Exodus:
“And it happened when Pharaoh sent the nation, and G-d did not lead the nation by the Philistine road because it was close, for He said, ‘Lest the nation feel regret when then see war and return to Egypt.’”
Netivot Shalom on Parshat Beshalach
This is problematic, why does Scripture use the word, ‘And it happened’, which signifies sorrow in a situation of glee and rejoicing. Furthermore the language And it happened when Pharaoh sent the nation is problematic. The matter did not depend on Pharaoh, but rather on the Lord of Creation, for He brought us out of Egypt, as it is written G-d brought them out of Egypt. Furthermore it is necessary to explain G-d did not lead the nation by the Philistine road because it was close, for He said, ‘Lest the nation feel regret when then see war and return to Egypt. Why was it necessary to take a long road because of fear of the nation changing its mind? Is G-d not capable of anything, and thus fully capable of making sure that the people could not change their minds upon seeing war?
We can understand this matter as pertaining to our service of G-d. There are two kinds of wars against the evil inclination. In one case, a Jew implores and pleads G-d for salvation from the evil inclination, and by means of the prayers or his ancestors’ merits the Holy One Praised be G-d helps the person and saves him from the evil inclination. This kind of salvation is limited to an awakening from above, and only works to save a person from that particular situation from the evil inclination. It does nothing to break or humble the evil inclination; the evil inclination remains in the same condition as it was.
Other times, a Jew overcomes the evil inclination through an awakening from below. In such a case, the evil inclination is totally humbled, and its strength is broken. Such a salvation is not limited to the particular situation, but rather is a complete salvation, where the evil inclination is completely subordinated under the person’s power.
Thus And it happened when Pharaoh sent the nation was by means of an awakening from above, as it is said in the Be’er Avraham by our holy teacher of Slonim of blessed memory, that in Egypt the Israelites were in such a low moral state, to the point where from their total lack of spirituality they could not awaken any aspect of divine action. The exodus had no connection to an awakening from below, and thus while they were saved the power of the Egypt-k’lipa was not broken. Thus once again Egypt changed its mind and pursued them, every soldier, horse and chariot of Egypt, for all of the impure strength of Egypt still existed and pursued the Jews to overwhelm them and conquer them. For a redemption that is purely an awakening from above cannot break the k’lipa’s strength, and complete redemption only comes from an awakening from below.
Thus it was the complete purpose of the Divine to bring complete redemption through the splitting of the Sea of Reeds When the Jews jumped into the sea, giving themselves over completely, (mesirat nefesh) the k’lipa was broken with an awakening from below and the Jews achieved complete redemption. This is why the Holy One Praised be G-d arranged that Pharaoh sent the nation, as it is written And it happened when Pharaoh sent the nation with a language of sending/mission. Couldn’t the Holy One Praised be G-d bring the Jews from Egypt against Pharaoh’s will? Why was it necessary to get Pharaoh’s agreement, and to lay waste to all natural order through the Ten Plagues? The reason was that there was still no awakening from below, which completes redemption.
It was G-d’s will to bring the Jews to such a situation where there would be an awakening from below at the splitting of the sea, and thus it was divinely arranged that Pharaoh would think that it was his own idea to send away the nation. As it was Pharaoh’s decision, it was within Pharaoh’s power to change his mind. As it is written in the Midrash (Shemot Raba, 20:2) that the nobles said to Pharaoh, ‘What did you do? If they only had loot, good enough, but how many rich people were among them, how many wise men, how many craftspeople, how many men, women and children!’ At that moment, Pharaoh began to cry out, ‘Oy! Oy!’ Thus it is written And it happened when Pharaoh sent the nation.
All of this was divine will, that the Egyptians thought that they could change their minds and pursue after the Jews to bring them back to Egypt. All of this was to bring the Jews to the splitting of the sea for then the k’lipa of Egypt would be destroyed by the strength of an awakening from below. Thus it is written, ‘Speak to the Children of Israel that they should travel, ‘ that they should jump in the sea, giving themselves over completely.
Until the splitting of the sea, the harsh judgment of Egypt was still fully powerful, as it is written, ‘The children of Israel lifted up their eyes and saw Egypt pursuing them.’ Rashi interprets that they saw Egypt’s divine power, that is the embodiment of Egypt’s impure power was still complete. It was only through the splitting of the sea which was accomplished through an awakening from below by means of that they should travel that complete redemption came through the power of giving themselves over, an awakening from below. Thus the strength of Egypt’s impure k’lipa was subjugated, as it is written The wheels of his chariots were turned for the chariot/embodiment of Egypt’s power was broken. Thus it is said Egypt that you see today you will never see again, even unto eternity, and not one of them was left for the k’lipa was completely shattered.
This is why scripture uses words And it happened, a language of sorrow, for at the beginning of the story all of Egypt’s k’lipa was still whole, and it was that power that sent Israel away and redemption was not yet complete.
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