RAV KOOK ON Beshalach Part 1: This is My God

The Midrash (Shemot Rabbah 23:15) makes a startling claim about the Israelites who witnessed the splitting of the Red Sea: “Come and see how great were those who crossed the Sea. Moses pleaded and beseeched before God that he should merit seeing God’s Divine Image, ‘Please, show me Your glory!’ (Ex. 33:19). Yet God told him, ‘You may not see My face….’ But every Israelite who descended into the Sea pointed with his finger and said, “This is my God and I will glorify Him” (Ex. 15:2). Could it be that those who crossed the Red Sea saw more than Moses, about whom the Torah testifies, “No other prophet like Moses has arisen in Israel” (Deut. 34:10)? Furthermore, Moses was also there when they crossed the sea — he certainly saw what everyone else experienced!