We say it every day in tefilat Shacharit: "On that day, HaShem saved Israel from the Egyptians. Israel saw the Egyptians dead and Israel saw G-d's great hand. The nation revered HaShem and believed in G-d and Moshe His servant."
That intro to the Shirah - the Song at the Sea - is usually understood just the way it appears in the text. After B'nei Yisrael saw the massive power of G-d demonstrated right before their eyes, they were imbued with a deep awe and unswerving faith in the Almighty.
Makes sense, of course. But it also raises questions: What is the groyse metzia of believing in HaShem after such a potent show of strength? Who wouldn't believe in Him at that point? And what about our free will - how can we freely choose to believe in G-d after such a compelling event?
And so, a thought: because there "is no chronological order in the Torah," i.e., events may not have occurred in the sequence given in the text, I suggest we read this particular pasuk in the exact opposite order from the way it is written: 'And the nation believed in G-d and in Moshe, and they revered G-d. And so they saw the great hand of the Almighty.'
We all know the expression "seeing is believing." That may be true emotionally, but spiritually it's just the opposite: believing is seeing. Events in this world are never indisputable; they are always filtered through the eye of the beholder. And whether that beholder is a person of faith or not makes a huge difference in the way he or she interprets everything that unfolds before his or her eyes. If we choose to have emunah, faith, then everything will take on a different "look" and meaning.
Examples abound. The meraglim (spies) saw residents of Canaan living in fortified cities and concluded they were mighty; Yehoshua saw the same thing and understood that only weak people need forts to protect them. Boaz died one day after marrying Ruth, and the cynics concluded he must have been punished for marrying a Moabite. Only later do we understood that Boaz - a very old man - had been kept alive for the express purpose of fathering a child with Ruth, which would lead to King David and Moshiach.
We all experience this syndrome constantly. We see events and we take them at face value, forgetting to always "process" the picture before us in our internal factory of faith. Even that which appears to be negative may not always be so; as David wrote in Tehilim: "A fool does not understand - when the wicked prosper, it is so they may be cut down forever." (Take note, Iran.)
As my friend Rabbi Gold says: "Had I not believed it, I never would have seen it!" Sounds backwards, eh? But it's not; it's 613-613 vision at work, teaching us to always take things at faith value.
That intro to the Shirah - the Song at the Sea - is usually understood just the way it appears in the text. After B'nei Yisrael saw the massive power of G-d demonstrated right before their eyes, they were imbued with a deep awe and unswerving faith in the Almighty.
Makes sense, of course. But it also raises questions: What is the groyse metzia of believing in HaShem after such a potent show of strength? Who wouldn't believe in Him at that point? And what about our free will - how can we freely choose to believe in G-d after such a compelling event?
And so, a thought: because there "is no chronological order in the Torah," i.e., events may not have occurred in the sequence given in the text, I suggest we read this particular pasuk in the exact opposite order from the way it is written: 'And the nation believed in G-d and in Moshe, and they revered G-d. And so they saw the great hand of the Almighty.'
We all know the expression "seeing is believing." That may be true emotionally, but spiritually it's just the opposite: believing is seeing. Events in this world are never indisputable; they are always filtered through the eye of the beholder. And whether that beholder is a person of faith or not makes a huge difference in the way he or she interprets everything that unfolds before his or her eyes. If we choose to have emunah, faith, then everything will take on a different "look" and meaning.
Examples abound. The meraglim (spies) saw residents of Canaan living in fortified cities and concluded they were mighty; Yehoshua saw the same thing and understood that only weak people need forts to protect them. Boaz died one day after marrying Ruth, and the cynics concluded he must have been punished for marrying a Moabite. Only later do we understood that Boaz - a very old man - had been kept alive for the express purpose of fathering a child with Ruth, which would lead to King David and Moshiach.
We all experience this syndrome constantly. We see events and we take them at face value, forgetting to always "process" the picture before us in our internal factory of faith. Even that which appears to be negative may not always be so; as David wrote in Tehilim: "A fool does not understand - when the wicked prosper, it is so they may be cut down forever." (Take note, Iran.)
As my friend Rabbi Gold says: "Had I not believed it, I never would have seen it!" Sounds backwards, eh? But it's not; it's 613-613 vision at work, teaching us to always take things at faith value.