Miraculous Signs: Imagination or Reality?

Professor Chaim Kreisel a few years ago published a “lost” (censured?) book by Rabbi Nissim of Marseilles, a 14^th century Provencal Rabbi, called Ma’aseh Nissim. The book main thrust is to explain the miracles that we find in the Torah so that they make sense in their context. The book has 14 introductory chapters (note the number 14, an important number for the Maimonidean which he was, as it is the number of books Mishne Torah has), which discuss fundamental theological issues. The author has a fabulous ability to understand allegorical verses and Midrashim and is apparently from the same school as an earlier contemporary, the author of Livyat Chen, Rabbi Levi ben Avraham (see the labels on the sidebar). The main part of the book follows the Parshyot, explaining the apparently unnatural events or laws discussed in them.

Here is a translation of a small segment in the 14^th chapter of the introduction which I saw over the weekend in passing while researching a subject I am working on. I thought it to be quite interesting and I hope you will agree.

Rabbi Nissim’ style is to organize miracles into classes and categories. One class is composed of things that occur between God and the prophet and the second class is composed of those that involve the prophet with other people. Each of the two classes can be divided into two categories: Actions taken by the prophet as instructed or knowledge of a future event. He also assigns a different class and category for each homonym used in Scriptures for miracles. The following is his understanding of a sign – Ot.     

“Regarding the first category of the first class, which are the miracles and wonders that occur only between God and the prophet: Every intelligent person who pictures [in his mind] and understands the essence of how God’s speech and His instructions to the prophets [truly] work, must believe that these [miracles] are prophetic and do not happen outside the mind.  They are not really happening and cannot be experienced by our external senses while our internal senses do experience them. If at times, our external senses also experience them, that experience is not real. It is imaginary. An example of such a miracle is the sign given to Avraham when the torch passed between the pieces [of the animals he cut up][1] and Gideon with the fleece of wool[2] and other similar ones. The theme is that the whole episode, the asking of a sign and the answer – the sign itself – all that was in a prophetic vision or a dream.  Namely, as the prophet [in his contemplation] had a revelation about some of future events via the riddles and parables of prophecy, his continuing cogitations trigger doubts. He now at times believes the revelation [as true] and at others doubts it to the point that he asks for a sign. The prophetic experience now becomes even stronger within him and [he apprehends] another parable [which makes him feel] as if a sign occurred in front of his eyes. As this theme repeats itself, it strengthens his convictions that the revelation is indeed true and God is indeed ready to make it happen.

I have thus removed from your rational [soul] the veil that envelops it regarding this class [of miracles] revealing its esoteric meaning. You will therefore no longer be surprised by these extreme wonders and the impossible, strange and improbable occurrences according to your rational mind will no longer confuse you. They after all do not retell real happenings but imaginary ones brought about by the imaginative faculty which composes things whether possible, wondrous or impossible. This too is possibly, how we understand the wonders Moshe experienced in the exchange between him and God such as the staff turning into a snake and the clear hand becoming white[3], namely they happened in a prophetic vision. This [vision] was meant to impress on him the obligation to free the Jewish people from Egyptian oppression, possibly by suggesting that Pharaoh who in parables is seen as the crocodile that stands between the rivers will be to Moshe like a staff at the hand of its owner and his [Pharaoh’s] strong arm will become leprous.”

The general idea in this segment is that Rabbi Nissim holds that when the Scriptures report what seems to be an occurrence involving a prophet, if it was something that does not involve others, that occurrence should be interpreted as a vision rather than an actual physical occurrence. It is important to note that the strategy Rabbi Nissim uses is not to force his interpretation as the only possible one but rather to give a variety of interpretations including literal ones, leaving it up to the reader to decide which makes more sense. He does not impose his opinions just presents them and lets the reader make up his mind. Thus, he offers literal explanations too to Moshe’s experience at the beginning of his journey into prophecy. However, his more esoteric explanations are daring and creative, taking a seeming fantasy and turning it into a rational and important teaching.

He then shows how the rabbis in the Midrashim, were addressing the same story in a similar manner. Discussing the difference between a dream or fantasy and a prophetic vision, he points out that dreams always contain irrelevant parts while in a prophetic vision every detail counts.

“Our Rabbis explain, “and it [the staff] became a snake – because he [Moshe] spoke Lashon Hara on Israel, emulating the tradecraft of the snake [as in Adam and Eve].” They also explain regarding the hand turning leprous, white as snow, [that it is a punishment] for saying “behold they will not believe me” and “when someone suspects innocent people he is punished bodily” (Shabbat 97a). We follow the Rabbis approach, namely, being that this was a sign [Ot] to Moshe for his request [for answers] from God, the sign contained these details to make Moshe aware and teach him certain points. It also possibly may indicate to Moshe that if he should throw the staff on the ground it will become a snake, pointing out that , Moshe’s rational mind which when used properly is his staff and support, should he let it become polluted by earthly matters it will turn on him and become a poisonous snake and kill him. On the other hand, should he then lift it from the ground, and use it for lofty purposes thus strengthening his rational faculty, his mind will again be a support and something he can rely upon. ”

Rabbi Nissim understands that the Rabbis, by trying to interpret every detail in the story, are telling us that the story is a prophetic vision and as such, every detail has meaning. This understanding is an expansion of Rambam in his introduction to MN where he also points out that prophecies at times, every detail is important while at others not. In the case of Yaakov and the ladder, it describes a prophetic vision where every detail counts. A chapter in Mishlei which uses a parable of a prostitute to discuss the human mind and its potential, details are unimportant and needed to fill in lacunae in the parable.

As this translated segment refers to a variety of verses and stories spread all over the Scriptures, I have decided not to copy each verse but just to references where the verse Rabbi Nissim refers to can be found. It will be a worthwhile exercise to look at them after reading this piece. It is an eye opener.

     

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[1] Breishit 15:17.

[2] Shoftim 6:11-40.

[3] Shemot 3:1-8.

Why Belief in Resurrection Is Only Mentioned by Daniel During the Babylonian Exile?

Rambam in MN 3:32 discusses Korbanot explaining that they were necessary developmentally. As the Jewish people exiting Egypt, a culture that taught that there is a need to placate the gods with offerings to prevent them from harming us, the Korbanot were a method of weaning them from this dependency. By diverting the worship from idols to the one God and focusing their attention on Him, they eventually developed an understanding of Unity and transcendence. To drive home the point that, unlike the offerings to idols which were seen as bribes where the more the merrier, Korbanot were a very defined and circumscribed service or worship – Avodah. There are more rules on how to precisely bring and offer a Korban than for any other Mitzvah, where the slightest deviation may invalidate the offering. Korbanot became a paradigm for all Mitzvot, the positive commandments, which inherently have the same problem, especially those that are rituals – bein Adam lamokom. Our rituals cannot have an impact on a transcendental God and are meaningless from God’s perspective. Just like Korbanot, they are a form of service, defined and circumscribed by exacting rules that keep us focused on God, the source of the rules. These exact rules on how to perform them are necessary to remind us that they are not bribes but service and worship. We get not physical benefit in return when doing them other than the greatest good of all, a step closer to knowledge of God and hopefully, if we are diligent enough, an understanding of our role in His universe and how to fulfill that role of ours. Unlike idolatry, the Torah teaches that we cannot change God’s mind with our offerings nor can we change anything else in nature through manipulating the “spiritual” realm. We can try to understand God, try to discover His will and our role and act accordingly, making an impact on our physical existence. It is in the physical world that our actions have consequences. Those consequences are the “miracle” of reward and punishment – the blessing and curses – of the Torah.

