Crossing the Impossible: The Splitting of the Sea and the Meaning of Faith

The defining event of Parashat Beshalach is, of course, the splitting of the Sea of Reeds.

To uncover a deeper layer of meaning in this miracle, let us momentarily turn to another wonder that accompanied the Israelites throughout their years in the wilderness: the descent of the manna.

“What Is It?” The Mystery of the Manna

While traveling through the desert, the Israelites naturally needed food. God therefore caused food to descend from Heaven each day. When the food first appeared, they were astonished. The Torah describes the moment: “When the layer of dew lifted, behold, on the surface of the wilderness was something thin and flaky, thin like frost upon the ground. When the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another, ‘Man hu,’ for they did not know what it was. Moshe said to them, ‘This is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat.’” (Shemot 16:14–15)

Later the Torah adds: “The house of Israel called its name manna, and it was like coriander seed, white, and its taste was like wafers with honey.” (Shemot 16:31)

In the evenings, God provided quail as well.

The morning food eaten by the Israelites in the wilderness was called manna. The word man literally means “what.” When they first saw this divine bread, they asked one another, “What is it?” and therefore called it manna. This is the explanation of Rashbam. Rashi offers a different interpretation, explaining that man means a “portion.”

Still, the name invites reflection. What logic is there in naming something “what”? The very purpose of a name is to define something, so why choose a word that expresses uncertainty?

The Goal of Knowledge Is Not Knowing

The Sfat Emet offers a brief but profound insight: “The explanation is that this very fact, that they did not know what it was, is itself the bread that God commanded. For the ultimate purpose of knowledge is to know that we do not know. This was the entire journey of Israel in the wilderness, following God into an unsown land.” (Parashat Beshalach, 5663)

Let us unpack these words.

Moshe tells the people that this “what,” this food whose nature they could not grasp, is precisely the bread God commanded them to eat. “The ultimate purpose of knowledge is not knowing.” 

To know something generally means to place it within the limits of human understanding. God wanted Israel to learn that even the most basic and familiar act, eating bread, is itself a miracle. That was the essential purpose of the manna.

As the Torah later explains: “He afflicted you and made you hungry, and fed you the manna which you did not know and which your fathers did not know, in order to make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but by everything that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” (Devarim 8:3)

Livelihood is not self-evident. Every piece of bread is an act of divine kindness, and each time we have food to eat, we should be filled with wonder and gratitude.

The Midrash expresses this beautifully: just as redemption is miraculous, so too is sustenance.

Moshe was teaching the people that this sense of wonder, this “what,” is the true bread God wants us to eat. Not only in the wilderness, but throughout life. Every day, we are to be renewed by amazement at divine generosity.

This is the reason that the manna could not be stored for the next day, and how we are expected to relate even to the bread we eat today: as if it has just descended from Heaven, with the trust that tomorrow’s provision will come as well.

Two Ways of Walking Through the Sea

This idea helps illuminate a striking detail in the story of the splitting of the sea.

The Torah states: “The children of Israel came into the sea on dry land, and the waters were a wall for them on their right and on their left.” (Shemot 14:22)

A few verses later, it says: “The children of Israel walked on dry land within the sea, and the waters were a wall for them on their right and on their left.” (Shemot 14:29)

The Vilna Gaon, whose explanation also appears in the writings of the Chatam Sofer, notes two anomalies.

First, in the initial verse the Israelites are described as entering the sea and then being on dry land, while in the second verse the order is reversed: dry land first, then the sea.

Second, in the second verse the word chomah (wall) is spelled without the letter vav, forming chemah, meaning anger.

The Midrash explains that this unusual spelling hints to an accusation that arose at the sea. The claim was that the Israelites, like the Egyptians, had engaged in idolatry in Egypt, and therefore were not worthy of salvation. Why, then, does this hint appear only in the second verse and not in the first?

Faith That Walks Before Certainty

The Vilna Gaon resolves both questions.

The first verse refers to those who entered the sea with complete self sacrifice, like Nachshon ben Aminadav. They stepped into the water while it was still a sea, trusting fully that God would transform it into dry land. For them, it was “within the sea, on dry land.”

The second verse refers to those of lesser faith, who did not enter until they saw that the sea had already become dry land. For them, it was “on dry land, within the sea.”

This explains the appearance of chemah, anger, only in the second verse. The accusation was directed at those who lacked faith, not at those who risked everything out of trust in God.

To step into the sea required reaching the difficult level of “the ultimate purpose of knowledge is not knowing.”