The Rav on miracles: Integrating Rambam and Ramban's views.

I find the following by RYBS an interesting approach, to miracles with echoes of both Rambam and Ramban’s thought.

The following is from R. Joseph B. Soloveitchik, The Emergence of Ethical Man, pp. 187-188: (excerpt cut and pasted with permission from a R. Gil Student post on Hirhurim)-

"The supernatural miracle is not very welcome in the covenant society. We prefer the regular flow of life. The Halacha is completely integrated with the natural process. It never takes cognizance of any causalistic anomalies. Yet the central theme of the exodus tale is the miracle.What is a miracle in Judaism? The word "miracle" in Hebrew does not possess the connotation of the supernatural. It has never been placed on a transcendental level. "Miracle" (pele, nes) describes only an outstanding event which causes amazement. A turning point in history is always a miracle, for it commands attention as an event which intervened fatefully in the formation of that group or that individual. As we read the story of the exodus from Egypt, we are impressed by the distinct tendency of the Bible to relate the events in natural terms. The frogs came out of the river when the Nile rose; the wind brought the locusts and split the sea. All archaeologists agree that the plagues as depicted by the Bible are very closely related to the geographical and climatic conditions that prevail in Egypt. Behind the passages in the Bible we may discern a distinct intention to describe the plagues as naturally as possible. The Bible never emphasizes the unnaturalness of the events; only its intensity and force are emphasized. The reason for that is obvious. A philosophy which considers the world-drama as a fixed, mechanical process governed by an unintelligent, indifferent principle, may regard the miracle as a supernatural transcendental phenomenon which does not fit into the causalistic, meaningless monotony. Israel, however, who looked upon the universal occurrence as the continuous realization of a divine ethical will embedded into dead and live matter, could never classify the miracle as something unique and incomprehensible. Both natural monotony and the surprising element in nature express God's word. Both are regular, lawful phenomena; both can be traced to an identical source..."

DG: Here we see Ramban as seen by a contemporary thinker, “as the continuous realization of a divine ethical will embedded into dead and live matter”. The Nes Nistar, the cloaking of the miraculous in nature, has become the “continuous realization of a divine ethical will”. One must admire the ingenuity and brilliance of the Rav combining Providence and Reward and Punishment in one expressive statement.

"In what, then, does the uniqueness of the miracle assert itself? In the correspondence of the natural and historical orders. The miracle does not destroy the objective scientific nexus in itself, it only combines natural dynamics and historical purposefulness. Had the plague of the firstborn, for instance, occurred a year before or after the exodus, it would not have been termed "with a strong hand" (be-Yad hazakah). Why? God would have been instrumental in a natural children's plague. Yet God acts just as the world ruler. On the night of Passover He appeared as the God of the cosmos acting along historical patterns. The intervention of nature in the historical process is a miracle. Whether God planned that history adjust itself to natural catastrophes or, vice versa, He commands nature to cooperate with the historical forces, is irrelevant. Miracle is simply a natural event which causes a historical metamorphosis. Whenever history is transfigured under the impact of cosmic dynamics, we encounter a miracle."

DG: here he takes Rambam’s view and instead of emphasizing the prophet, he emphasizes History. He sees the prophet as one who knows nature and intuits history through his knowledge of God’s ways thus taking advantage of the situation. Although the Rav never mentions Moshe here, he clearly has him in mind for without Moshe’s forewarning the plague would not have been connected to the exodus of the Jews.

The Rav had both Ramban and Rambam in front of his eyes as he wrote this.