31 Jan BESHALACH: FAITH AND HOPE

Parashat Beshalah
tells the dramatic story
the – קריעת ים סוף of

splitting of the sea. Af-
ter Pharaoh finally sent

Beneh Yisrael out of the
Egypt, he changed his
mind, and chased after them with his army,
trapping them against the sea. The situation

seemed hopeless. Hashem performed a mir-
acle, splitting the waters, allowing Beneh

Yisrael to cross on dry land. The Egyptians
followed them, and the waters then fell on
them, and they drowned.
In the Torah’s account of this event, we
find some repetition. First, it says, -בני ויבואו
walked Yisrael Beneh – “ישראל בתוך הים ביבש
through the sea, on dry land” (14:22). Later,
the Torah
– ובני ישראל הלכו- ביבשה בתוך הים ,repeats
“Beneh Yisrael walked on dry land through
the sea” (14:29).
Why is this repeated? And why does the
Torah say the first time that Beneh Yisrael
walked ביבשה הים בתוך” – through the sea, on
dry land,” and then reverse the order in the
second pasuk, saying that they walked ביבשה
הים בתוך” – on dry land through the sea”?
The answer is that the first pasuk is talking

about our ancestors at the sea. And the sec-
ond pasuk is talking about us, about all Jews

in every generation, for all time.
When Beneh Yisrael stood trapped against
the sea, there seemed to be no hope for their
survival. It looked like the end. They had no
chance. But they were shown that Hashem
can do anything, that He can help in ways
nobody could ever imagine.
This is what they were shown, and this is
what we, their descendants, were shown.
And so the Torah repeats, -הלכו ישראל ובני
הים בתוך ביבשה .Even when we seem to be

walking ביבשה ,securely, without any trou-
bles or fears, it is really הים בתוך” – through

the sea.” We are being taken care of by
Hashem at all times. He is allowing us to
live, He is giving us everything we have, He
is performing miracles for us, “splitting the
sea” so we can live and function.

This faith is what gives us hope during try-
ing times. We never know what the future

will bring. Faith does not mean that we are
prophets, that we can determine precisely
what will happen. What faith means is that
no matter what the statistics are, Hashem
controls everything. Faith means that when
the doctors say there is no hope, there still is
hope. Faith means that when there seems to
be no way we can pay our bills, there still can
be a way. We don’t know what will happen,
but we can have hope, because we know that

Hashem can do anything.
A couple was married for many years

without being able to have children. Fi-
nally, they contacted one of the wonderful

organizations that helps couples strug-
gling with infertility. The husband spoke

to the Rabbi from the organization, and
the Rabbi said they should meet for lunch

on Sunday and then go meet with the doc-
tor.

“Where would you like to eat lunch?”
the rabbi asked. He proceeded to list the
various options.
The man grew impatient.
“Rabbi!” he said. “I want a child. Not
a tuna sandwich!”
“My friend,” the Rabbi replied, “I want
you to realize that Hashem can bring you a
child as easily as He can bring you a tuna
sandwich.”

Sure enough, nine months later, this cou-
ple had a child.

Of course, we do not have miracles like
the splitting of the sea. Hashem helps us in
much subtler ways. We can all look back and

see things in our lives that we never imag-
ined could happen, but ended up happening,

yet, we would be hard pressed to identify a
specific moment when everything changed.
For most people, there is no precise point

when all of a sudden their lives changed.
The change happens slowly, step by step.
But this, too, is the splitting of the sea. It’s
Hashem helping us in ways which we
would never have imagined.

After things happen, we should have emu-
nah (faith) and humbly accept that this is

what Hashem wanted. But until they hap-
pen, no matter what the situation is, we can

and should be hopeful, firmly believing that
just as Hashem split the sea for our ancestors,
He can split the sea for us, as well.