Pesach
R. Bachya ibn Pakuda on Parashat Pesach, read on Pesach · Chol HaMoed — with one of this week's three questions for the two of you.
On the seventh day of Pesach we will read the splitting of the sea. The image is iconic, but the Sages preserve a quieter detail of the story. The Egyptians were behind. The sea was in front. The people stood frozen at the edge. Moshe lifted his staff. Nothing happened. Nachshon ben Aminadav stepped into the water. The water rose to his knees. He kept walking. It rose to his waist. He kept walking. It rose to his nostrils. Then the sea split. Bachya, in Shaar HaBitachon, hears in this the most exact image of what trust actually looks like. Bitachon is not the experience of seeing the path. Bitachon is the willingness to step where there is, as yet, no path. The sea splits after you step, not before.
When in our shared life have you been the Nachshon — the one who stepped first, with the water rising, before the path was visible? What helped you step?
The full week — the passage itself with its source, the other two questions, and the closing verse of hope — lives in the app. Together Tomorrow on the App Store.