Rav Yehoshua ben Levi teaches that earning a livelihood is as difficult as Kriyas Yam Suf (Bereishis Rabba 98). At first glance, this statement is puzzling. What does it mean that Kriyas Yam Suf was difficult? Is anything difficult for Hashem? And what is the connection between splitting the sea and earning a living?
In a remarkable insight into human nature, Rabbi Simcha Bunim of Peshischa explains that the “difficulty” of Kriyas Yam Suf was not for Hashem; it was difficult for us, for Bnei Yisrael. At the time of splitting the sea, we were surrounded by the raging sea in front of us and the furious Egyptian army behind us. As we assessed our options for salvation, we may have considered a miraculous attack from Hashem on the Egyptians, as previously witnessed during the makkos.
We didn’t anticipate the splitting of the sea. We had not even considered that salvation. This, explains Rabbi Simcha Bunim, was the difficulty of Kriyas Yam Suf for Bnei Yisrael. The experience of unexpected salvation is a challenge for human beings who like to feel safe by foreseeing how things will work out. We like to see where the solution to our problem is going to come from. We feel uneasy when we are unclear about how things will unfold.
In comparing the splitting of the sea to making a living, the Midrash reveals that this aspect of difficulty is embedded in earning a parnassah. As each person is involved in hishtadlus – going to work and trying to earn an income– it is natural to expect that things will work out in a specific way. Our jobs provide salaries. We responsibly budget for expenses. We put away savings for short- and long-term plans. In our day-to-day work interactions, we fill our schedules, set project timelines, follow best practices in our businesses, follow trends, and seek expert advice.
Yet, more often than we’d like, our expectations of how everything will work out don’t actualize. Hashem tells us that he will provide for our needs but doesn’t tell us exactly how that will happen. Similar to the Kriyas Yam Suf experience, our livelihood comes through an unplanned pathway.
The question for each one of us is how we will experience this reality of the unknown – through anxiety and stress or curiosity and excitement.
Part of our internal redemption from the culture of Mitzrayim was leaving behind a mindset that emphasized predictability and control over external factors to secure a safe future. The entire thrust of idolatry and sorcery is to know and control the future, as we learn from Pharoah’s engagement in astrology and attempts to manipulate the future by means of wicked decrees, including the murder of all baby boys.
Achieving internal freedom required Bnei Yisrael to break out of their comfort zone and experience salvation from the unexpected. After going through this experience, Bnei Yisrael celebrated the new way of thinking by expressing: “Who among the gods is like you, Hashem? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?”
The reference to Hashem’s wondrous ways (oseh peleh, “working wonders”) highlights Hashem’s incomprehensible ways of interacting with the world. Through the experience of splitting the sea, they were now able to rejoice in this new awareness.
Each one of us has our own stories of moments when we’ve seen how Hashem provides for us in ways we never expected. We should use these experiences to deepen our awareness of how Hashem’s ways of providing for us do not need to line up with our own expectations.
The more that we internalize this message within our minds and hearts, the more we can replace feelings of anxiety and frustration with feelings of menuchas hanefesh and simchas hachaim.
