Parashas Beshalach - Moshe's Greatness Before Matan Torah

I just learned a Gemara in Chullin (7a) which says the following story: Rebbe Pinchos ben Yair was going to do the mitzvah of freeing someone from captivity. As he was traveling, he encountered a river. He wanted to pass through it so he said, “Split for me, so that I shall pass through you!” The river responded, “You're going to do the will of Hashem but it's a sofek whether you'll succeed in saving the captives, however, I am also doing the will of Hashem and I am certainly succeeding.” So Rebbe Pinchos ben Yair rebuked him saying, “If you don't split now, I will decree against you that you'll never have water flow through you ever again!” And of course, the river quickly split. Once the river reverted, Rebbe Pinchos ben Yair told it to split two more times for the people behind him.

Rav Yosef said, “How great this man is - greater than Moshe and the 600,000 (who were with him,) because regarding Moshe, the sea split once, but here, the river split three times.” The Gemara then concludes that perhaps Rebbe Pinchos ben Yair really split it once too, therefore he's like Moshe.

Midrashim say that when Moshe tried splitting the sea, there was a back-and-forth debate as to why it should split for him. The Yam Suf would claim, “I am older, I was created on the second day, and so on....” However, Rebbe Pinchos ben Yair didn't have such a hard time with the River. The debate was short and it split without delay.

The Ohr HaChaim asks, “Why was it so hard for Moshe to split the sea, but Rebbe Pinchos ben Yair had an easier time?” He answers: When Moshe split the Sea, it was before Matan Torah, but when Rebbe Pinchos ben Yair split it, it was after Matan Torah.

After Matan Torah, creation is subjugated to Talmidei Chachamim who have the Torah. It's the key to controlling creation. Therefore, Rebbe Pinchos ben Yair told the River, “I have the Torah, you should split! If you don't then I will decree upon you that you will dry up!” And the River quickly split! The River knew that creation is subjugated to Talmidei Chachamim. The Torah says in Parashas Chukas, “Zos Chukas HaTorah – These are the chukim of the Torah.” Unkolus translates that posuk to mean, “Dah Gzeiras Deh'oraiisa – This is the Torah Decree!”

Another place where we see this is when Yehoshua split the Yarden with the Torah; the Kohanim took the Aron HaKodesh and as they put their feet into the Jordan River, the waters went back.

The Gemara in Chullin was just comparing Rebbe Pinchos ben Yair to Moshe in regards to how many times he split the body of water. On the contrary, Moshe was able to split the sea before Matan Torah, without using the Torah to subjugate creation. In addition, in this week's parasha, Rashi (14:22) mentions that when Moshe split the sea, all the waters of the world split too! This shows the greatness of Moshe! Kal v'Chomer, the Greatness of Hashem!

Have a wonderful Shabbos,
Nisso