On June 18, 2023, Titan, a submersible operated by OceanGate, disappeared in international waters in the North Atlantic Ocean, about 400 nautical miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.
The submersible, with five people aboard, was part of a tourist expedition to view the wreck of the Titanic. Communications with the Titan broke down 1 hour and 45 minutes into the dive to the wreck. Authorities were alerted when the ship failed to resurface at the scheduled time later that day. Tragically, the Titan imploded and there were no survivors.
The Titan was about the size of a minivan with only enough room for five adults. Unlike a submarine, a submersible has limited energy reserves and needs a support ship on the surface to launch and recover it. The Titan typically spent about 10 to 11 hours on each trip to the wreck of the Titanic, while submarines can stay underwater for months.
Earlier this week, there were moments that gave hope to the family and friends of the missing vessel. On Tuesday and Wednesday, sonar detected banging sounds underwater in the massive search area, but their origin was unclear. The sounds initially occurred every 30 minutes on Tuesday and were heard again four hours later, according to an internal U.S. government memo about the search.
Chassidus teaches us to learn from everything we hear and see.
Here is a compilation of a few lessons we may learn from this sad event.
Disclaimer: This is a very sensitive topic, and drawing lessons may not be the right thing to do for many audiences. But we can take it in the direction of והחי יתן אל לבו, “the living should take it to heart.”
A diver who searches for pearls in the ocean must be connected to the oxygen that comes from above the water.
Likewise, a Jew in this world who does his work to find the “pearls” must be connected to a life source that is “above” this world.
When One Screw is Missing.
Here is an English account of the story behind this sicha.
Here are the Rebbe’s edits on an English translation of this sicha
Being connected to the Rebbe lets us go into the deepest pits without worry.
As the Rebbe mentioned many times, Torah is the ultimate truth, while science is based on probability, predictions and speculations, just like finding the submersible was by figuring out what the banging and sounds were.
Here is a letter of the Rebbe from 18 Teves 5722 in relation to this point.