After describing the miracle of the splitting of the sea, it is stated (Exodus 14:31): "And Israel saw the great hand which Hashem did upon Egypt, and the people feared Hashem, and they believed in Hashem and in His servant Moses." This implies that Bnei Yisrael (the children of Israel) attained the level of faith only after the splitting of the Sea of Reeds. However, many have questioned this, based on what was said earlier (Exodus 4:30-31): "And Aaron spoke all the words which Hashem had spoken unto Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people. And the people believed; and when they heard that Hashem had visited the children of Israel, and that He had seen their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshipped." It appears that they had already achieved the level of faith while still in Egypt. Moreover, it is clearly explained in the Gemara (Shabbos 97a): "He [Hashem] said to Moses, 'They are believers, the descendants of believers, and you will eventually not believe.' They are believers, as it is written, 'And the people believed.' The descendants of believers, as it is written, 'And he believed in Hashem' (Genesis 15:6). You will eventually not believe, as it is stated (Numbers 20:12), 'Because you did not believe in Me.'" Here, Hashem testified about them in Egypt that they possessed a level of faith inherited from their forefathers. If so, what was renewed in the splitting of the sea that it is again stated, 'And they believed in Hashem'?

This question also applies to the words of the Mechilta (Beshalach – Masechta D'Vayehi, Parsha 6): "And they believed in Hashem, great is the faith that Israel had in the One Who spoke and the world came into being, that in the merit of Israel's faith in Hashem, the Holy Spirit rested upon them, and they sang a song, as it is said, 'And they believed in Hashem and in His servant Moses,' and it is said, 'Then sang Moses and the children of Israel.'" According to their words, the Holy Spirit should have rested upon them already in Egypt.

Even more perplexing are the words of the Mechilta in another place there: "Rabbi Nehemiah says, anyone who accepts upon himself one commandment faithfully is worthy that the Holy Spirit should rest upon him, as we found with our forefathers, that in the merit of the faith that our forefathers had in Hashem, they merited the Holy Spirit resting upon them, and they sang a song, as it is said 'And they believed in Hashem and in His servant Moses,' and it is said 'Then sang Moses and the children of Israel,' etc. And similarly, you find that Israel was redeemed from Egypt only in the merit of their faith, as it is said (Exodus 4:31), 'And the people believed.'" On one hand, it appears from the simple reading of the Mechilta that the two acts of faith are equal, as it states them together in one breath, and on the other hand, it differentiates, that the faith in Egypt brought them redemption, while the faith at the sea brought them the Holy Spirit, and this matter requires explanation.

The issue can be resolved and explained in several ways:

1. If we examine the language of the Mechilta carefully, we find that it is talking about one who accepts upon himself a commandment faithfully, that he is worthy that the Holy Spirit should rest upon him, as we found with our forefathers at the sea. It seems, however, what commandment did our forefathers accept upon themselves at the sea? It can be said that they accepted upon themselves the faith in the sages, which is one of the principles of faith, as it is written, "And they believed in Hashem and in His servant Moses," and it is explained the greatness of the faith in the sages in the Mechilta D'Rashbi (there): "To teach you that anyone who believes in the shepherd of Israel, it is as if he believes in the One Who spoke and the world came into being."

2. Another explanation can be given based on the Midrash (Shemot Rabbah, Parsha 22, Siman 3): "What is the difference between the Exodus from Egypt and the splitting of the Sea of Reeds? The Exodus from Egypt was difficult, as it is said (Deuteronomy 4:34) 'Or hath God tried to go and take Him a nation from the midst of another nation,' and 'But Hashem hath taken you' (there, 20). Know that this [the splitting of the sea] is more difficult than this [the Exodus from Egypt], for in the Exodus from Egypt it is written (Exodus 20:2) 'I am Hashem thy God,' but at the splitting of the sea, it does not mention the name. And why is it necessary to mention the splitting of the sea in the blessing of Emes V'Yatziv? Because when He split the sea for them, they believed in Him, as it is said, 'And they believed in Hashem and in His servant Moses,' and in the merit of the faith that they believed, they merited to say a song, and the Shechinah rested upon them, as it is written afterwards, 'Then sang Moses,' etc. And just as they purified their hearts and said a song, so must a person purify his heart before he prays."

This means that during the Exodus from Egypt, they had Divine assistance without any action on their part, and therefore the name of Hashem is mentioned there. However, at the splitting of the Sea of Reeds, they needed to jump into the water with self-sacrifice on their part, and therefore the name of Hashem is not mentioned there. By doing so, they purified their hearts and merited the resting of the Shechinah, which is a higher level of faith. This is the commandment they accepted with faith, meaning they sacrificed themselves due to their great faith to travel into the water as per Hashem's command.

