Beshalach: The Spiritual Path of the Parted Waters

Where do I start as I approach this Parshah? We need to understand the flow of the story and the context of the Yidden at that time. Freshly released slaves with an embedded mentality spanning over one hundred years. The belief of the control of the physical masters was still fresh in their minds. They were now shown that there is a God, all the while still being beaten by the Egyptians. They literally had to choose on their own to come out of Egypt, and those who were strong enough in their hearts to hold on to the faith were released to the promised land.

We are in a similar situation nowadays. The physicality of our reality, be that what that may be, keeps us partially enslaved to it, although in essence we know that we don’t want it. It can be spending too much time on our phones and being drawn towards laziness and wasteful spending of our time. Maybe the reality of our hardships and the pain we are experiencing in our lives are the reality clouding our vision. We have to make sure that no matter which reality we find ourselves consumed by we should know to tell if we are being enslaved by it or are we prospering with it.

Becoming aware of the abilities we have in life is the single greatest gift for a human being. It would be a great tragedy if one were to forgo their twenties just because they have yet to uncover their potential. Knowing how to stop the flow of negative thoughts and in its place introduce a new stream of positivity, that is step one to the rest of the battle and eventually to victory. Being a soldier to your true beliefs instead of a goon to your outlandish ones is truly the place to start. All we are trying to do is start moving the flow in a positive direction, in a direction where we can prosper and grow, love and live.

As we learnt above, it doesn’t matter what kind of reality life has handed you, it is our commitment to a true belief that will break us out of the fingernails of the matrix. This belief has been practiced, tried and proven by all in our lineage. And to prove that as a fact all we have to do is open the news, read books from all stages of history, and retrace our steps all the way back to where we are now.

Some at the sea also started to shake in their boots, their beliefs weren’t up to par either, they were afraid of their physical masters chasing them from behind. They were like a giant elephant who is afraid of the shepherd’s rope. They were conditioned to fear those figures subconsciously for many years. 

We can see them in ourselves. We believe in Hashem and we follow His command and thrive with our belief in Him, but when our conditions kick in, we lose focus and we fall once more. We’re in a constant struggle in our life, a struggle that requires discipline, motivation, dedication and obsession to overcome. And when we see the splitting of the sea, at that point we find the will to be completely present in the belief in Hashem. 

The moment of the splitting of the sea was a moment of complete oneness. There were no two sides. To explain this contradiction moderately; we need the waters to split, for the world to reach a unanimous consensus of Hashem. We were on the way up, growing our faith, seeing Hashem’s hand undeniably as they leaped off the beaches and walked into the Red Sea. This level of belief is the wish of each and every human. Seeing how the past is gone, the future is unknown, and right now we are standing in a miracle. 

We wish to hold onto this knowing forever. We want this knowledge to be in front of our eyes with no time outs. We pray that our clarity in Hashem’s existence and direct providence will be constantly on our minds, but to our sorrow, we must go back to school after vacation. We must be challenged, we can’t just eat ice cream everyday. Were we to live comfortably in our belief we would come to grow fat and rebellious, as the Pasuk states in Devarim 32:15. But what do we have? We have our personal realities and clouds that consume us, we have our physical masters that ask for our attention to be diverted to them. They are sly thieves of our precious time. Once we learn to fight them we can go on living with that complete belief.

As we grow up in our faith and continue upstream, we come to living a very calculated life. It requires constant awareness of our surroundings, just like that time we walked through the red sea. Just like by the miracle you made sure not to miss it, so too in regular life, it would be a constant focus on seeing the good in every moment. When we see God’s hand in our life on a constant basis, with all the good and miracles He does for us, so too will our faith be doubtless in the face of our struggles. Life can throw whatever struggle your way, but with a present view of the moment you’re in right now, seeking out Hashem in it, you will be able to subvert lengthy months of depression and sadness.

It is our greatest wish to live with the belief in Hashem as when we experienced Him on the sea, and in order to reach that we must start seeing Him everywhere. Complete awareness of life is the path forward to the realms of purity. It is a natural progression to go from awareness to purity since once you are calculated in your every move, and every step is weighed according to the will of Hashem, it is clear that we will remain faithful and remove and distance ourselves from anything related to our old physical masters. We will rid ourselves of addiction and we will purify ourselves from negative thoughts, we will bring about the living experience of burning the cow and be purified with its ashes in water.

That upward stream of belief keeps us going higher and higher, and as you see this is until where I can take you for now. With proper Yirat Shamayim and a disciplined heart we will all be able to climb even higher up to the level of Moshe Rabbeinu. What does it look like when our nation will be worthy of living on such a level. When we will all be in Yerushalayim, completely pure from our physical to our spiritual. Our past cleansed, our actions refined and our thoughts purified. This is what we look forward to, soon in our days.

As individuals we can bring the Geula upon ourselves. By understanding the path we walk on and by valuing the moments we have on earth. This is where we are able to upgrade our belief, for it is only here that we experience miracles. Because after all, no matter how much work we put in to gain this timeless knowledge, without Hashem splitting the sea for us we would have nothing. Much like our physical bodies would probably be killed if Hashem wouldn’t split the sea, so too, nothing in our life would be possible if Hashem didn’t blend it with miracles.

David Lemmer is an Orthodox Jewish Writer and Hypnotherapist. He can be reached at LemmerHypno@gmail.com