Did you ever wonder how the entire Mitzrayim was stupid enough to just walk right into the Yam Suf to their death? Didn’t they realize they were headed into the abyss?
In 1916, a French scientist by the name of Jean-Henri Fabre conducted an experiment with an insect known as the processionary caterpillar. As you may have guessed, the processionary caterpillar is known to walk in single file, one following the other. And so this scientist took about 10 of them, lined them up around the edge of a large plate, and started the circle going, putting caterpillar food right in the middle of the plate. Then he waited to see what would happen.
Lo and behold, for five days straight, the caterpillars followed each other around the edge of the plate in a mindless, endless circle. On day five, they literally died of starvation, with wonderful caterpillar food a mere two inches away, simply because they couldn’t fathom doing anything else other than following the caterpillar directly in front of them.
So how are the Mitzrim stupid enough to all go into the Yam Suf, you ask? It’s simple. The Mitzri in the back says, “Well, I’m following the generals up front, and they for sure know what they’re doing.” The generals in front are thinking, “Well, we’re following Paroh, and he for sure knows what he’s doing.”
But what was Paroh thinking? Chazal (the Sages) say that Paroh didn’t go into the Yam Suf. Paroh’s horse went into the Yam Suf. The pasuk (verse) says, Ki va sus Paroh (For Pharaoh’s horse came). But what was Paroh’s horse thinking? Why was he going into the Yam Suf? Chazal and Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer say something fascinating. The horse was following its basest desire.
That is exactly how ervat ha’aretz (the nakedness of the land) gets us. Nobody’s stupid enough to walk right into the abyss. But we follow the crowd. We follow the one in front of us who’s following the one in front of us, who’s following the one in front of us. We look at what they look at. We follow what they follow. We click on what they click on. We buy what they buy. Without ever stopping to think that at the front of it all are a bunch of human horses simply following their basest desires.
If we want to escape ervat ha’aretz, it’s time to wake up. It’s time to realize that there’s healthy, good neshamah (soul) food just a few no’s away. No, I won’t follow. No, I won’t look. No, I won’t go along. All it takes to get there is to stop being caterpillars and to grow our own butterfly wings. So don’t be led by a horse. Instead, chart your own course.