This quest for understanding of God and our role in His world is not simple. It is quite complicated and difficult and people have had varying degrees of success in that endeavor. It involves not only understanding the world, the science that underlies it, it also entails knowing how to act on that knowledge and the impact those actions will have not only in the short term but also over time and generations. The most successful people, those who acquired this knowledge and acted responsibly, are referred to as prophets and their unique connection with the so to say, “mind of God”, the blueprint of existence, is called prophecy. Unlike the magical “knowledge” of the idol worshipper, this knowledge is based on reality and a realistic understanding of God and His world. It understands that everything operates according to laws of nature put in place by God, laws that are wisdom and not whimsy. This realization came first to Avraham Avinu and he transmitted it to his children and grandchildren. It was further reinforced (rather reintroduced) by Moshe Rabbeinu and the Torah and Mitzvot he gave us, whose aim it is to over time wean the Jewish people and through them the world, from the erroneous idolatrous beliefs. Those myths and beliefs are so deeply embedded in the human psyche that they are still present today, even in our community, even after several millennia of Torah. Clearly, this educational process is lengthy, drawn out and multigenerational.

As we can see, prophecy is central to this Torah worldview. It is through its medium that we can apprehend God’s will. One of the features of prophecy, indeed a test of its veracity especially when used to guide others, is its ability to foresee future events. Not only does it foresee normal natural sequences of events but also the anomalies in nature that I talked about in my last post. It is through this kind of insight, a result of deep study of the world and meditation on the metaphysical issues that pertain to its existence, that the prophets took advantage of these anomalies in what were seen as “miracles”, the same “miracles” that also demonstrate that God’s will was responsible for creation. The transition from believing that the vagaries encountered by man in his daily life are the result of magical forces to understanding a world run by God’s laws of nature and the ability of man to apprehend that and eventually acquire prophecy took a long time. Rambam in the Treatise on resurrections explains that at the time of Matan Torah, it would have been futile for God through Moshe to tell us about a future anomaly such as Techyat Hametim – the resurrection of some dead people - will occur at some point in the future. The people could not have accepted it and needed almost a thousand years of indoctrination before this concept could be accepted as plausible.

. ואיך יסופר למי שלא התבארה אצלו

הנבואה בדבר שאין ראוי עליו אלא האמנת הנביא, והוא גם כן נמנע אצלם לגמרי

לפי אמונתם בקדמות העולם,

כי לולי המופתים לא הייתה אצלנו תחיית המתים מכת

האפשר

“Why would one tell someone who has not yet accepted prophecy, a subject that depends on belief in prophecy? Furthermore, [prophecy] was impossible according to their understanding that the world is eternal [a parte ante]. For without miracles [signposts] Techyat Hametim would not be possible in our minds. [See my last post for an in depth discussion of this statement].

It took years of educating and teaching, experiencing the great “miracles” the Torah teaches us, those that were signposts that HKBH created and willed this world, for this lesson to sink into the people’s psyche. It is only after this long process, at the time of Daniel, when the long-term consequences of the stubborn belief in idolatry brought them into exile again, that the prophet could predict the future anomaly of Techyat Hametim and be believed. It is only after going through short and long-term cycles of actions and their “miraculous” consequences, of “miraculous” anomalies that occurred at propitious times, that this revolutionary and new understanding really took hold.

וכאשר רצה השם יתעלה לתת תורה לבני אדם, לפרסם בהם מצוותו ודתו ואזהרתו על

ידי הנביאים בכל העולם, כמו שאמר "ולמען ספר שמי בכל הארץ". חידש המופתים

הגדולים הכתובים בכל התורה, עד שהתאמת בהם נבואת הנביאים וחידוש העולם. כי

המופת האמיתי ראיה ברורה על חידוש העולם כאשר בארנו ב"מורה הנבוכים

והתמיד העניין כן, עד שנתחזקו אלו הפינות והתאמתו בהמשך הדורות, ולא נשאר

ספק בנבואות הנביאים ובחידוש המופתים. ואחרי כן ספרו לנו הנביאים מה

שהודיעם ה' יתעלה מעניין תחיית המתים, והיה קל לקבלו

When God wanted to give Torah to humankind, to make His commandments, religion and warnings [that there are consequences to our actions] known in the whole world, as it says, “so that My name is told in the whole earth”, He brought about the great miracles [signposts] that the Torah reports. This verified that there is prophecy and the world is created. For the true “miracle” [signpost] is clear proof that the world is created as we explained in MN. This continued until this fundamental belief was strengthened and verified over generations so that there was no longer any doubt that prophecy exists and “miracles” [signposts] occur. It was only then that the prophets told us what God told them about TH, and they accepted it with ease.[1]

To summarize, Rambam sees TH as one more anomaly among many. These anomalies, when they occur under the conditions Rambam enumerated, are signposts that HKBH has will and willed this world into existence with wisdom and omniscience. They teach that this world has embedded in it a system of actions and consequences that is incumbent on humankind to learn and discover. In this process of discovery, humankind will understand what its role is in the promotion of continuity of the whole of existence as will each individual who takes his responsibility seriously find his own role in that great whole. This belief in TH is therefore one of the fundamental cornerstones of Judaism.

What I find exhilarating and beautiful about Rambam’s approach is that he gives us a great vision, an optimistic and positive vision, of what Torah’s goals are for the Jewish people and the whole of humankind. He shows us how all the pieces fit together and ultimately are stepping-stones in the fulfillment of that great goal. As we say in our daily prayer ותלמדם חוקי חיים – when God gave the Jewish people the Torah, He taught them the “laws of life”. To me these few words say it all.

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[1] It is noteworthy that Rambam uses here the same justification he used for explaining the reasoning behind Korbanot. He compares it to the reluctance on the part of God to use a direct route from Egypt to Israel that ran through the land of the Philistines for fear of a war disheartening the newly freed slaves.

ואתה תמצא כמו התחבולה הזאת בעצמה עשה השם יתברך עם ישראל, אמר עליהם

ולא נחם אלהים דרך ארץ פלשתים כי קרוב הוא כי אמר אלהים" וגו'. ואם

הורגלו בענייני העולם מפני שחשש עליהם שישובו למצרים ויבוטל מהם המכווין

בהם, כן חשש עליהם עוד שלא יקבלו זה הדעת, רצוני לומר התחייה, ויבוטל בו

התכלית המכוון בהם ומהם

Reward and Punishment in the Torah Teaches Humanity To Take Their Fate Into Their Own Hands.

