B'Shalach: Beyond Comfort Zones: Fulfilling Our True Essence
Liluei Nishmas Ita bas Chanoch Aharon Bistritzky
This week's parsha, B'Shalach, tells us of the great miracle of the splitting of the Red Sea. The Midrash elaborates that Hashem did not just split the sea at that moment but made a condition with the waters at the time of their creation during the six days of creation. The condition was that the waters must part for the Jewish people when the time would arrive thousands of years later; if not, the waters would cease to exist. In other words, the splitting of the sea validated the waters' very existence.
The obvious question arises: Why would Hashem need to make such a condition with the waters? Hashem is all-powerful and created the waters; He could simply command them to split when the time arrived. Why require this precondition?
Chassidus explains that if Hashem had merely overridden the natural properties of water during the splitting of the sea, causing it to part, this would have temporarily changed the sea's nature for the sake of the miracle. After the Jewish people crossed, the waters would revert to their original state, having been passive objects in the process, not actively fulfilling Hashem's will. The nature of water, after all, is to flow, not to stand as walls.
However, when Hashem established this precondition with the sea at the time of creation, the sea remained true to its nature even while splitting. It did not cease to exist as "water" because the act of splitting was embedded within its very purpose from the beginning. The sea wasn't just overridden; it actively fulfilled its role as it had been destined to do. Its nature wasn't canceled; rather, its nature included the capacity to split for the Jewish people.
There is a beautiful lesson to learn from this. Often in life, different circumstances call for us to leave our comfort zones and do things that feel beyond our natural inclinations and limitations. This is especially applicable in relationships, raising families, and in our service to Hashem. Sometimes we resist leaving our comfort zones because we feel that stepping beyond them means denying who we truly are. When we do manage to step out, it can feel like we're temporarily suppressing our true selves for the sake of an external obligation.
Yet, the Torah teaches us that stepping out of our comfort zone is not abandoning our nature but rather fulfilling a deeper part of who we are. Just as the sea's splitting was not a denial of its essence but an expression of its true purpose, so too, when we face challenges that stretch us, we are not betraying ourselves but actualizing parts of our potential that were embedded within us from the start.
Our true essence includes both the comfort of familiar waters and the courage to stand tall when needed. Growth doesn't mean becoming someone else; it means discovering the depths of who we were always meant to be. When we embrace this perspective, we realize that our moments of challenge are not departures from our nature but fulfillments of our purpose, validating our existence just as the sea was validated through its miraculous role.
This idea is especially resonant as we mark the tenth of Shevat this shabbos, the day the Rebbe assumed leadership following the passing of the Previous Rebbe. The Rebbe emphasized the mission of every individual to challenge themselves, to grow beyond their perceived limitations, and to transform the world through acts of goodness and kindness. Just as the sea's purpose was embedded from the beginning of creation, our mission is deeply rooted within us. And when we challenge ourselves by doing even one more mitzvah, we will tip the greater universe toward merit and help prepare the world for Moshiach. Then, we will experience a time when "the knowledge of Hashem will fill the earth like the water covers the sea."
Adapted from “Life Talks on the Parsha”