A Woman's Trust

The Splitting of the sea.

A surfer's dream.

A fish's nightmare.

Either you've read the Torah story, or saw the 10 commandments movie or maybe even the Prince of Egypt.

In last week's Torah portion, we read how after leaving the shackles of slavery in Egypt

with the help of the 10 plagues, the Jewish people were on a high, ready to go to Mt. Sinai and receive the Torah from G-d.

But 1 tiny, minor obstacle stood in their way. A massive sea. With the Egyptian army on their heels in hot pursuit,

many Jews started panicking. Some began praying, others debated surrendering, while others thought of fighting.

Still others debated the worst, to jump into the sea and die, just to avid the clutches of the Egyptian enemy.

But there was 1 man named Nachshon ben Aminadav - who was the leader of the tribe of Yehudah (Judah).

He realized that G-d Had told the Jewish people to simply go to Mt. Sinai. And so he did.

He entered the sea alone and began walking. The water rose over his body higher and higher, reaching up to his neck.

And still he walked, with perfect trust in G-d. As the water reached his nose, the sea split. For the entire Jewish people.

The lesson here is apparent and powerful.

Throughout history, Jews emulated Nachshon.

Under every evil regime, Jews knew that G-d Empowers each of us with whatever we need to be successful in fulfilling his word in this world. We just have to do it. Without debating too much in our heads about "whether we can be successful" or not.

This amazing trust and faith in G-d shown by Nachshon, can also be seen by all of the Jewish women at the splitting of the sea.

After the Jews crossed over and the Egyptians were washed ashore, the Torah tells us:

"And Moshe and Israel sang a song" of thanksgiving to G-d. The Torah then says: "And Miriam took the timbrel in her hand

and all the women went out... with timbrels and instruments."

Now wait a second. How in the world did all of the women (& not the men) have instruments all of a sudden,

ready on hand to sing and praise G-d for His Salvation of their people?

Our Sages explain, that when all of the Jews left Egypt in haste, the women brought instruments with them,

assured and with full trust that they would yet need them to praise Hashem for total salvation from Egypt.

They didn't panic when they reached the sea with the Egyptians on their heels.

(This is not an isolated occurrence of the Jewish woman's total trust and focus on what is right and true.

We see at the sin of the golden calf that the women refused to contribute, and many such instances.)

The holy Kabbalist of 16th-century Tzfat, the Arizal,

writes that the final generation of Jews before the coming of Moshiach will be a gilgul, a re-incarnation, of all of

the Jews who left Egypt 3,322 years ago. The Lubavitcher Rebbe told us that this is our generation. (WOW).

And just as we were saved from exile in the merit of the righteous women who kept total faith & trust in G-d,

in the most difficult of circumstances, so too will we be redeemed in this generation in the merit of our righteous Jewish women.

May we all learn from Nachshon ben Aminadav & all of our righteous women, to do what needs to get done, and all with total trust and joy, ready at the drop of a hat to sing and dance with praise at our total redemption.

May it happen now!

Shabat Shalom!

-Daniel