Elevation Above Wicked Influence
במדרש ויהי בשלח כו' כ' אל מוציאם כו'.
In the Midrash: “And it was when he sent…” meaning, “to the One who brought them out…”
The Sefat Emet begins by citing the Midrash, which interprets the verse as referring to God, the One who truly brought Israel out.
אין שילוח כו' אלא לוי' כו'.
“Sending” refers only to accompaniment.
The Midrash teaches that Pharaoh’s “sending” of Israel was not a true dismissal, but an attempt to remain attached to them.
פי' בראות פרעה הרשע כי בע"כ צריך לשלחם.
The explanation: When wicked Pharaoh saw that he was compelled to send them out…
Pharaoh realized he had no choice; God’s hand forced his compliance.
חיבר עצמו אליהם.
He attached himself to them.
Pharaoh tried to bind himself spiritually to Israel despite releasing them physically.
ושילחם ברצון טוב.
And he sent them with goodwill.
He tried to transform his forced surrender into a voluntary gesture, thereby creating a dangerous form of connection.
וטובתם של רשעים רעה אצל הצדיקים.
The kindness of the wicked is harmful to the righteous.
A connection to evil, even through apparent generosity, is spiritually damaging.
לכן כ' ויהי.
Therefore it says “And it was (vayehi).”
The word “vayehi” denotes sorrow, reflecting the danger of Pharaoh’s attachment.
והי' ע"ז העצה מהבורא ית' להגביה אותם למעלה מן הטבע.
And there was a counsel from the Creator to lift them above nature.
God elevated Israel spiritually to break any lingering connection with Pharaoh.
כמ"ש במד' ולא נחם אלהים ד"א כו'.
As the Midrash says on “God did not lead them…”
God chose a supernatural path to prevent harmful spiritual entanglement.
כדי שלא יוכל להרע תערובות התחברות פרעה.
So that the mixture of Pharaoh’s attachment could not harm them.
This explains why God removed Israel from Pharaoh’s influence completely.
שזה ענין ערב רב עלה אתם.
This is the matter of “the mixed multitude went up with them.”
The mixed multitude reflected the spiritual contamination created by Pharaoh’s attempted attachment.
[ויוכל להיות כי אם הי' נגמר כדברי הש"י מתחילתו.
[And it may be that had it been completed as God intended from the beginning…
The Sefat Emet suggests a counterfactual: if the redemption had followed God’s original plan…
לא הי' לפרעה שום התחברות.
Pharaoh would have had no connection at all.
No spiritual linkage would have emerged.
רק ע"י הפצרת משה רע"ה ברוב חמלתו על צערן של בנ"י ומיהר להביא הגאולה].
Except through Moses’ pleading, out of compassion for Israel’s suffering, which hastened the redemption.]
Moses’ intervention, though compassionate, opened the door to an unintended entanglement.
ולכן הי' צריך פרעה ועבדיו להתחרט ולומר מה זאת עשינו כו'.
Therefore Pharaoh and his servants needed to regret and say, “What have we done…?”
Their regret severed the remaining connection, setting the stage for the Sea’s splitting.
והכלל כי קי"ס הי' תיקון ליצ"מ.
The general principle: the splitting of the Sea was a repair for the exodus.
The exodus was incomplete until the sea eliminated Pharaoh’s attachment.
דכ' אח"כ התיצבו וראו כו'.
As it is written afterward: “Stand still and see…”
Only at the Sea could they fully perceive redemption.
וכ"כ וירא ישראל א"מ מת כו' וירא ישראל את היד הגדולה אשר עשה ה' במצרים.
And similarly: “Israel saw Egypt dead… Israel saw the great hand that God had done in Egypt.”
Seeing Egypt’s destruction clarified the meaning of the exodus.
פי' כי לא היו יכולין לראות ולהבין גאולת מצרים עד אחר קריעת י"ס שנטבעו כל המצריים.
For they could not see or understand the redemption from Egypt until after the Sea split and the Egyptians drowned.
Only then was the redemption fully revealed.
וכל זמן שהיו קיימים לא הי' יכול הגאולה לבוא לידי גילוי ע"י שהי' להם קצת שייכות והתחברות כנ"ל.
As long as the Egyptians remained, the redemption could not be revealed, because there still existed some connection, as above.
This reinforces the principle: spiritual entanglement obstructs revelation.
ובדרך הזה נוהג בעולם בכלל ובפרט כל נפשות בנ"י.
And in this way the world operates generally, and particularly for the souls of Israel.
The pattern applies beyond the historical exodus to all spiritual growth.
כשיש קצת גאולה צריכין אח"כ להתחזק להיות המשכה לאדם בגאולה זו.
When there is a partial redemption, one must strengthen oneself so that this redemption continues within a person.
Every small redemption must be solidified to become lasting.
וזה הי' ענין קי"ס להתעלות נפשות בנ"י להיות להם דביקות והתחברות בשורש הנס דיצ"מ.
This was the purpose of the splitting of the Sea: to elevate the souls of Israel so they could cleave to the root of the miracle of the exodus.
The Sea’s splitting sealed the redemption by raising Israel to a higher spiritual plane.
ולכן אמרו שירה.
Therefore they sang the Song.
Song expresses this elevation and union with the divine source.
ובמ"א הארכנו יותר:
And elsewhere we have elaborated further.
The Sefat Emet notes this teaching appears in greater depth in other passages.
The Sefat Emet teaches that Pharaoh’s attempted attachment to Israel created spiritual danger, requiring the splitting of the Sea to complete the redemption. Redemption becomes fully revealed only when all bonds with impurity are severed. This dynamic repeats in every soul: partial redemption must be strengthened until it reaches full clarity and connection to its divine source.