In my last post, I discussed “miracles” and focused on those that are “naturally impossible”. Rambam also lists another category of “miracles” – the “naturally possible”. Examples are:

Occasional occurrences - the plagues of locust, hail and plague (dever) in Egypt

Common Occurrences –that can happen in all lands and times. Examples of such are the splitting of the altar while Yerovam was on it (Melachim 1:13:3) which is common for newly built structures. The torrential rains brought about by Shmuel during the harvest (Shmuel 1:12:17).The blessings and curses in the Torah.

As discussed in the last post, “miracles” are like flag posts that point out and teach a lesson. For common occurrences that are usually seen as normal and even occasional occurrences that are rarer, something more has to be added to make them stand out and teach something. They therefore have to have an additional component to make them stand out. They therefore have to have one or more of the following conditions:

They happen when predicted by a prophet, as was the case with Shmuel and Yerovam.

They come in exaggerated form, greater than usual such as the plagues in Egypt mentioned above לְפָנָיו לֹא-הָיָה כֵן אַרְבֶּה כָּמֹהוּ, וְאַחֲרָיו לֹא יִהְיֶה-כֵּן. (Shemot 10:14 also see Shemot 9:24 and 9:6).

They are constant as the blessings and curses in the Torah were.

The first condition, prediction of the prophet, is quite obvious. The second one, where the occurrence is in an exaggerated form, apparently also requires the first condition, the prediction of the prophet to make it stand out. Interestingly, the cases Rambam brings as examples, the plagues in Egypt, also had Moshe predict them. I cannot think of a case where the second condition alone was enough to make the occurrence stand out. (The locust at the time of Yoel was also predicted). But the third condition, the one that is generally referred to as Schar Ve’onesh - reward and punishment - needs to be fleshed out much more.

To really understand Rambam’s view of reward and punishment and its relationship with Torah we have to take a step back and look at humanity from an historical perspective. We live in an era where the scientific method is part of our normal thinking and there are very few who still question it. That was not so for much of human history. At the time Torah and Judaism came into existence, when Moshe Rabbeinu brought us the Torah, man was completely dependent on the vagaries of nature without any hope to take his fate into his own hands. He saw the world as populated by good and evil spirits who controlled the physical world and the only recourse was to placate them. It would take millennia to overturn this mindset. It is a gradual process that is still ongoing. It teaches that man has to learn and understand his environment and take his fate into his own hands. That is what the Torah teaches us. We can take control of our fate and there are consequences to our actions. It is the first commandment the Torah gives to humankind and sets it as its general goal and purpose.

וַיְבָרֶךְ אֹתָם, אֱלֹהִים, וַיֹּאמֶר לָהֶם

אֱלֹהִים פְּרוּ וּרְבוּ וּמִלְאוּ אֶת-הָאָרֶץ, וְכִבְשֻׁהָ; וּרְדוּ

בִּדְגַת הַיָּם, וּבְעוֹף הַשָּׁמַיִם, וּבְכָל-חַיָּה, הָרֹמֶשֶׂת

עַל-הָאָרֶץ.

28 And God blessed them; and God said unto them, 'Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that creeps upon the earth.'

The way for humanity to exit the dark ages of superstition and helplessness is a long process. It teaches man that there are no spirits, just one God, the First Cause, and that everything He caused into existence is logical and sensible imbued with a great wisdom that is incumbent on us to learn and discover. It is this revolution in thinking that slowly is taking humanity on the long road to

כִּי-מָלְאָה הָאָרֶץ, דֵּעָה אֶת-יְהוָה, כַּמַּיִם, לַיָּם מְכַסִּים.

For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea. {S} (Yeshayahu 11:9)

This educational process includes the idea that there are consequences to our actions. They are not always immediately apparent. Some actions have an immediate impact others may take some time for results to be seen, but ultimately we are responsible for our own fate. Those are the blessings and curses of the Torah – reward and punishment. Rambam in Hilchot Ta’aniyot 1:2-3 teaches –

ודבר זה, דרך מדרכי התשובה הוא: שבזמן שתבוא צרה ויזעקו לה

ויריעו, יידעו הכול שבגלל מעשיהם הרעים הרע להן--ככתוב "עוונותיכם, הטו

אלה לכם, וזה הוא שיגרום להם להסיר הצרה מעליהם.

אבל אם לא יזעקו, ולא יריעו, אלא יאמרו דבר זה ממנהג העולם

אירע לנו, וצרה זו נקרוא נקרית--הרי זו דרך אכזרייות, וגורמת להם להידבק

במעשיהם הרעים, ותוסיף הצרה וצרות אחרות: הוא שכתוב בתורה, "והלכתם עימי,

בקרי. והלכתי עימכם, בחמת קרי" (ויקרא כו,כז-כח),

כלומר כשאביא עליכם צרה, כדי שתשובו--אם תאמרו שהוא קרי, אוסיף עליכם חמת אותו קרי.

This [type of prayer] belongs to the ways of repenting. When a disaster occurs and they cry out for it and blow trumpets, all realize that this came about as a result of their misdeeds as it says, “Your sins brought this about upon you”. This [realization] will cause the disaster to lift.

Should they not cry out or blow trumpets, saying that this thing happened in normal ways of the world, that this disaster is just a serendipitous occurrence, this [kind of thinking] is cruel for it encourages them to stick to their errant ways bringing more disasters. That is the meaning of the verse “should you walk with me serendipitously, I will walk with you in the wrath of serendipity”. In other words, when I bring down a disaster upon you, so that you repent, and you will attribute it to serendipity, I will add to you the wrath of that serendipity.

In a letter to the sages of Marseilles, which I quoted in the past, Rambam blames the destruction of the temple on the Jews turning to spirits rather than arming and defending themselves while engaging in diplomacy! Repentance in this context is making ourselves aware that it is up to us to figure out how to prevent a disaster. We have to accept responsibility for our actions or inactions and take our fate into our hands.

The “miracle” of the blessings and curses of the Torah are seen as teachings when they are constant. When the Jews followed the path of Torah, abandoned the ways of superstition and idolatry, acting on their convictions and consequently lived peacefully on their land, they taught humanity that our actions have consequences. They taught that unlike the other nations who rely on spirits and therefore are dependent on the vagaries of nature, we Jews take our fate into our own hands, because we believe that HKBH created the world with wisdom. It is up to us to understand it and act accordingly. Coming back to our treatise on Resurrection and the verse in Devarim 4:19, we read –

וכבר זכר בתורה שהוא מופת מתמיד, ר"ל תיקון העניינים

עם העבודה, והפסדם עם המרי. אמר "והיו בך לאות ולמופת ובזרעך עד עולם"

ומפני זה אמרו "אין מזל לישראל", רצו לומר שתיקונם והפסדם אינם לסבה טבעית

ולא על מנהג המציאות, אלא נתלה בעבודה ובמרי. וזה אות יותר גדול מכל אות.

וכבר בארנו שזה בדין צבור ובדין יחיד כמו שיראה מן המעשה ההוא והוא נאות

לאומרו ובזרעך עד עולם.

