Miracles and Wonders

Rambam opens his discussion of the mitzva to tell the story of the Exodus in the following way (Hametz and Matza, 7:11): "It is a biblical directive that we tell the story of the miracles and the wonders done for our forefathers in Egypt..."

The Rambam limits us. Tell of the miracles! True, there were miracles and they surely make a good story. But are the miracles the only story hat could be told? What of the Jews in Egypt? What of their difficulties in accepting the leadership of Moshe? What of the interesting relationship between Moshe the leader, and Aharon, chosen to be spokesman? What of Pharaoh and those tireless Egyptians? What gave them the strength and presence of mind to persevere after all their suffering? Why does the Rambam insist that the miracles which were part of the process are the only proper subject for our story on the night of Pesach?

The Rambam in an earlier work did not emphasize the miracle content of the story on this night. In the Sefer Hamitzvot, (positive commandment number 157) the Rambam describes the content of the "story" as follows: "we are commanded to tell the story of the Exodus from Egypt, and any addition to the story, expansion, nuances, details, to clarify what was done to us, the oppression of the Egyptians, and how G-d came to our aid and repaid them, and to give thanks to G-d for all the Hesed (kindness) which he bestowed upon us, this is praiseworthy".

Rambam continues to discuss various aspects of the mitzva, but he never mentions the miracles specifically. The Mishne Torah may represent the more mature version of the Rambam's oeuvre, and the inclusion of the theme of "miracles" describing the obligation of the evening cannot have been accidental.

We are searching to understand the centrality of the theme of miracles in the story of the Exodus and the creation of the Jewish people. The Rambam himself did not always see miracles as a significant component in the religious quest.

(Yesodei Hatorah 8:1) "The people of Israel did not believe in Moshe Rabbeinu because of the signs (miracles) he performed". This is a rather remarkable position since Moshe Rabbeinu performed miracles specifically in order to get the attention of his people, and to give the opportunity to believe that he was G-d's representative. But the Rambam forges ahead and makes a rather compelling argument.

"Belief based on signs (alone) is blemished. Perhaps the same sign can be performed by magic or sleight of hand?"

If you have never seen an eclipse of the sun, you might decide that such an event could only be explained as a miracle, indicating the wrath of G-d. However, if you have seen them again and again, (or if you have read about them in elementary science texts,) you conclude that they are part of the regular flow of things. When Moshe Rabbeinu turned his staff into a snake, everyone was sure that it was a miracle. When the magicians in Pharaohs court did the same, they weren't sure. In fact, it was a miracle and the judgment cannot be made based on whether the magicians can or cannot repeat the event. This leads to the conclusion (very significant for the Rambam) that there are miracles, but that it is almost impossible for us to judge them accurately. Important for us is that the miracle is a divinely sent sign, and that cannot be concluded accurately by our senses.

Purim precedes Pesach by a month. A month is the time that we are directed to allow for reviewing the complex halachot of Pesach (Pesachim 6a). The calendar forces the following conclusion: Purim is the beginning of the Pesach experience! Religiously, Purim sets the stage, forms the basis for the telling of the story of the Exodus from Egypt.

But Purim is so different. There are no overt miracles in the story. The sea does not split and salvation does not rain down from heaven. The story we tell on Purim is different in essence. There are no overt miracles to speak and to expound about, only the story of political intrigue and what seems to be a possible resolution of a difficult situation. Mordechai and Esther act for their people and the people themselves defend themselves against the first anti-Semites. But we are taught that these too are miracles, the miracles that are in the context of 'hester panim' , of G-d's hidden face to man. The miracles do not shake out of heaven like thunder and lightning, but seem to be interwoven in the fabric of history. It could have happened that way without Divine intervention, but we insist that - no or yes - it was an act determined by G-d, just as the Exodus from Egypt was determined by G-d through His miracles. In fact, for us there is no difference. If G-d's hand is noticed, then we tell the story on Pesach, but if G-d is hidden, then we read the Megillah. There is an anomaly in understanding the situation of 'hester panim' . On the one hand, G-d hiding His face from us is no blessing. This is certainly the intention of the Torah in Deut. 31:17-18, "I (G-d) will be angry...I will leave them, and I will hide my face..." Rashi explains: "Hide my face as one who does not notice their trouble."

This is the central theme of Exile, of punishment, of Diaspora. G-d hides his face and we do not have anyone to turn to. Not that G-d is no longer there, but that we do not feel His presence and His concern. In a world of 'hester panim' existential difficulties are twice as tragic. First, we are oppressed and moreover, we have no one to turn to.

