Tzav: 5783 - For the start of Tractate 'Sotah': Rabbi Shimon Zonnenfeld from Nachal'ah explains "Matches are as difficult as the splitting of the Reed Sea" - how can it be said that it is difficult for Hashem to arrange a match, or…

00:02 Speaker 1 On the previous page, we learned that finding a person’s match is as difficult as the splitting of the sea. But what does “difficult” mean when speaking of Hashem? Hakadosh Boruch Hu has power within limits, and He has unlimited power. How can anything be difficult for Him? Was splitting the sea difficult for Hakadosh Boruch Hu? The point is that, regarding the splitting of the sea, it says, “The sea returned to its strength.” Our Sages say: “Do not read ‘to its strength,’ but ‘to its condition.’” When Hakadosh Boruch Hu created the world, He made a condition with the sea that it would split before the Jewish people. What happened when the time came for the sea to split? The sea said: These are not the same Jewish people I was shown back then. The Attribute of Judgment raises an objection and says: “These worship idols, and those worship idols. Why should those drown while these are saved?” That was the difficulty—the objection that was raised. The same applies to finding a match. It says that forty days before a child is formed, it is already announced: “The daughter of so-and-so is destined for so-and-so.” Twenty years pass, and the daughter of so-and-so comes looking for that so-and-so. She sees that he is not the same person he was twenty years ago. He is not the same person. After twenty years of living in this world, he has changed. So there is a difficulty here, and that is why finding a match is as difficult as the splitting of the sea—for the same reason. Similarly, it says that earning a person’s livelihood is as difficult as the splitting of the sea. Why? It is the same issue, the same difficulty. It says that during those ten days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, a person’s livelihood is already decreed. His livelihood for the whole year has been set. When the time comes-- but elsewhere it says that a person is judged every day. When each day comes and he is to receive his sustenance, his livelihood, the Attribute of

02:10 Speaker 1 Judgment comes and says: Wait, this is not the same person he was during the Ten Days of Repentance. Back then, he had just come through the spiritual work of the month of Elul, the sounding of the shofar, Rosh Hashanah. Now he is not the same person, so it is as though he does not deserve it. That is the difficulty with a person’s livelihood. In other words, what is the difficulty in all three of these things? An objection arises against them, and that is what makes them difficult. It is not that anything is difficult for Hakadosh Boruch Hu; the difficulty is the objection that arises. Have a good Shabbos.

02:38 Speaker 2 Good Shabbos!