ומן המאמר המפורסם באומה "ראה אדם ייסורין באים עליו יפשפש במעשיו".

והוא העניין בעצמו הוא המכוון ג"כ באומרו "אשר חלק ה' אלהיך אותם לכל

העמים תחת כל השמים, ואתכם לקח ה'.. להיות לו לעם נחלה כיום הזה". ר"ל

שענייניהם אינם נוהגים עניין מנהג שאר האומות, אבל ייחדם השם בזה המופת

הגדול שיהיו פעולותיהם תמיד נקשרות בתיקון ענייניהם או בהפסדם.

It is already mentioned in the Torah that the fact that things work out [for the Jews] when they act [correctly] and do not work out when they transgress is a permanent sign [that we are not dependent on the vagaries of nature]. That is the meaning of the Rabbi’s saying “Yisrael do not depend on luck”. That is their well-being or mishaps do not depend on natural events or vagaries of existence but rather on their [correct] actions or transgressions. That is a greater sign than any other sign [that there are consequences to our actions]. We already explained that this applies to both the public and the individual. (I cannot translate the end of the sentence, as I do not understand it. See R. Sheilat in note 90 that he suspects the text is corrupt). That is also seen from the famous saying “When a person sees suffering coming upon him he should look at his deeds”. [IOW we are to blame for our own suffering and should not shift the blame to others]. That is also the meaning when he says “אֲשֶׁר חָלַק יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ, אֹתָם, לְכֹל הָעַמִּים, תַּחַת כָּל-הַשָּׁמָיִם - which the LORD thy God has allotted unto all the peoples under the whole heaven –

וְאֶתְכֶם לָקַח יְהוָה - But you hath the LORD taken”. Meaning that their [the Jewish people’s] matters are not like those of other nations [who rely and depend on vagaries of nature]. God has particularized them with this great sign [teaching to others] that their actions are intimately tied to their well-being or the mishaps.

Rambam disagrees with commentators and Rishonim who read this verse as affirming that Jews are different and under the influence of HKBH while the rest of the world is under the auspices of the stars. He understands that Jews are a paradigm for the world as a people who understand that HKBH has given the world to humanity to conquer and thus control his fate. Unlike the beliefs of the nations who believed, that man depends on outside forces like the stars and the vagaries of fate.

This post is already much too long. I will come back to this in my next post.

"Miracles" as Anomalies in Nature - The Will of God at Creation.

Basing himself on the Mishna Avot 5:5, Rambam sees all “miracles” as anomalies in nature. When HKBH put in place the rules of nature, these rules had in them the possibility for rare phenomena to occur under certain conditions. As Rambam explains in his commentary, God created water with the possible ability for it to flow upwards, against gravity. What or who triggers this anomalous phenomenon? Does it require the input of an outside sentient catalyst? Or does it occur naturally when certain conditions serendipitously[1] come together? As I read him, Rambam opts for the latter but with a twist – God’s will.

The concept of will when attributed to God is very complicated. I have discussed it at length in my article on Miracles (link available on sidebar) and I refer the interested reader to it. Summarizing, if we say that God wills miracles as necessary, reacting to human needs, we are lessening His omniscience. We are saying that He does not have the ability to foresee problems and has to step in to adjust His universe as it goes along. We therefore limit will to one time only – at creation – where all future events that require will were willed. Of course, the terms “at creation”, “were willed” are all equivocal terms that we, as humans, use to express ourselves. God is not time bound and to Him past, present and future are the same. It is only from our perspective that we assign time and even the concept of will to HKBH. Taking this into consideration we can say that all natural anomalies and when they will occur, when the proper conditions will come together for any one of them to occur, has been willed and put in place by God at creation.

If anomalies are natural events, what is miraculous about them? This brings us back to our treatise. Rambam the great teacher that he is, discusses in the treatise concepts that at first blush seem to be side issues and superfluous to the present discussion. It is only after reflection that we realize that it is in fact an integral part of the whole presentation. It is in this vein that almost as a throwaway, Rambam ends the treatise with a section about what defines miracles. He divides miracles into two general categories: those that are “naturally impossible” and those that are “naturally possible”.

Examples of the “naturally impossible” are the transformation of the staff into a serpent, the sinkhole at the Korach rebellion and the splitting of the sea.

הוא שהנפלאות פעמים יהיו בעניינים הנמנעים בטבע, כהתהפך המטה לנחש ושקיעת הארץ בעדת קרח ובקיעת הים

It is noteworthy that of these three examples, two, the sinkhole and serpent are mentioned in the Mishna Avot 5:5 as having been created at dusk on Friday of Creation. The third, the splitting of the sea, Rambam explains in his commentary on the Mishna that it was put into the nature of water at creation[2]. The word טבע is therefore not just nature in this context. It means regularly occurring natural phenomena as opposed to rare anomalies. Anomalies are part of the fabric of nature but are seen as “impossible” because they occur very rarely and therefore unpredictable or “impossible” - הנמנעים בטבע.

So what makes them into miracles? It is the timing. When they occur at the proper time and can be taken advantage of by people, they are seen as miracles. The word miracle in Hebrew is נס which can also translate “flag”. Rambam in MN 3:24 in a related discussion about נסיון – test – explains that it is like bringing up a flag on a flagpole, teaching the whole world a specific lesson. When a natural anomaly occurs at the right time for people to take advantage of, it teaches that God willed it at creation and that it is not just a coincidence, thus a miracle – נס. It also teaches that God wills. It reminds us that God willed the world into existence. It did not exist eternally together with a First Cause that had no will. That is the rationale for the Mitzvot, such as Pessach, other Yamim Tovim and those that require Zachor that demand we remember the miracles.

Now we can understand that “miracles”, natural anomalies that occur at propitious times, are not caused by some outside sentient catalyst. We see them as willed by God at creation. This only works if we accept creation from nothing which was willed by God. In an eternal world, where God is concomitant with it and has no will, the only other possible explanation for a propitious anomalous phenomenon would be magic or trickery.

People at that time all belonged to the Sabeans who believed that the world is eternal. They believed that God is the “spirit” of the sphere as we explained in the Moreh. Their belief necessitates the denial of miracles ascribing them to magic or trickery.

For such events to be seen as “miracles” they cannot be long lasting or they will lose their status as anomalies. Rambam makes the point at length here in the treatise and in his discussion of this in MN 2:29.

I said earlier that the fact that these anomalies happen at a propitious time makes us see them as miracles. In my article, I also showed that the ability of a prophet to predict and take advantage of these anomalies, expecting their occurrence and counting on them through intuitive or whatever other prophetic quality that allows for that, is part of this concept of miracles.

Not only anomalies teach us about God’s will. “Naturally possible” miracles do too.

I will discuss this in my next post.

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[1] I added serendipitously because of MN 2:29 - For although the rod was turned into a serpent, the water into blood, the pure and noble hand into a leprous one, without the existence of any natural cause that necessitated this. The way I read the underlined is that the conditions that came together to create the anomaly were not necessitated but serendipitous thus attributable to the will of God at creation.

