Printable PDF available here. Prior years’ pieces on Vayeira are available here and here.
Rav Kook (Based on Shemonah Kevatzim, 7:75)
I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and I will increase My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt. (Shemot 7:3)
Miracles spur us to re-evaluate our understanding of the natural order. They make us realize that the laws of nature can be suspended by their Divine legislator, and are not as firm or immutable as they seem. We recalibrate and realize that nature seems weak and flimsy, pliant to the world of Divine miracles that soars above it.
However, it is not for mere theology that the Torah presents nature as subordinate to G-dly miracles. The ultimate end of this knowledge is an ethical one – to become aware that the flawed, cruel and indecent aspects of our own inner nature are similarly not immutable. They can also become pliant and subservient to the Divine command, provided that we allow the G-dly light that sustains everything into our souls, in all of its splendor. We do not have to be stuck with habits, traits or behaviors that coarsen us or clog up our spiritual potential. We can change.
However, just as all great lights cast a shadow, this notion can be distorted and taken to an unhealthy extreme. One must exercise vigilance so that his conception of the natural order’s weakness does not extend to the positive and healthy aspects of his nature. Those must be fortified and encouraged, and allowed to unfold in a natural, healthy and holy way.
Food for Thought
Rabbi Yeruchom Levovitz (Da’as Torah, Shemot p. 75): The truth is that the main purpose for the whole Exodus from Egypt is belief in the concept of miracles. The main idea is to know and recognize that at the heart of existence is a spiritual core. One should know that existence is not just that which we see with our physical eyes, or sense with our physical senses. The physicality that we see in Creation is only clothing for the true existence. What is the true core to existence [which the Egyptian experience demonstrates]? It is spirituality, which is the source of all Creation.
Rabbi Akiva Tatz (Living Inspired, p. 152): The Sfas Emes expresses the connection between the miracles commemorated at the Seder and the rest of Jewish history in the most beautiful manner. He asks why we call the procedure of Seder Night a “seder” – the word “seder” means “order,” a regular, predictable series of events. Strange that we celebrate the most potent series of miracles, the sharpest departures from the natural order, with the name seder, “order”! His answer is unforgettable. For the Jewish people, our natural order is the miraculous! We have a seder of miracles. We were forged in impossible circumstances, conceived in a blaze of miracles, born beyond time. We can never descend into the natural; for us to do so would be souring of the worst kind, transforming matzah to chametz; lethal in the extreme.
Rabbi Meir Twerski (TorahWeb.org – Miracles and Wonders): The mishna in Pesachim teaches that the format for sippur yetzias Mitzrayim is maschil b’genus u’mesayeim b’shvach – one begins by recounting our disgrace and concluding with our glory (116a, translation adapted from Artscroll). Shmuel opines that genus refers to the fact that avadim hayinu, we were slaves. (This stands in contradistinction to Rav’s opinion that genus refers to our ancestors having been idolatrous. We incorporate both opinions in the hagadah.) The gemara does not explicitly state what the contrasting, corresponding shvach is. Primo facie, it is obvious. The contrasting, corresponding shvach is that we are now free. And, in fact, the Maharal miPrag (Gevuros Hashem) explicates Shmuel’s view in this way. Rambam, however, interprets very differently. He writes (Hilchos Chametz U’Matzah 7:4) that the counterpoint to avadim hayinu are the “miracles and wonders that were performed for us [in Mitzrayim] and in our freedom.” Rambam’s interpretation is puzzling. The formulation maschil b’genus u’mesayeim b’shvach suggests sharp contrast, thesis and antithesis. How are miracles the antithesis of slavery?
The answer lies in understanding the spiritual deficit and handicap of slavery. “Ki Li Bnai Yisroel avodim – v’lo avadim la’avodim – Bnai Yisroel are My slaves, and not slaves to slaves [says Hashem].” The dependence, vulnerability and accountability which a slave feels vis-a-vis his human master obstruct his relationship with Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Being the beneficiary of nissim and niflaos (miracles and wonders) not only reflects a direct relationship with Hakadosh Baruch Hu, but a privileged one. Thus from a spiritual perspective the nissim v’niflaos she’na’asu lanu are indeed the ultimate antithesis of avadim hayinu…
The Rambam’s quintessential definition of sippur yetzias Mitzrayim is absolutely remarkable. Sippur yetzias Mitzrayim, according to Rambam, is NOT about the exodus per se. In fact the Rambam does not even allude to, much less mention, freedom in his definition of mitzvas sippur yetzias Mitzrayim. Sippur yetzias Mitzrayim is the story of an enslaved, formerly idolatrous people who become so close to Hakadosh Baruch Hu that He bestows nissim v’niflaos upon them. The fact of liberation per se is only significant insofar as the freedom was a byproduct of nissim v’niflaos and enabled our new, privileged relationship with Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Sippur yetzias Mitzrayim is the story of spiritual transformation. An enslaved (and thus, remote), formerly idolatrous people through nissim v’niflaos become Hashem’s chosen people (Rambam Hilchos Chametz U’Matzah 7:4) enjoying privileged treatment and relationship.
Ramban (end of Parshat Bo, as summarized by Rav Ezra Bick): In his comments on the commandment of tefillin (Shemot 13:16), the Ramban offers a general theory of “signs” in Judaism, and, inter alia, a summary of the purpose of signs and mitzvotin general. In fact, this is a summary of the purpose of human life and of creation. The two subjects – the meaning of “signs” and the purpose of creation – are closely intertwined in the Ramban, as we shall see.
The Ramban lists a number of theological mistakes common in the world: those who do not believe in the existence of G-d, those who do not believe in His omniscience, and those who do not accept His omnipotence or His providence. The answer to these heresies, claims the Ramban, is the occurrence of miracles. The miracle, an exception to the “way of the world and its nature,” disproves publicly those false beliefs, for it proves that the world has a “creator-G-d, knowing, supervising, and capable.” The Ramban makes the sweeping statement that the occurrence of a miracle, together with its being predicted in advance by a prophet (demonstrating the truth of prophecy), serves to “establish the entirety of the Torah.”
However, there is a problem. G-d will not perform miracles in every generation. The Ramban does not explicitly explain why not, but the expression he uses – “G-d will not perform a sign and wonder in every generation in the eyes of every evildoer and heretic” – implies that it is somehow improper, an affront to the dignity of G-d for His power to be displayed for the unworthy. (In his derasha “Torat Hashem Temima” [p.150], he writes, “The great public miracles which can confound the weak in faith are not performed for every generation, for the generations are not worthy of that, or because there is no need for it to be performed.”) In any event, the outcome is that miracles are a necessary part of the world, in order to demonstrate G-d’s power and presence, but also a necessarily absent aspect of the world, in light of the unworthiness of humanity.
The solution to the absence of miracles, according to the Ramban, is the “sign.” We are commanded to make signs, remembrances, of that which “we” saw with our eyes, so that our children and all future generations, “to the end of time,” should have the experience of the miracle – specifically, the miracles that accompanied the exodus from Egypt.
Questions for Discussion
- According to Rav Kook, the main lesson of miracles is ethical and not theological. Do you agree? Does the text of the Torah in the Exodus narrative offer any clues one way or the other?
- Why doesn’t G-d perform open miracles and suspend the laws of nature for us like He did for the generation of the Exodus?
- How does a person know whether certain habits, traits or behaviors belong to the positive/healthy or negative/unhealthy aspect of his or her nature?
- See the Sefas Emes, quoted by R. Akiva Tatz in “Food for Thought” above. Is there any way to harmonize his position with Rav Kook? Or are they completely at odds?
- What defines something as a miracle?
