A vort from the Rebbe on שביעי של פסח. שביעי של פסח is the day that we celebrate קריעת ים סוף, the splitting of the sea. When the Yidden went out of מצרים, and they came to the sea, and Pharaoh and his army was behind them, so Hashem said that told them to go straight, and Hashem split the sea. And the lashon of the pasuk is that הפך ים ליבשה. Hashem transformed the ים, the river, the sea, into dry land. Now, that is a miracle, obviously, but there is a deeper meaning here that Chassidus and Kabbalah explains. The difference between ים and יבשה, between the sea, the water, and the dry land, is the Gemara says כל מה שיש ביבשה יש בים, whatever you have on the dry land, you have something similar to that in the water. The only difference is in the water you can't see it, but when it's on dry land, it's overland, you could see it. So the difference between ים, the sea, and the יבשה, the dry land, is ים represents things that you cannot see, and יבשה, the dry land, represents things that you could see. So it says in Chassidus and Kabbalah that ים represents the koach of Hashem that you cannot see, and יבשה represents that you could see it.

The truth is that there is no real, true being besides Hashem, but normally you can't see it. Hashem is concealed. You cannot see it. Godliness is concealed in the world. When you look at the world, you do not see the truth. The truth is באמת השם לעולם. Hashem is the real truth of the world. But we cannot see it. It's concealed. When you look at the world, it looks like the world is an being for itself, an entity on its own, which is not true, but we can't see the truth. When it came to קריעת ים סוף, there was such a great revelation of Godliness, Hashem revealed Himself, that everybody was able to see the truth, felt the truth that there is nothing but Hashem. Like it says, Chazal tell us that in the shirah that they sang after קריעת ים סוף, they said זה אלי ואנוהו. זה אלי means this is my God. And Chazal say, when does it say the word זה, this is, when you're able to point with your finger on it. It's something that's very obvious, very revealed. So when they said זה אלי, this is my God, it was revealed. Hashem revealed Himself to them. So they saw the truth of the world.

And that's the meaning of הפך ים ליבשה, that He transformed the ים, which represents the concealment of Hashem, because the ים conceals things that are in it, which means it conceals the truth of what's in the world. The truth of the world and the כח why the world exists is only because of Hashem. That's concealed. But by Keriat Yam Suf, that was transformed into יבשה, which represents things that you could see, that they were able to see the truth that's normally concealed, and that is the truth of אמת השם לעולם, that Hashem is the real, true, and only being of the world.

And every year, when Shevi'i shel Pesach comes around again, this happens again. It's a time when it is easier for a Yid to recognize the truth of Hashem, only if you want to. If a Yid doesn't want to, Hashem doesn't force him, but if a Yid is open to it, on Shevi'i shel Pesach a Yid is able to recognize the truth of Hashem, and it's a special day. And that's one of the reasons why Shevi'i shel Pesach and Acharon shel Pesach, which is the second day of Yom Tov of Shevi'i shel Pesach, has to do with Mashiach. We know the Haftorah we read in Acharon shel Pesach is about Mashiach. We know that the Baal Shem Tov ate on Acharon shel Pesach an extra meal called סעודת משיח. It's a time when we really, really are able to feel things similarly to the way it'll be when Mashiach will come. Why? Because that's what happened by Shevi'i shel Pesach, there was the true revelation of Godliness. And when Mashiach will come, that will happen, and it won't be an only a temporary thing, but permanently. ונגלה כבוד השם וראו כל בשר יחדו כי פי השם דבר, it says that the glory, the כבוד of Hashem will be revealed, and everyone will see it. So Shevi'i shel Pesach is connected to Mashiach because Shevi'i shel Pesach, what happened then and every year it happens again, is a מעין, a little bit, of what is going to happen when Mashiach will come. And if we really want to, we're everyone enabled in his own way to feel it. And when we all feel it, this will hasten the revelation of this in a real, simple way and a permanent way, the coming of משיח במהרה בימינו בקרוב ממש.