[2] . Rambam bases this on the Midrash Rabah Breishit 5:5

אמר ר' יוחנן

: תנאין התנה הקב"ה עם הים שיהא נקרע לפני ישראל, הדא הוא דכתיב (שמות יד

וישב הים לאיתנו,

לתנאו שהתנה עמו

אמר רבי ירמיה בן אלעזר:

לא עם הים בלבד התנה הקדוש ברוך הוא, אלא עם כל מה שנברא בששת ימי בראשית, הדא הוא דכתיב (ישעיה מה):

אני ידי נטו שמים וכל צבאם צויתי

Techyat Hametim - Resurrection of the Dead - A Prophesized Miraculous Event - Not a Reward!

The traditional idea of Techyat Hametim – Resurrection of the Dead – is that it is a reward to the righteous and a phase in a complex sequence of after death “judgments”. There are many variations describing the exact sequences of this system of judgments which I do not want to expand on here as most of us grew up with them. Although I am no expert in other religions, I have read enough to know that similar conjecture about after death experiences with variations exist in Christianity and Islam too.

Most go something like this. After death, the soul hovers around the body, eventually faces judgment and is sent to a holding place –if guilty to hell and purgatory for cleansing, if righteous to heaven or Gan Eden to await resurrection. During this time, things evolve on earth and Mashiach arrives and the Jews are ingathered to Eretz Israel. The bones of the dead also somehow gather and make Aliyah through underground tunnels and the souls reunite with their respective bodies. All these systems see Mashiach, TH and OH as different components of a complex system of rewards where those alive when those times arrive are joined by the righteous or the now cleansed dead for an eternal physical life. Anyone that does not accept nay questions this idea, that all righteous will resurrect and live physically forever, is seen as a non-believer, Kofer and Apikores. (For an attempt at a rational approach to this, see Rav Sa’adyah Gaon in his Emunot Vede’ot Sha’ar 7).

Rambam disagrees with this whole system. He cannot accept that physical life is a reward. After all perfection to him is when man perfects his mind and apprehends the transcendental and non-physical. Why would return to the physical, be seen as a reward, once the higher levels of apprehension have been attained? To the contrary, as we saw in the last post, Rambam sees OH as the ultimate attainment and therefore a non-physical existence. As usual, Rambam is clear in his categories and sees Mashiach, Olam Haba and Techyat Hametim as three distinct and unrelated concepts. Mashiach describes the evolution of humanity from barbarism to a utopian state of intellectual life. When man understands his role and what is expected of him, when emulating God becomes humanity’s main activity, Mashiach will have arrived. Nothing will change from the normal physical existence other than a perfected society of men. Olam Haba on the other hand, is a personal and intellectual achievement which we can all attain if we dedicate ourselves to understanding God and His ways. Techyat Hametim is a totally unrelated idea and has nothing to do with these two concepts. It is a belief that Rambam defines as a cornerstone of the religion and has to do with basic Jewish theology but not in the category of Reward and Punishment to which the other two belong. It belongs in the category of miracles. Explaining why he is not more expansive in Pirush Hamishna and in Mishne Torah on the subject of TH Rambam states:

אמנם תחיית המתים הוא אחד מהמופתים, ומבואר מאוד, שענינו מובן ואין שם אלא

להאמין בו לבד, כמו שבאתנו ההגדה האמיתית. והוא עניין יוצא חוץ לטבע

המציאות, ואין ראיה עליו מצד העיון. ואמנם ינהג מנהג הנפלאות כולם ויקובל

אין שם זולת זה. ומה היה לנו אפשר לומר בו או להאריך

TH is one of the miracles and is quite clear. The subject is well understood, as there is nothing else to do but believe it based on the true prophetic saying. [Rambam earlier wrote that the first mention of TH in Tanach is by Daniel, one of the last prophets. As we will see this is very important for understanding miracles.] It [TH] is something outside natural existence and cannot be logically proven. One can only treat as one treats all the wondrous things – accept it and nothing more. What was there for us to talk more at length about it?

Rambam thus believes that Daniel, the prophet who introduced first the idea of TH, was predicting a miraculous event that will happen at some time in the future where some dead will be resurrected. Daniel does not give a reason nor offers any context for this occurrence, just predicts a wondrous event.

וְרַבִּים, מִיְּשֵׁנֵי אַדְמַת-עָפָר יָקִיצוּ; אֵלֶּה לְחַיֵּי עוֹלָם, וְאֵלֶּה לַחֲרָפוֹת לְדִרְאוֹן עוֹלָם

2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to reproaches and everlasting abhorrence.

According to Rambam, the everlasting life or everlasting abhorrence in the verse will occur after these resurrected live a normal life and die.

Considering he has not added anything to what he already told us in his other writings, Rambam offers some additional points that may help understand this a little further. As we will see there is quite a bit of innovation in what he says and helps us understand his position on miracles.

First, he addresses the treatment of TH in Tanach. Besides the one verse in Daniel, there is no further unequivocal statement in Tanach that clearly states that the dead will be resurrected. All the verses state that once a person dies it is all over as far as the physical is concerned. Rambam answers this simply that all the prophets are talking about the natural way of the world. A person dies, his body returns to its elements. Daniel is predicting a future miraculous event. It has no impact in the normal day-to-day life of a person other than the need to accept the predictions of a prophet. Daniel predicted TH in context of his prophecy. However, denial of the possibility of miraculous events stems from not accepting the idea of creation from nothing. It assumes that God has no will and therefore the anomalies we observe in nature are not a result of His omniscience. That is why TH is considered a cornerstone of Jewish theology. I will come back to this later.

Secondly, he addresses the question, if TH is a cornerstone of Judaism, why does the Torah not mention it at all. Here Rambam makes a startling and counterintuitive point, at least to a contemporary reader.

והיו בני אדם כולם בזמן ההוא מכת הצאב"א, אומרים בקדמות העולם שהם היו

מאמינים שהשם רוח הגלגל, כמו שבארנו ב"מורה הנבוכים" ומכזיבים הגיע הנבואה

מאת השם לבני אדם. וכן יתחייב להם לפי אמונתם הכזבת המופתים, וייחסו אותו

לכישוף ולתחבולה.

People at that time all belonged to the Sabeans who believed that the world is eternal. They believed that God is the “spirit” of the sphere as we explained in the Moreh. [They believed that the First Cause and the world are concomitantly eternal. In other words, they denied that God created the world from nothing.] Their belief necessitates the denial of miracles ascribing them to magic or trickery.

The last sentence is fascinating. Those who believe in the eternal existence of the world are the ones who believe in magic. Those who accept creation from nothingness accept miracles and deny the existence of magic! What is the connection?

My next post will address this point and then I will return to the answer Rambam proposes to this second question.

