Ra'anana Community Kollel - Parshat Bo 5765

                                 Surfing Through Life

                                                            Carin Lipson

Rabbi Yisrael Miller comments that the fact that the Egyptians urged the Jewish people to flee from Egypt in haste teaches us a profound lesson. What a tremendous irony that the same Pharaoh who paid no heed to the devastation of his land and his people inflicted by nine devastating plagues and would not allow B’nei Yisrael to leave Egypt, was now running through the streets of Egypt (according to ancient Midrashic tradition in his pajamas) searching for Moshe and Aharon, begging them to leave his country.

In truth, the main lesson of the Jewish people’s exodus from Egypt is deeply connected to this. Every Shabbat we commemorate the fact that Hashem created the universe and everything in it from absolute nothingness, whereas Pesach, the time when we focus on remembering the exodus, was specifically designated for us to internalize the fact that Hashem did not just create the world and then retire. Rather, G-d remains intimately involved in every detail of creation, and of course, in our lives as well.

It is important for us to realize that just as Hashem turned things around in Egypt a full one-hundred and eighty degrees, to the extent that even the hard-hearted Pharaoh would be left begging and pleading for the Jews to hurry up and leave, G-d also has the ability to exercise equally astonishing intervention in our personal lives. Not only did G-d create every person’s life situation, but Hashem remains involved on a constant basis and is able to alter them from one extreme to another in the blink of an eye.

Well, we might say to ourselves, I’d like to apply for one of those one-hundred and eighty-degree turns with my children, my in-laws, my bank manager, my boss . . . etc. etc. and so on. Yet, the Torah teaches us that every situation in which we find ourselves is tailor-made for us in order help us to become a more holy people. In effect, life’s many challenges are the workout room of the soul, building our spiritual muscles and strengthening our character and resolve.

Reb Zushia cried on his deathbed, not because he did not become another Moshe Rabeinu, but rather, because he felt that he had not become the very best Reb Zushia that he was capable of being. We are not meant, to become another Natan Sharansky, Victor Frankel, or Nelson Mandela from within our life’s challenges. We are, however, expected to use the lessons of our lives to develop into the best and most G-dly people that we possibly can.

Hashem gave each and every person his own unique set of circumstances. Hashem is involved is our lives and could certainly change them in an instant if G-d so desired. Sometimes, we try to do all that a Jew is expected to when we are faced with difficulties, tefillah, teshuvah, and tzedakah, and yet, we do not see that hand of the Almighty swooping down to rescue us from our personal suffering and inner turmoil. In fact, we find that we seem to be almost right back where we started.

It is specifically during these times that we need to tune in and be aware that the very fact that we have encountered difficulties and responded by turning to our Creator for help is, in and of itself, a tremendous indicator of our spiritual growth.

We are close enough to the Torah reading of the splitting of the Red Sea to relate a parable that I heard years ago from Rabbi Moshe Shirkin of Nitivot. R’ Shirkin commented that life is very much like surfing on Muizenberg Beach in Cape Town. There are times that a surfer is on top of the world, and unfortunately, there are also times that the surfer simply gets dumped. Our surfer may become depressed - once riding high on the top of a wave, now gasping for breath in the water underneath it. However, if the surfer is to succeed in surfing again, our surfer must simply remember that the waves never stop. If you just dig your feet into the sand and hold ground for a few short moments, you can soon be flying on top of the waves once again.

Let’s remember that in our lives too, the good waves never completely stop. Of course, we may also get dumped from time to time, however, if we can just buckle down and get through out trials in the best way that we can, we will soon find ourselves flying over the waves once again and regain the recognition of G-d’s infinite kindnesses and the joys and beauty of the world which Hashem created.

May we learn to use Shabbat as our antenna to tune in to fact that Hashem created the world. May we take the message of the Exodus and increase our cognizance of Hashem’s constant involvement in our daily lives. May we utilize life’s many opportunities for growth, and may Hashem bless us with only sweet lessons and many, many good waves.