In our Parasha, Bnei Israel were for the first time facing a deadly situation, the sea in the front, the Egyptians in the back and it seemed like it’s the end of Geulat Mitzraim. At that moment Moshe was praying to Hashem and surprisingly Hashem’s response to Moshe was “what are you praying to me for?!, speak to Bnei Israel and start moving”.
The Ohr Hachaim Hakadosh asks what does “what are you praying to me for” mean? when’s a better time to pray if not now?, so many times we see that Moshe prayed to Hashem, even later in our parasha yet we never see Hashem telling Moshe to stop praying so what happened by the sea that Hashem told Moshe to stop?
The answer might actually be understood through a Midrash. The Midrash says that when Bnei Israel came out of Egypt they looked like Egyptians so much that the Malachim came infront of Hashem and told him “Halalu ovdei avoda zara ve halalu ovdei avodah zara” meaning those are worshipping idols and those are worshipping idols, that Midrash says that Bnei Israel were so deep in the “Gates of Tumah” that if they stayed in Egypt even an extra second they would never be able to come out and in fact, only twenty percent came out at the end. When Bnei Israel were standing by the sea, they did not have enough zechuyot (merits) that their Tefilah will be answered and such a miracle as the splitting of the sea will be performed for them, at that moment Tefilah was just not enough, however, there is something much stronger than Tefilah and it’s Bitachon in Hashem, to have FULL trust in Hashem, knowing that no matter what, Hashem has a plan, Hashem is running the show, and so he will be our savior in the worst situations and therefore Hashem told Moshe “what are you praying to me for?, speak to Bnei Israel and start moving”. Nachshon Ben Aminadav was the first one to be Moser Nefesh on Hashem and he jumped into the water till they reached his mouth, at that moment “hegiu mayim ad nafesh” the sea split, but in order to have such mesirut nefesh we must first have full bitachon in Hashem.
When we have full bitachon in Hashem we understand that any situation in life, no matter how bad things get is the matter of 50/50 chances, 50% chances it will get better, 50% chances it won’t. There’s no such thing is “hardly any chances it’ll be ok”, nothing is too hard for Hashem and he can literally take a person from the bottom of the dirt to the highest of life, the yeshua (salvation) of Hashem is like the blink of an Eye as David Hamelech says.
When we come to Tefilah with the approach that NOTHING is too hard for Hashem to do and that he is the only one that decides what’s next, then BeEzrat Hashem, Hashem will listen to our Tefilot and help us because he sees we understand that if not for him, no one else could help us, as the pasuk says “Hashem tzuri, ve lo avlata bo” Hashem is my rock and he is never unfair.
The way we can reach such a level of Bitachon is actually in the end of our Parasha. The Torah tells us that when Bnei Israel went to fight Amalek, Moshe went up hill overlooking the war zone, when Moshe held his hands up Bnei Israel were winning and when he was putting them down Bnei Israel were losing. The Gemara in Masechet Rosh Hashana says “DID THE HANDS OF MOSHE WAGE WAR OR CRUSH THE ENEMY? NOT SO; ONLY THE TEXT SIGNIFIES THAT SO LONG AS ISRAEL TURNED THEIR THOUGHTS ABOVE AND SUBJECTED THEIR HEARTS TO THEIR FATHER IN HEAVEN THEY PREVAILED, BUT OTHERWISE THEY FELL.” we learn from this gemara that a way for us to develop such bitachon in Hashem is by stopping for a moment and thinking about how powerful Hashem is, what a wonderful creation he made like the Navi says “Lift up your eyes on high and see, who created these, who takes out their host by number; all of them He calls by name; because of His great might and because He is strong in power, no one is missing.”
May Hashem help us all grow in Emuna and Bitachon and may we all truly live with Hashem 24 hours a day 7 days a week 365 days a year..
Shavua tov!
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