Saved “On That Day”: Kindness Splits the Sea

1“Hashem saved Israel on that day from the hand of Egypt.”¹ Notice the words “on that day.” Why did the verse need to mention them, when it does not tell us which day it was in any case?

2aPerhaps we can explain this through a well-known principle. When the Holy One, blessed be He, wishes to bring salvation to Klal Yisrael, an awakening from below, on the part of Bnei Yisrael, must come first. As the holy Zohar says, “Through an awakening from below, an action from above is awakened.”² Chazal tell us that when Bnei Yisrael stood by the sea, there was a great accusation against them in Heaven. Egypt's heavenly prince, the angel appointed over that nation, argued that Israel was no better than the Egyptians: “These worship idols, and those worship idols!” For this reason Hashem found it hard to go beyond the strict line of justice and split the Red Sea for them. They were redeemed instead through the attribute of kindness and mercy, not through strict justice.³

2bWe may say that what stood Bnei Yisrael in good stead at that moment, and saved them, was the merit the early Midrash Tanna Devei Eliyahu speaks of: “Those who left Egypt had one mitzvah in their hands …”⁴ They had all joined together in one band and made a covenant to be kind to one another, and so on. Because they treated one another with kindness, Heaven's kindness was awakened toward them, measure for measure, to save them. In this merit the sea split before them, and they were granted salvation.

3This lets us explain a teaching of the Midrash Shocher Tov: “‘The sea saw and fled’: what did it see? It saw the coffin of Yosef going down into the sea.”⁵ We may say that Yosef had dealt kindly with his brothers, as it is written, “And Yosef sustained his father and his brothers and all his father's household with bread, according to the little ones.”⁶ He did not repay them with evil for what they had done to him in selling him. In this merit his descendants were granted the splitting of the sea.

4On this basis we can also explain why the verse says, “Hashem saved Israel on that day.” “Day” stands for kindness, as the verse says, “The kindness of God is all the day.”⁷ So the words hint that they were granted salvation in the merit of kindness. The same hint can be found in another verse: “Stand firm and see the salvation of Hashem that He will perform for you today, for as you have seen Egypt today.”⁸ “Stand firm”⁹ hints that each person must make a point of caring for his fellow and helping him stand in his proper place, in spiritual and material matters alike. It is like the saying, “A person's money sets him on his feet.”¹⁰ By doing so they would draw kindness down upon themselves. And this is the meaning of “for as you have seen Egypt today”: the whole power of the Exodus came in the merit of “today,” which stands for kindness. It was in the merit of kindness that they came out of Egypt, out of the forty-nine gates of impurity, the lowest state Israel reached there.

5In this light we can understand what Hashem, blessed be He, said to Moshe Rabbeinu: “Why do you cry out to Me? Speak to Bnei Yisrael and let them journey forth.”¹¹ At times prayer is not enough, and deeds are needed to draw down kindness. That is what Hashem told Moshe: now is not the time to pray; rather, “Speak to Bnei Yisrael and let them journey forth.”¹² They should raise themselves up and remove from their hearts the bad middos, the character traits that hold back kindness, and treat one another with kindness and mercy. Through this, mercy will be awakened toward them from above.

6What emerges from all this is that the whole redemption from Egypt came about through kindness, brotherhood and friendship. And we know that the future redemption will be the same, as the Divrei Yisrael writes in the name of the holy Rebbe R' Yechezkel of Kuzmir.¹³ So we must make a point of greatly increasing our acts of kindness, brotherhood and friendship. At the very least, any group of friends who have joined together and want to stay together as a group must, first of all, be kind to one another, and never, Heaven forbid, the opposite. Through this we will bring near the coming of our righteous Moshiach. Amen, may it be His will.