The latter represents the most terrible tragedy of our existence. Turning to G-d is our nature. The rain needs our intercession with heaven. We must feel that we can ask, that we can pray. Imagine the punishment which affects us on a practical level but also much beyond. Practically, we find ourselves in danger with no one to turn to. That is the 'hester panim' which Rashi refers to, that G-d "does not notice their trouble". But 'hester panim' affects the very essence of our being. If we can't find G-d in order to turn to Him, then what manner of His creation are we? If the rain does not concern us, if we do not share bounty with G-d, if we are unable to stand before G-d because we no longer know where to stand, then who are we?

The story of Purim turns out to be the discovery that G-d acts as G-d to determine our history in the most intimate sense, even when it is not obvious to others. 'hester panim' is not about G-d's leaving the world be, or His disinterest in His people. 'hester panim' is a challenge. When there are no overt miracles, when there are no obvious signs, when the forces of evil (Amalek) are certain that the world is theirs, then we are obliged to see the hand of G-d as the "strong arm of G-d" as it was known to us during the Exodus from Egypt.

There is a difficult Medrash which contains the following comment about Purim. "In the future, all the festivals will be cancelled, except for the holiday of Purim" (Shocher Tov Mishle 9). It is hard to imagine that the mitzvot in the Torah will disappear and we will not be obliged to celebrate the special days that mark our development as a nation. What can the intention of the Medrash have been?

There is another well-known theme in the Medrash which helps to define Purim. This was the time (the Medrash says) when the Torah was accepted (a second time). This is explained (Netziv) as relating the nature of the Revelation on Sinai. When the Jews stood before the mountain, and G-d made His presence felt to all, and the forces of nature were in upheaval, it could not be expected that the people would answer the question in a manner representing their free will. How free can a decision be made when we are standing in the presence of G-d's miracles? Can we review the question, and mull over our position? Doesn't the face-to-face confrontation deny us our free will? How can we claim to have accepted the Torah freely in such a situation? Purim was actually the time when our acceptance was not prejudiced by our situation. We were able in a state of 'hester panim' to think about the Torah and accept it without being compromised by the situation.

So, 'hester panim' seems to have advantages. We are not as clear about being in the presence of G-d, but are able to determine for ourselves that we are in fact, part of that presence. As great as the acceptance of the Torah at Sinai was, the Medrash insists that it remained incomplete until the further acceptance on Purim. On the relationship between the obvious miracles of Pesach and the covert miracles of Purim, the Ramban has this to say (Shmot, 13:16 towards the end): "the well-known miracles, the signs, they bring man to admit the truth of the hidden miracles. The latter are the bedrock of the entire relationship to Torah. For a man is said to have a portion in the holy Torah, the Torah given by Moshe Rabbeinu , if he believes that all things, all events in time are all miracles, are not nature, and that ones fate depends entirely upon his devotion to the mitzvot of the Torah". According to the Ramban, Purim is implied in Pesach. There is no point in focusing on the miracles, unless we understand that all existence is a miracle.
The hidden miracles are the 'hester panim' of the time of Mordechai and Esther.

Had we merited it, the miracles of the story of Pesach would have also been the story of hidden miracles and the feeling that we are living in a world of miracles. This explains why the Tannaim, creators of the Haggada, looked for additional miracles in the story and were not content to list the ten obvious ones. Two hundred and more miracles were discovered by the greatest commentators of all time. This is the direction. We do not only live in a world of miracles, known and countable, but we live in a world where everything is a miracle, those that are counted and those that represent the infinite number of points on the course of time.

The Rambam directs us to tell the story of the Exodus on the eve of Pesach, and further directs us to focus on the "miracles and wonders" contained in the story. But we now see that there are the miracles of the specific story of the Exodus as related in the Torah. The ten plagues focusing us on G-d's concern for our future and the public nature of that concern. But the story of Pesach continues through Purim (chronologically) and the miracles and wonders contained in the story. But the story of Pesach continues through Purim and the "miracles and wonders" multiply themselves endlessly, and we find ourselves concentrating each year on the newly discovered miracles in the story of the Exodus. The "new miracles" were hidden just a year ago, but become known to us through the principle of the Ramban: "The miracles we see are the basis of our belief in the miraculous nature of all existence". Certainly the story of the Exodus is no exception to this rule.

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