What does the Splitting of the Red Sea tell us? Tonight, 10th of Shvat, is the Yahrzeit of Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, the previous leader of Chabad Chasidut. This is the day in which his son-in-law, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, accepted the role upon himself. Both of them explained to us how to look, according to Hassidism, at the Splitting of the Red Sea, which happens in our Portion:
Usually, the pure truth is covered by lies, nuisances, covers and screens. In the Exodus of Egypt there was one moment in which everything was visible to the eyes, without covers - the sea split, and everyone saw the dry land. Picture for yourself a moment in which all the sadness and despair vanish in favor of joy; a moment in which the cynicism makes way for faith. In the Splitting of the Red Sea, the Children of Israel saw reality this way, in a corrected, clear way, and also sang about it. Usually, the things that are visible to the eyes are bare, loud, famous and talked-about, but the things that are hidden, covered and delicate - we do not see at all. This week's Portion reminds us that reality has an inner dimension that we must expose; that sometimes, underneath the lie there is truth; that sometimes the bad hides the good. We must remember this even after the sea closes again.
