Chasidut su Esodo 4:21

With the splitting of the Red Sea, it is written, “and [the people] believed in God and in Moshe, His servant.” This is as it is written in the Zohar (Beshalach, 53b): It is written, “and they believed in God and in Moshe, His servant.” Did they not believe in God until now? We find that when Moshe first told of the redemption to the children of Israel, the verse says (Shemot, 4:21), “And the people believed; and when they heard that the God had remembered the people of Israel… they bowed their heads and prayed.” Furthermore, they must have believed after witnessing all of the mighty acts God did in Egypt. If so, what does it mean when the Red Sea split that the Torah says, “and they believed?” [The difference is that here] God told them (Shemot, 14:13), “Do not fear, stand still, and see the salvation of the God which He will show to you today.” … Rabbi Yeisa asked, “It is written (ibid, 14:13), ‘Do not fear, stand still… for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you shall not see again forever (ad olam),’ and it is also written (ibid. 14:30), ‘And Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore.’”³⁷⁹In other words, there is a contradiction in the verses. In verse 14:13, Moshe promises the Jewish people that they will never see the Egyptians again, yet verse 14:30 states that they did see them again, albeit dead on the shore. (In the original Zohar passage, verse 30 is cited before verse 13. The order is reversed here for greater clarity.) Rabbi Yossi said, “In the second verse, they saw them dead.” Rabbi Yeisa said, “If so, the verse should have said, ‘you shall not see them again alive.’” Rabbi Abba said, “You have asked a good question, but come and see. It is written (Divrei HaYamim 1, 16:36), “Blessed is God forever and ever’ – ‘min ha-olam ve’ad ha-olam,’ which could also mean, ‘from the world to the world.’ On this we are taught, there is a world above, and a world below. ‘The world above,’ is the place from which the candle is first lit. ‘The world below,’ is the completion, which includes everything.³⁸⁰The “world below” refers to the sefirah of Malkhut (“Sovereignty”), which is the last of the ten sefirot. Positioned directly above our material world, Malkhut receives all the spiritual light and energy from the upper worlds, and transmits it to us. From ‘the world below,’ God’s mighty acts wake up for the denizens of the lower realm.³⁸¹Malkhut, being feminine, is also a world of dinim – strict judgments. In this lower world, God does wonders for Israel, bringing about a miracle. When this [lower] world is aroused to perform miracles, it had the effect of drowning all of the Egyptians, and produced a miracle for Israel with the splitting of the Red Sea. For this reason it is said, you shall not see them again forever– ad olam. That is to say, “until the world which is below is aroused’³⁸²Thus, Rabbi Abba interprets the verse’s use of the word “forever” as an allusion to the upper words, reading ad olam – (“forever”) as ad d’itar hahu olam – “until that world (Malkhut) is aroused” to destroy the Egyptians. and they are delivered into the hands of its judgment. And since they are given over to it to be judged, it is written, ‘And Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the sea shore’ as it is written “min ha-olam v’ad ha-olam” – from the time the lower world is awoken. This is the meaning of, ‘And they believed in God and in Moshe, his servant.’” The children of Israel believed, in the beginning of Moshe mission, as it is written, “and the people believed.”³⁸³Even though the statement “and they believed” refers to the Israelites immediately after the splitting of the sea, that Zohar also applies it retroactively to the belief of the Israelites after meeting Moses and learning of G-d’s intention to redeem them from Egypt (Mtok M’dvash). The faith was fixed in their hearts, and through their faith they connected to God. Their faith aroused God’s salvation in a place beyond all human understanding. This is the meaning of the statement in Parshat Beshalach, at the splitting of the Red Sea, “and they believed in God and in Moshe, His servant.”³⁸⁴This is an ironic rereading of the verses. The straightforward meaning is that the Jewish people believed more in G-d after they passed through the sea. According to R. Gershon Hanokh, it was their faith in G-d that actually caused the sea to split, as faith reaches a level above the laws of nature. This is as it is written in the passage in the Zohar above, that they clearly saw the revelation of the supernal light.³⁸⁵During the splitting of the sea. It was from this place that miracles happened for the Jews and defeat for the Egyptians, to the point where their entire redemption was miraculous. This is because miracles are the revelation of the Supernal light far above any revealed governance.³⁸⁶That is, the way G-d runs the world through the revealed elements of creation. This is as it is written in the Zohar (Beshalach, 54a): “Then Moshe and the children of Israel sang this song to God.” Rabbi Abba opened and said: I looked into all of the praises sung to God and saw that they all started with, “az (then).” “Az – Then Israel sang.” (Bamidbar, 21); “Az – Then Yehoshua spoke” (Yehoshua 10); “Az – Then Shlomo said” (Melachim 1, 8). Why is this? It is taught that with all of the miracles and mighty actions are performed for Israel, when the light of Atika Kadisha³⁸⁷Atika, or Atikia Kaddisha (the “Holy, Ancient One”) is one of the highest levels of reality, in the order of the supernal worlds. It lies at the interface between creation and transcendent Divinity. It is reflected in the consciousness by that which transcends all cognitive perception. When the light of Atika breaks into reality, it breaks the bonds of nature, causing miracles, and illuminates human consciousness with the ability to grasp that which is paradoxical and impossible. illuminated in its crowns, they are carved and inscribed with “Az – Then.” With aleph, and then aleph with zayin, pierces the darkness and illuminates all sides. When the two letters are joined, the illumination of the aleph reaches the zayin, … this is how miracles and mighty actions happen. When we say that miracles happen from a place that is above man’s ability to comprehend, we call this the light of “Atika Kadisha.” When this light illuminates and breaks through the border of man’s understanding and enclothes itself in a lower garment, then the governance of the supernal light is revealed in the world, and we can clearly see miracles.