On a personal note: I have read this treatise many times in the past. As with all Rambam’s writings I find that, every revisit inevitably brings a new insight. I never noticed the fascinating sentence I highlighted that says so much until yesterday morning as I was rereading it. The depth of thought of this great thinker is incredible. It is no wonder that it is an accepted rule that Rambam has to be read with just as much care as the Gemara. (Yad Malachi Kelalei Harambam 3 in the name of the Migdal Oz.) Rambam himself confirms that in this treatise:

ולו היה אפשר לי לשית התלמוד כלו בפרק אחד, לא הייתי משים אותו בשניים

Had I been able to put all of the Talmud in one chapter I would not have done it in two.

שכל חיבורינו אמנם הם קב ונקי, ואין כוונתנו להגדיל גוף הספרים ולא לכלות

הזמן במה שלא יביא אל תועלת. ולזה כשנפרש, לא נפרש אלא מה שצריך לפירוש,

ובשיעור שיובן לבד.

For all our writings are clear and clean. We do not plan to increase the physical size of the books nor waste time on things that will not bring any benefit. Therefore when we explain something, we will only explain what is necessary as explanation and only enough for it to be understood.

Yaakov's Ladder - Ramban Deciphers the Metaphor.

Ramban when interpreting the metaphor of Yaakov’s ladder dream writes as follows - (my paraphrase/translation with comments in brackets)

והנה סלם מצב ארצה וראשו מגיע השמימה והנה מלאכי אלוהים
עולים ויורדים בו

הראהו בחלום הנבואה כי כל הנעשה בארץ נעשה על ידי המלאכים
והכל בגזרת עליון עליהם
, כי מלאכי אלוהים
אשר שלח ה' להתהלך בארץ לא יעשו
קטנה או גדולה עד שובם להתיצב על אדון כל הארץ לאמר לפניו התהלכנו
בארץ והנה יושבת
בשלוה או מלאה חרב ודם, והוא יצווה עליהם לשוב לרדת בארץ ולעשות דברו:והראהו כי הוא יתברך נצב על הסלם

He was shown in the prophetic dream that all that is done on earth is done by the angels, all a decree from on high. For God’s angels, who are sent by Him to walk the earth will not do anything, from the smallest to the biggest, until they return to stand in front of the Lord of the whole earth and report to Him. [They tell Him] whether she [the earth] is peaceful or full of swords and blood, and he will order them to return to earth and do His bidding. He also showed him [Yaakov] that He is on top of the ladder.

(For those who have not used Chavel’s original Hebrew edition of Ramban, I highly recommend it. Ramban is a master at using verses from Tanach as the basis for his sentences and ideas. Chavel refers each citation to its original source. Here the poetic language is based on Iyov 1 and 2).

Ramban has a different view of nature. As he explains many times in his writings, we are fooled when we think that because nature is repetitive, there are natural laws that govern everything. Ramban did not accept that there are natural laws at all. His understanding of how things operate is that everything is governed by stars. God gave over to the stars the power to decide how things work. Every occurrence we see, whether when we lift our finger or when a leaf falls, every occurrence is caused by the external influence of a star. There is in general a predictive quality to how things will go, but that is only because the forces generated by the stars have set things in motion and they, the stars, have decided not to interfere or change. Should they arbitrarily decide to interfere those things will not happen. The “souls” of the stars, the “thinking” element in them, are the angels and are represented in this dream as climbing to report to God. (See Ramban Devarim 18:9- ועשה עוד על הכוכבים והמזלות מנהיגים מלאכים ושרים שהם נפש להם)

The point is that the stars themselves, though generally left to their own machinations, do so only because God allows it. Should He decide to change the rules, He will. (For an in-depth discussion of Ramban’s position on this and the underlying thinking, see this article http://hakirah.org/Vol%202%20Buchman.pdf by R. Asher Benzion Buchman in Hakirah vol. 2). This understanding of how the world operates, though foreign and viewed as magical and absurd by contemporary intelligent people, was however the view of Ramban’s contemporaries in Catholic Europe, forced on them by their lack of understanding of the physical sciences. The point of the dream was to tell Yaakov that although in the natural order of things, God leaves it to the stars (angels), a person can remove himself from their control and be placed under God’s direct oversight and protection.

ומבטיחו ליעקב בהבטחה גדולה
להודיע שהוא לא יהיה ביד המלאכים אבל יהיה חלק ה' ויהיה עמו תמיד
כמו שאמר והנה אנכי עמך ושמרתיך בכל אשר תלך
כי מעלתו גדולה משאר הצדיקים שנאמר בהם
תהלים צא יא) כי מלאכיו יצווה לך לשמרך בכל דרכיך: )

He offered Yaakov a great promise telling him that he will not depend on the angels. He will belong to HKBH who will be with him always. As He told him, [the following verse] I am with you and I will protect you wherever you go. For his [Yaakov’s] status is greater than all the Tzadikkim [righteous] about whom it is said He will send His angels to protect you in all your ways.

Although even the righteous remain under the direction of the angels, the thinking part of the stars who report to God and can be ordered not to harm him, special great Tzadikkim who cleave to HKBH bypass this array of intermediaries and fall under God’s direct oversight. In other words, Ramban argues that Divine Providence is also only available to the very righteous. There is no Hashgacha Pratit on every individual human being. Ramban is consistent as he also tells us in Breishit 18:19 –

ירמוז, כי ידיעת השם שהיא השגחתו בעולם השפל, היא לשמור הכללים

[The verse saying that God “knows” Avraham] indicates that God’s knowledge, which is identical with his Hashgacha [providence – oversight] on the lower world, is only to protect the generalities [groups and the whole].

וגם בני האדם מונחים בו למקרים עד בא עת פקודתם

Even people are left in it [the world] to chance until their time [of death] comes.

אבל בחסידיו ישום אליו לבו לדעת אותו בפרט, להיות שמירתו דבקה בו תמיד, לא תפרד
הידיעה והזכירה ממנו כלל

But to His devotees, He makes it a point [literally puts His heart on them] to know each in detail, so that His protection is with each at all times, [His] knowledge and remembrance of them is never separated from them.

This idea of Ramban is repeated in many of his theological writings and is an interesting study of how the early Spanish Kabbalah understood the world’s workings and God’s place in it.

Although he agrees with Rambam that Divine Providence is dependent on the state of perfection of the individual, the mechanism of Divine Providence is completely different in Ramban’s world. We saw that to Rambam, Divine Providence is a natural consequence that results from the insight and knowledge acquired by the prophet when he understands the natural functioning of the universe from God’s perspective. Ramban’s world does not have a self-functioning natural order. It either is a directed system controlled indirectly by God via the stars or, in the case of the very righteous, controlled directly by God. The protection the righteous gets is not a result of his decision and action but rather, if the decision and action are made with the proper intention, God makes sure that no evil befalls him. Ramban can therefore see nature as a continuous miracle unnoticeable when things happen repetitively as predicted and noticeable when they deviate from the norm. Both, the normal and the abnormal are actively controlled by non-physical forces. The spiritual world is very much a reality. Magic is deeply entwined in the makeup of the universe. It is man’s goal to bypass this array of magical forces by submitting himself to God’s will. That is done through the Mitzvot, through offerings (Korbanot) and prayers, through meditative attachment to God.