3. It can also be said that in Egypt they indeed attained faith, but at the sea, they attained the level of trust (bitachon). This is similar to what the Chazon Ish (zt”l) explained in his book Emunah U'Bitachon (Chapter 2, Section 1) as follows: "But the concept of trust is the belief that there is no chance in the world, and everything that happens under the sun is all proclaimed by Him, blessed be He, etc. And when a person encounters an event, which according to the natural course of the world, danger is expected, the natural tendency is to fear according to the ways of the world, and the difficulty of spirit will prevent him from remembering that the event is not the master over us, and there is no hindrance for Hashem to save him and to set up circumstances that will change all the outcomes. The restraint in this difficult time, and to instill within oneself the known truth that there is no evil occurrence from chance before him, but everything is from Him, blessed be He, whether for good or for bad, and that the root of his faith diminishes his fear and gives him the courage to believe in the possibility of salvation, and that there is no more inclination to evil than to good, this is called the attribute of trust." This was revealed to all Israel at the event of the splitting of the Sea of Reeds, that Hashem's great hand governs all of creation, the world and its inhabitants, and there is none besides Him.

In a similar vein, we find in the holy book Maor V'Shemesh on the verse (Exodus 14:10) "And they were very afraid," as follows: "It seems to interpret according to the simple meaning, as it is known from all holy books, that a person should not fear anything except Hashem, the Creator of all worlds. Therefore, when a person fears Hashem, he does not fear anything frightening, because all types of fears that exist in the world are meant to awaken oneself to the fear of the exalted Hashem. Therefore, when a person has the fear of the exaltation of Hashem, he does not fear anything in the world, because nothing frightening can control a person who fears Hashem.

Additionally, it is known that one who always has the fear of Heaven upon him draws upon himself the sanctity of His blessed divinity and comes to a great cleaving to Hashem, to the point that he almost nullifies his own existence and does not see or hear anything frightening in the world, because he is attached to the 'Ain,' that is, the infinite blessed be He, which is called in the holy Zohar the attribute of 'Ain,' and from there he draws great sanctity upon himself. This is the meaning of 'From where (Ain) shall my help come' (Psalms 121:1), as explained in the Tikkunim (127a) and in the holy Zohar (Yitro 83a), see there.

Now, we come to explain the verses mentioned above: It is known that when Israel left Egypt, they came to a great cleaving to Hashem, as it is said (Exodus 19:4), 'And I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you unto Myself.' 'Unto Myself' precisely, meaning they came to a great cleaving to Hashem Himself. This was their entire goal in the Exodus from Egypt, to be attached to Hashem, and therefore they would not have any external fear from anything. But when they came to an external fear, they realized they were not yet attached to the attribute of 'Ain.' This is the explanation of the verse 'And Pharaoh drew near, and they were very afraid,' meaning that the fear of Egypt fell upon them, then they understood that they were not yet attached to Hashem properly, because if they were truly attached to Hashem, no external fear would have fallen upon them. And when they saw that they feared Egypt, they cried out to Hashem about this, meaning they repented for having external fear, and that they had not yet come to the attribute of 'Ain.'"

His intention is that one who perfects himself in the attribute of the fear of exaltation, which includes pure faith, attains the level of trust that there is none besides Him, similar to what the Chazon Ish wrote.

4. Another interpretation can be given that at the sea, they also attained faith in the love of Hashem, as well as in the love of the righteous, which is Moses, our teacher. This is a very significant service, as witnessed by Maran the Gaon Rabbi Isaac Sher zt”l about the Saba of Slabodka (brought in the book Shichot HaSaba of Slabodka, page 102): "However, Admor zt”l, in his conduct with the public and in his good moral teachings that he imparted to his students, always influenced them to strengthen in the greatness of love for Hashem, through deep recognition of His wonderful kindnesses and the appreciation of the greatness of man, his lofty value, and his great belovedness before Hashem."

This path is also found in the words of Maor V'Shemesh (there), as follows: "Indeed, the main aspect of self-sacrifice is when a person accepts upon himself the yoke of the kingdom of Heaven with great love and longing, and he attaches his thought to the infinite light, blessed be He, and from the great strength of his love and cleaving to the upper light, and he sees the rest is good, his soul longs and yearns to remain attached to His blessed light, and he longs to return to his Master, from the great sweetness and pleasantness of the love of Hashem. Indeed, a person whose service is these matters does not need to come to a test, for his thought is attached, and his soul delights in His blessed light, and even without the test, it will be sweet for him to remain attached to the infinite light, blessed be He, and he will sacrifice his soul, spirit, and soul, until it is difficult for him to separate, and it will be easy for him to separate from the lowly world.

