Translation by Yehoshua Siskin
The central event of this week's Torah portion is the splitting of the Red Sea. What is its significance?
Rabbi Yoel Cohen is accustomed to explain the splitting of the sea as follows:
"Usually, pure truth is covered up with lies, distortions, and other obfuscations. At the splitting of the Red Sea, there was one moment in which everything was revealed to the eyes, without any concealment. The sea split and everyone saw the dry land underneath.
"Imagine to yourselves a moment in which all sadness and despair disappear, replaced with joy. A moment in which all cynicism vanishes, replaced with faith. When all lies and deceptions are gone and the truth becomes visible to your eyes. At the splitting of the Red Sea, the children of Israel saw reality as it truly is, perfect and clear, and then sang about what they saw in the famous 'Song of the Sea.'
"This week's Torah portion reminds us that what is revealed to the eye, exposed, loud, famous, and spoken about, is not all there is. Instead, redemption is concealed in what is secret, hidden, and delicate, in what is invisible. We do not always see everything there is to see at first glance. Instead, reality has a hidden inner aspect that we must reveal."