So what is Ramban’s understanding of the Mitzvah to go in God’s ways? It cannot mean emulating Him and partaking in nature. Nature after all is not consistent. It is always dependent on God’s direct or indirect direction.

I will address this in my next post.

Note:

The purpose of this discussion is to clarify to myself and to my readers the basic positions of these two great thinkers. The current mainstream Jewish Hashkafah on Divine Providence is not compatible with Rambam’s thought. Rambam has influenced our Hashkafah greatly in many areas such as the incorporeality of God and in general, his 13 Ikkarim have been accepted though with many modifications and misinterpretations. Rambam is not accepted in the area of Providence. As Ramban’s approach is the one that has evolved (note that I use the word evolved rather than basis for) into the current thinking, it is important to understand it. In writing this post, I have clarified to myself several little points in Ramban’s thinking that I had misunderstood until now. I hope my readers will benefit too.

Ramban on Hashgacha Pratit - Individual Providence.

As discussed in earlier posts http://yediah.blogspot.com/2007/01/acquiring-providence-arduous-task-part_11.html Rambam understands Hashgacha to be a function of a person getting close to God by learning His ways and, emulating them and thus partaking in His running of the universe and its inhabitants. Clearly only those who apprehend God enjoy this special status, each to his level, while those who do not are subject to the laws of nature and chance.

Surprisingly Ramban seems to be saying the same thing. Especially in his Pirush on Iyov 36:7, after explaining his position in words that echo Rambam in MN 3:18 and 51, he ends by saying that the Rav (Rambam) explained this well in his Sefer Hamoreh. (I could not find this Ramban online. I suggest that the reader look it up as I will be addressing it indirectly throughout this post.)

Ramban first lays out his position in Breishis 18:19 on the verse:
יט כִּי יְדַעְתִּיו, לְמַעַן אֲשֶׁר יְצַוֶּה אֶת-בָּנָיו וְאֶת-בֵּיתוֹ אַחֲרָיו, וְשָׁמְרוּ דֶּרֶךְ יְהוָה, לַעֲשׂוֹת צְדָקָה וּמִשְׁפָּט--לְמַעַן, הָבִיא יְהוָה עַל-אַבְרָהָם, אֵת אֲשֶׁר-דִּבֶּר, עָלָיו.
19 For I have known him, to the end that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of the LORD, to do righteousness and justice; to the end that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which He hath spoken of him.'

רמב"ן בראשית פרק יח פסוק יט

והנכון בעיני שהיא ידיעה בו ממש. ירמוז, כי ידיעת השם שהיא השגחתו בעולם השפל, היא לשמור הכללים. וגם בני האדם מונחים בו למקרים עד בא עת פקודתם. אבל בחסידיו ישום אליו לבו לדעת אותו בפרט, להיות שמירתו דבקה בו תמיד, לא תפרד הידיעה והזכירה ממנו כלל. כטעם לא יגרע מצדיק עיניו (איוב לו ז). ובאו מזה פסוקים רבים, כדכתיב (תהלים לג יח) הנה עין ה' אל יראיו, וזולת זה:

Paraphrasing:

Knowing Avraham is meant literally. God’s knowledge of the world manifests itself in His watching over the generalities. People are also left to chance until their time of judgment arrives[1]. As to His righteous, he watches over every detail of their life constantly, He never takes His attention from them keeping them in mind always. He proceeds to bring proof texts one of which is the Passuk in Iyov I mentioned earlier.

Ramban thus agrees that only the righteous deserve personal Hashgacha. However we have to remember Ramban’s worldview and his understanding of nature and chance. To him nature is a front for reality. Reality is the constant interference of either the stars as servants of God in the day-to-day occurrences in the lives of the general population or God himself in the lives of the righteous Jews. The stars do not react to good deeds; they are indifferent and act according to their own agenda. God on the other hand is a just judge and rewards those that serve Him well by keeping His Mitzvot. Punishment means reverting to the control of the stars. To Ramban, science is the study of the recurring phenomenon. The fact that things seem to run in a pattern is deceiving. At any moment things can and may change without reason. Science is therefore a very mediocre way of understanding nature, how things are being run and predicting future events. Metaphysics which includes necromancies, magic and all spiritual studies as well as the knowledge of God, are the real sciences (magic and necromancies forbidden by the Torah although they are real and work). He therefore comments in his Torat Hashem Temimah (page 155 Chavel Hebrew edition) that the amount of hard work needed to learn sciences is not worth the effort. There is therefore no direct cause and effect between man’s action and Providence. Good and bad things that happen to a person do not relate directly and result from his actions. There is only an indirect relationship. Just by acknowledging God by keeping his Mitzvot[2], man is thrown under His direct aegis and no harm can befall him miraculously. It is when man forgets to acknowledge God that he reverts to the control of the stars and chance. That is the meaning of God knowing Avraham. Avraham having chosen to follow God’s ways came under His direct protection.

Thus in the context of the verse, this statement of knowing Avraham has two meanings. In addition to protecting Avraham and his family from the forthcoming cataclysm because of his way of life, God also wants to share the destruction of Sodom with him because He knows that he will learn and teach his children God’s ways.

רמב"ן בראשית פרק יח פסוק יח[3]

כי ידעתי בו שהוא מכיר ויודע שאני ה' אוהב צדקה ומשפט, כלומר, שאני עושה משפט רק בצדקה, ולכך יצוה את בניו וביתו אחריו לאחוז דרכי

By being part of this process, observing even partaking in God’s cogitation, Avraham will learn how God acts towards Sodom and teach this insight to his children. It is not by contemplating nature but rather by experiencing God’s direct involvement that one learns His ways. Although the destruction of Sodom seems to be a natural event, Avraham is made privy to the reality that God is involved constantly and acts justly rewarding the good (Avraham) by protecting them and punishing the evil. God’s justice is further highlighted by the way He arrives at His verdict during His discussions with Avraham. That is the lesson that Avraham will pass on to his children.

A careful read of Ramban in Iyov highlights the difference between these two giants. Although Ramban paraphrases Rambam, he subtly adapts him to fit his own understanding of how the world is run. After explaining that those who are close to God are protected, he addresses the fact that at war soldiers are called up, the fearful are sent home and all the preparations before battle we see in Tanach. After all if they are following God’s orders why do they need to prepare themselves? Who needs armies? This question could only be asked if natural events are really miraculous and cannot be predicted. Ramban in fact answers that the only reason these preparations are needed is because most people cannot be constantly in touch with God. Had they been they would have won all battles with their bare hands and minimal numbers. In Rambam's worldview this question would not even come up.

Although both Ramban and Rambam agree that only the righteous are subject to God’s providence, they have two different ideas of what providence is. Rambam sees it as an understanding of nature and God’s ways where the good outcome is a direct result of one’s actions. Ramban sees it as the indirect result of following God’s Mitzvot which when followed properly makes one acknowledge God’s existence and miraculous ways in running things. One who does this is rewarded by falling under God’s direct aegis and from then on all is miraculous. The implications of these two different outlooks are far reaching and cover almost every aspect of Judaism from prayer to Ta’amei Hamitzvot. (I will address Rambam’s reading of the verse in Breishit 18:19 in a future post as this one is already much too long.)