This is the general intention of Bnei Yisrael when they say 'Shema Yisrael' at times of distress, G-d forbid, because all the events of a person are tests from Him, blessed be He, whether he can accept His service. Therefore, it is proper to say 'Shema Yisrael' and intend that if Hashem is testing him, he can accept His service, and he is ready to accept His divinity with great love and to remain attached to the upper light. This is the meaning of our prayer on Shabbos in the Mincha prayer: 'And on their rest, they will sanctify Your name.' Meaning, at their rest, they will sanctify Your name, and from all, not from distress, G-d forbid, because service from distress is the service of fear, and it is not yet complete service, because the main service is from love.

This is the meaning of the verse (Exodus 14:10-13) 'And they lifted up their eyes and they were very afraid,' they came to the level of the fear of Hashem. 'And the children of Israel cried out to Hashem,' that they prayed out of fear. In such a prayer, the attribute of judgment can still dominate, G-d forbid, because it is from the attribute of strength. 'And Moses said to the people, do not fear,' do not pray out of fear. 'Stand still and see,' be in the level of the angels, who are called standing, serve Hashem from love like the angels. Through this, 'You shall see the salvation of Hashem,' because once you accept upon yourselves the yoke of His blessed kingdom and sacrifice your souls out of great love as mentioned above, there will be no need to test you, and you will be saved quickly."

Based on his words, the language in the blessing of Ahavah Rabbah can be explained as follows: "With great love, You have loved us, etc., our Father, the merciful Father, etc. and place in our hearts to understand and to discern, to listen, to learn, to teach, to guard, to perform, and to fulfill all the words of the study of Your Torah with love," because the main wisdom of the Torah and the desire to fulfill the commandments depend on the attribute of love, as explained.

Maor V'Shemesh also interpreted another way the meaning of the faith that Israel attained at the sea, close to the previous interpretation, as follows: "And Israel saw the great hand, etc. and the people feared Hashem and believed in Hashem and in His servant Moses. Then sang Moses, etc." We must scrutinize why they needed faith when they saw the great hand themselves, as commentators on the Torah have already cried out about this. Also, what is written in the Midrash (Shemot Rabbah, Parsha 23, Siman 1) as follows: "Then sang Moses - this is what it means (Psalms 93:2) 'Your throne is established from then,' Rabbi Berechiah said in the name of Rabbi Abahu, although You existed before the world was created, Your throne was not established, nor were You known in Your world, until Your children sang a song before You at the sea. A parable is given for a king, etc., Israel said, indeed, before You created Your world, You existed, and after You created it, You still existed, but it was as if You were standing, and Your throne was not established until the sea was split and they sang before You with 'Then,' establishing Your kingdom and Your throne 'from then.' This is what is meant by 'Your throne is established from then' - from 'Then sang.'" This Midrash is puzzling, why was His kingdom not established until they sang with 'Then'?

It seems to explain that the song comes from joy, and one who is in joy sings and praises. But one who is in the attribute of fear, especially great fear, which causes a person to be overwhelmed by terror, certainly cannot sing, for the song is only from love and joy. Israel at that moment at the sea were in the attribute of fear, as it is said, "And the people feared Hashem," therefore they certainly could not sing because they did not have joy, only longing for the future revelation of the world of love and joy, and in the merit of this faith, they immediately attained the level of love and joy and sang a song. This is what is meant by "From where (Ain) shall my help come" (Psalms 121:1), explained in the Tikkunim (127a) and in the holy Zohar (Yitro 83a), see there.

Based on all this, it appears that this was also the divine intention, to bring them back to the sea and cause them fear of Pharaoh and his army, to awaken love by praying to Him from their distress, as stated in the Midrash (Shemot Rabbah, Parsha 21, Siman 5): "Why did the Holy One, blessed be He, do this to them? Because the Holy One, blessed be He, desired their prayer. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said, to what can this be compared? To a king who was traveling on the road, and the daughter of a king cried out to him, 'Please, save me from the bandits.' The king heard and saved her. After some time, he wanted to marry her, but she did not want to speak to him. What did the king do? He incited the bandits against her to make her cry out, and the king would hear. The moment the bandits came upon her, she began to cry out to the king. The king said, 'This is what I desired, to hear your voice.'

Similarly, Israel, when they were in Egypt and were being enslaved, they began to cry out and lift their eyes to the Holy One, blessed be He, as it is said (Exodus 2:23), 'And it came to pass in the course of those many days, and they cried out,' immediately, 'And Hashem saw the children of Israel' (there, 25). The Holy One, blessed be He, began to take them out of there with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and the Holy One, blessed be He, wanted to hear their voice again, but they were not willing. What did He do? He incited Pharaoh to pursue them, as it is said (Exodus 14:10), 'And Pharaoh drew near,' immediately, 'And the children of Israel cried out to Hashem