. The goyen says that there was a very big difference between the makkas in Mitzrayim and the makkas al hayam. The makkas in Mitzrayim was an onesh for the Mitzriim, and kratz the Bnei Yisroel had from it. It was midas hadin, okay? Masha'en kein, in Kriyas Yam Suf, fakert, it was midas harachamim for Klal Yisroel. And because of that, the reshaim got din; they got punished from it. He says that's pshat: Yemincha Hashem nedari bakoach. Yemin is yemin; Hashem is rachamim. Nedari bakoach, Klal Yisroel. Yemincha Hashem tiratz oyev. By Kriyas Yam Suf, it worked that it was the midas harachamim for Klal Yisroel. In Mitzrayim, it was the midas hadin for Mitzrayim, and k'rada, we got saved, which is really what the Rav was saying. What are the nisim that happened in Mitzrayim? That we didn't have the ten makos that was—so the nisim was a result of what? It was a result that we didn't get what the reshaim, the makos of Mitzrayim. What was asarah al hayam? That was for Klal Yisroel. The Beis Halevi says that's why we said shir only after Yam Suf. Why didn't we say shir in Mitzrayim? Because this was for the reshaim, a makah, while here it was for the Klal Yisroel to uplift them. He says that's the pshat, V'charti lach chesed norayich, that during Yam Suf, the Ribono Shel Olam was bestowing beauty and love to the Klal Yisroel, because V'charti lach chesed norayich, now that I see you leaving, you're following me. Zeh Keili v'anveihu. They started to see that it's not just that the Eibishter is punishing the reshaim. Zeh Keili, that the Ribono Shel Olam loves me and He makes me beautiful, v'anveihu, I return. I want to tell you a story. When I was in the Y, we went to camp in the Y, Queens. We had free camp, so we used to go to the Y. Next door was the Skolener Rebbe's beis medrash, and he didn't have a minyan for Mincha, Maariv. He had trouble making a minyan. So we used to go there for the minyan, and we used to come late all the time. So he once told us, you know, you come to the Y for sport, which means the Eibishter gave you to run. If the Eibishter gives you to run, then you have to return the favor to run to the beis medrash. And you should be on time. That's what he told us. And I thought about what he was telling, and I realized that in Yiddishkeit, when the Eibishter gives you a matanah, you take that matanah and you give it back to the Eibishter. For example, imagine someone comes to your house and he brings you a cake. You know what you tell him? I have a present for you too. Take a piece of the cake and give it back to him. Would he be happy? No? All right. Let's say a guy goes and gives you a watch. Say, I have just a present for you. You take the box, you give it back to him. No? Good stuff. That's exactly what we do to the Eibishter. He gives us trumos, maaser, right? He gives us food. What do we do? We take a percentage, one percent of it, and we give it back to him. Chanah, give me a baby. What did she do? She took the baby and gave it back to the Eibishter. We see from here that to the Eibishter, you take what? Why? That shows chashivus. That's how you show that you appreciate. You appreciate by giving that back to the Eibishter. That's how. You know what I noticed this by a bottle of wine. When somebody brings you a bottle of wine, what do you do? You give him a taste. You take out a little bit. Why? That shows it's a chashuv thing.

It's a bottle of wine. Come, let me show you. I'll appreciate it. Zeh Keli v'anveihu. Rabbeinu Shalom went out of His way, so to speak, to make beautiful Klal Yisroel on the way out. Zogt the Klal Yisroel, I take this, Otzi Yisrael b'sifara, that You made me beautiful and I give it back to You. Zeh Keli v'anveihu. The lesson: Rabbeinu Shalom does us so many chasadim. Utilize those chasadim to return it, to return to the Rabbeinu Shalom in favor, so to speak. The Rabbeinu Shalom gives you a family; learn with them Torah. Rabbeinu Shalom gives you a job; see if you can help another person get a job. Take what the Eibishter gives you and say, Rabbeinu Shalom, I give You back, because I appreciate what You gave me. And show your appreciation by taking and giving it back. Zeh Keli v'anveihu. This is the second lesson I'd like to bring out today on this shiur. You've just experienced another Torah class, brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.