The splitting of the Red Sea is one of the most important stories in the Torah and one of the most incredible miracles in Jewish belief.
Each element defies expectation; the magnitude of the miracle, where a vast ocean suspends and violates the entire natural order of the universe, not just to help the Jewish People escape, but eradicating the enemy force in one decisive moment, in just the nick of time and all at once out of nowhere.
Like so many of the plagues that struck Egypt, this miracle was also activated by Moshe raising his staff:
וְאַתָּה הָרֵם אֶת־מַטְּךָ וּנְטֵה אֶת־יָדְךָ עַל־הַיָּם וּבְקָעֵהוּ וְיָבֹאוּ בְנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּתוֹךְ הַיָּם בַּיַּבָּשָׁה… וַיֵּט מֹשֶׁה אֶת־יָדוֹ עַל־הַיָּם וַיּוֹלֶךְ ה אֶת־הַיָּם בְּרוּחַ קָדִים עַזָּה כּל־הַלַּיְלָה וַיָּשֶׂם אֶת־הַיָּם לֶחָרָבָה וַיִּבָּקְעוּ הַמָּיִם – “And you lift up your rod and hold out your arm over the sea and split it, so that the Israelites may march into the sea on dry ground”… Then Moshe held out his arm over the sea and the Lord drove back the sea with a strong east wind all that night, and turned the sea into dry ground. The waters were split… (14:16,19)
Interestingly, the miracle was deactivated, and the natural order was restored with the same instruction and action:
וַיֹּאמֶר ה’ אֶל־מֹשֶׁה נְטֵה אֶת־יָדְךָ עַל־הַיָּם וְיָשֻׁבוּ הַמַּיִם עַל־מִצְרַיִם עַל־רִכְבּוֹ וְעַל־פָּרָשָׁיו׃ וַיֵּט מֹשֶׁה אֶת־יָדוֹ עַל־הַיָּם וַיָּשׁב הַיָּם לִפְנוֹת בֹּקֶר לְאֵיתָנוֹ וּמִצְרַיִם נָסִים לִקְרָאתוֹ וַיְנַעֵר ה’ אֶת־מִצְרַיִם בְּתוֹךְ הַיָּם – Then the Lord said to Moshe, “Hold out your arm over the sea, that the waters may come back upon the Egyptians and upon their chariots and upon their riders.” Moshe held out his arm over the sea, and at daybreak the sea returned to its normal state, and the Egyptians fled at its approach. But the Lord hurled the Egyptians into the sea. (14:26,27)
To be clear, we are talking miracles here, so there are no rules, and we are deep in the uncharted realm of speculation.
But if you think about it, it makes sense that Moshe has to do something to activate the miracle to split the waters. After all, miracles don’t just happen by themselves!
But then it doesn’t necessarily follow that Moshe would have to do something to deactivate the miracle and restore the natural order. We quite reasonably might expect that the miracle is over the very moment it has served its purpose; once the last straggler made it to dry land, the miracle is unnecessary and would resume its default natural state.
But the miracle doesn’t end when it’s over. God instructs Moshe to activate the return of the natural order as well. Why wouldn’t the miracle end when it was over?
R’ Shimshon Pinkus observes that this suggests an essential lesson that is a key to understanding the Torah; from God’s vantage point, the natural and the supernatural are the same, in which case there is no default condition.
On this view, Moshe wasn’t stopping a miracle; he was performing another miracle, the return of the natural order we take for granted.
R’ Joseph B. Soloveitchik highlights how Jewish tradition has endorsed cosmic wonder at natural phenomena for centuries, with blessings over the waxing moon, first blossoms of spring, the configuration of the starry expanse, and the sweet smell of flowers, down to the food we eat, the healthy body, and something as simple as going to the bathroom.
Although modern science has demystified the world, the world is still magical. With a sense of wonder, you can look at the world as more miraculous than natural without saying there is a difference between the two and without disputing the scientific narrative. Every breath you take, every sunrise, a child’s smile; these are the kind of things that are so commonplace that we overlook how special they are – וְעַל נִסֶּיךָ שֶׁבְּכָל יוֹם עִמָּנוּ וְעַל נִפְלְאוֹתֶיךָ וְטוֹבוֹתֶיךָ שֶׁבְּכָל עֵת עֶרֶב וָבֹֽקֶר וְצָהֳרָיִם.
If you’re still surprised the natural world didn’t just kick back into gear when the Jewish People were done walking through the ocean, you might be taking a lot for granted in life.