Creation for Israel’s Destiny

במד' לאדם יחידי עשיתי יבשה קו"ח עדה שלימה שעתידה לומר זה אלי כו'.

In the Midrash: “For a single person I made dry land; all the more so for a complete congregation that is destined to say ‘This is my God…’.”

The Midrash teaches that even the miracle of creating dry land at the sea could be performed for one person; therefore, certainly for an entire assembly destined to proclaim God's praise.

ואין מובן כי בוודאי כל נשמות בנ"י נכללו באדם הראשון.

And this is difficult to understand, for surely all the souls of the Children of Israel were included in the first human being.

The Sefat Emet raises a question: if all future Israelite souls were already contained within Adam, then the distinction between a “single person” and an “assembly” seems unclear.

ובריאת שמים וארץ הי' ג"כ עבור ישראל כמ"ש ז"ל בשביל ראשית כו'.

And the creation of heaven and earth was also for the sake of Israel, as our sages said: “For the sake of the first, etc.”

He emphasizes that even the creation of the universe was already for Israel’s sake, reinforcing that Israel’s collective destiny was embedded from the beginning.

אך הפי' לאדם הראשון ע"י שיצאו ממנו בני ישראל אף שהי' עדיין יחידי עשיתי יבשה.

But the explanation is that for the first human, since the Children of Israel would emerge from him—even though he was still alone—I made dry land.

God performed the miracle for Adam not because he was an individual, but because of the future Israel contained within him.

מכש"כ לעדה שלימה שהם עצמם יאמרו זה אלי אף שעתה לא היו עדיין בשלימות.

All the more so for a complete congregation, who themselves will say “This is my God,” even though at that moment they were not yet in their full perfection.

If a miracle was performed for Adam on account of his future descendants, certainly it would be performed for the actual nation—even if they were not yet spiritually complete.

מ"מ פשיטא שהשי"ת עושה עמהם בשביל שיהיו מתוקנים אח"כ כנ"ל:

Nevertheless, it is obvious that the Holy One acts with them so that they may become perfected afterward, as explained above.

God performs miracles for Israel not only because of who they are, but also to elevate and complete them in the future.

Summary: The Sefat Emet explains that miracles done for individuals like Adam were actually due to the future emergence of Israel. All the more so, miracles are performed for the nation itself, even before it reaches full spiritual maturity, because God’s actions guide Israel toward eventual perfection.