Between the Walls

The Rebbe answered, “When it pertains to your fellow Jew’s parnassah, you have to be an apikorus” — meaning, you cannot get yourself off the hook by saying, “I have bitachon in Hashem. He will take care of that fine Yid.” No — it’s up to you to provide him with his needs.

This idea seems particularly relevant to the situation at hand, but first, a short thought.

At Kri’as Yam Suf, the Torah tells us, “And Moshe stretched out his hand over the sea, and Hashem drove back the sea with a strong east wind all that night… and the waters were a wall for them on their right and on their left.”.The Imrei Yehudah highlights something striking in this event: There were in fact two walls of water — one held up through a revealed miracle and the other through seemingly natural means.

The Imrei Yehudah brings from the Yalkut that when Moshe stretched out his staff over the sea, it did not split, even though the staff had Hashem’s Name engraved upon it. Only when Hashem sent a ruach kadim azah, strong easterly wind, did the sea yield. Why? Because Hashem intended for one side of the sea to appear as if it were being held up by the natural force of wind, while the other side stood through an open miracle — without disguise. This duality was intentional. The east wind was real. It blew all night. But one wall was nature cloaked in Divine will, and the other was pure Divine will. And the Jewish people walked between the two.