On the seventh day of Pesach, says Jewish tradition, we reach the anniversary of the moment when our ancestors -- fleeing from the forces of Pharaoh -- plunged into the Sea of Reeds.

The Slonimer Rebbe has a beautiful teaching about crossing the sea, love, and trust. I studied this text in a class with Reb Elliot Ginsburg a few years ago, and blogged about it when the seventh day of Pesach rolled around that year. Here's a tiny taste -- the material in parentheses is my explanation of the translated text:

The Slonimer writes that at the splitting of the sea, the enormity of God's love for us was made manifest. (We allude to this when we sing "Your children saw your sovereignty, splitting the sea before Moses" daily in our liturgy. Interesting that he reads sovereignty -- malkhut -- as a metaphor for love, isn't it?) At the parting of the sea, we sang the song which arose out of our realization that we are deeply loved by God. Experiencing that love, we feel love in return. Our love is so great that it sparks awe. (Or, phrased another way: the awe arises out of love. Awe and love are two sides of the same coin.)

The teaching comes from his commentary on parashat Beshalach. Here's the whole teaching again, for those who are interested: Song for the seventh day.