Pesukei d’Zimrah: Divrei Binah: Astonishment

“The deep waters, tehomot,  congealed in the heart of the sea (Exodus 15:8).” This is reminiscent of the verse, “watery deep calls out to watery deep to the roar of Your water channels, all Your breakers and Your waves have swept over me (Psalms 42:8).”

Tehom, also means to be astonished, and hints to the power of God’s attribute of Justice which is called “the great depths.” For if a person sees that the power of Justice is being expressed against him, he must strengthen his connection to God.

This is what it means when it says that the, “watery deep calls out to watery deep,” from the watery deeps of my suffering I called out to the watery deeps of the upper waters, the place where God stores His attribute of Compassion.

We may experience life as a series of waves overwhelming us, of being swept away by God’s Justice. It is just at such moments when we must recall that our of calling out to God, just as the Children of Israel called out to God before the Splitting of the Sea. (Divrei Binah, Beshalach)