As I compare Rambam to Ramban in these areas, I am again amazed and puzzled at why Ramban’s approach has nowadays become mainstream Judaism while Rambam is relegated to a few intellectuals. One would think that with the advances in sciences and the better understanding of how our universe operates, Rambam’s view would prevail. I guess it is easier to believe that by being meticulous in rituals, following every Chumra, one buys a ticket into God’s club rather than taking responsibility for one’s actions and their direct consequences.










[1] Exactly the meaning of these last two words is a little unclear.
[2] The purpose of keeping Mitzvot is just that – acknowledging God. (See the last Ramban in Parshat Bo quoted in my earlier post).
[3] The following quote is just the pertinent segment in a different interpretation of this verse.

Of Rocks, Water and Miracles.

This week’s Parsha does not lack interesting stories and one could spend a whole year just analyzing Kryat Yam Suf, Mann, Amalek, the “sweet wood” and the “Water Rock”. I would like to focus in on the latter.

The people were about to enter the desert and were quite restless and concerned first regarding the availability of food and then about the lack of water. They were still uncomfortable with Moshe and as I quoted Rashba in my earlier post http://yediah.blogspot.com/2007/01/skepticism-is-jewish-thing-and-healthy.html
they remained skeptical of his abilities until Sinai. Responding to the quasi uprising, God told Moshe to go find a rock at Chorev and hit it with the staff he used in Egypt and water will flow. That is the plain reading of the story. As with every story in Chumash, there is much more than meets the eye. I would like to focus on this verse: (Shemot 17:6)

ו הִנְנִי עֹמֵד לְפָנֶיךָ שָּׁם עַל-הַצּוּר, בְּחֹרֵב, וְהִכִּיתָ בַצּוּר וְיָצְאוּ מִמֶּנּוּ מַיִם, וְשָׁתָה הָעָם; וַיַּעַשׂ כֵּן מֹשֶׁה, לְעֵינֵי זִקְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל.
6 Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Chorev; and thou shall smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it that the people may drink.' And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.

Since when does God stand on a rock? What does this mean? It behooves us to try to understand what standing means when referred to God. The usage of the word Tzur translated as Rock is also intriguing. Rambam addresses the latter in MN 1:16:

“THE word Tzur (rock) is a homonym. First, it denotes "rock," as "And thou shall smite the rock" (Tzur) (Exod. xvii. 6).”

Clearly the word is understood literally as a physical rock. However a rock takes on a central role in a different context: (Shemot 33:21)

כא וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה, הִנֵּה מָקוֹם אִתִּי; וְנִצַּבְתָּ, עַל-הַצּוּר.
21 And the LORD said: 'Behold, there is a place by Me, and thou shall stand upon the rock.

In Moshe’s quest for an understanding of God he is told to stand on a rock (See Ramban ad locum[1]). In this context how does Moshe’s standing on a rock promote his understanding of God? Rambam addresses this in MN1:16:

“It is next employed to signify the quarry from which the stones are hewn; comp. "Look unto the rock (Tzur) whence ye are hewn" (Yeshayahu 51:1). From this latter meaning of the term another figurative notion was subsequently derived, meaning “the root and origin" of all things… It is in the latter sense that the Almighty is called "rock," He being the origin and the efficient cause of all things besides Himself… Again, "And thou shall stand upon the Rock" (Exod. xxxiii. 21), i.e., be firm and steadfast in the conviction that God is the source of all things, for this will lead you towards the knowledge of the Divine Being. We have shown (chap. viii.) that the words "Behold, a place is with me" (Exod. xxxiii. 21) contain the same idea.”

In his quest for an understanding of God, Moshe is told to contemplate Him as the source of everything. The way I understand it is that El Shaday is the apprehension of God as First Cause. By analyzing cause and effect in nature one arrives at an Entity, referred to as El Shaday, that only causes but is not the effect of a cause. Tzur, on the other hand, is the contemplation of the effects caused by this Entity, in other words God’s creation. It is through that contemplation that one can learn of God’s ways and emulate them. At that same event Moshe was asking for guidance on how to lead the people[2] and also asked to know God’s essence. He was told that this type of contemplation is productive in understanding how to lead. In addition it is also a contemplation of what God is not which is the closest one can come to God. All we observe about our existence and surroundings are God’s creations, not His essence. When God said to Moshe “Behold there is a place by Me” must therefore not be understood literally. God has no place and in the context a physical place seems quite irrelevant at least at first blush. In MN 1:8 Rambam explains:

“But you must understand that the word makom has the same signification in the passage "Behold, a place (makom) is with me" (Exod. xxxiii. 26). It signifies a rank in theoretical speculation and in the contemplation of the intellect – not that of the eye; this being in addition to its literal meaning alluding to a local place that was to be found on that mountain on which the separation and the achievement of perfection came to pass.”

Rambam understands the verse to mean that Moshe was directed into the type of speculation and contemplation that I described earlier. Rambam does not negate the literal meaning of place. On the contrary in this context there is a need for isolation when one speculates about these issues. The words thus have a double meaning. Moshe was told to go to a place, a rock, and in his isolation, contemplate whence everything came from and who caused it to be. That is the meaning of speculating about “rank”, the First or highest in the system of cause and effect.

The word Omed as in our verse הִנְנִי עֹמֵד לְפָנֶיךָ שָּׁם עַל-הַצּוּר, בְּחֹרֵבwhich literally means stand has several additional meanings and we need to figure out which fits in the context. In MN 1:12, Rambam suggests it means getting up in contrast to sitting down. This is a literal variant of standing. When used in reference to god in this context, it implies what we perceive as action – changing from apparent inactivity to activity. In MN1:13 he suggests that when it is used in the context of God, it should be seen as permanence. When someone moves one changes constantly while standing in contrast can be seen as permanence, no longer changing. In MN 1:15 he compares Omed to Nitzav as in וְנִצַּבְתָּ, עַל-הַצּוּר which we saw earlier, means that Moshe is entreated to be firm and steadfast.

“The phrase "stood upon it" indicates the permanence and constancy of God, and does not imply the idea of physical position. This is also the sense of the phrase "Thou shall stand upon the rock" (Exod. xxxiii. 21). It is therefore clear that Nitzav and ‘amad are identical in this figurative signification. Comp. "Behold, I will stand (‘Omed) before thee there upon the rock in Chorev" (Exod. xvii. 6).”

Both Omed and Nitzav in the context of these verses cannot refer to a physical position. The interesting point here is the comparison. Although ostensibly one verse refers to Moshe and the other to God, they both mean the same thing. In both cases it is Moshe who apprehends God as permanent and constant.

Coming back to our story, where Moshe is confronted with the dilemma of a whole people going into the desert without water, he realizes that the solution is in finding an anomaly in nature to solve the problem. The Mishna in Avot 5:5 enumerates the ten things that were created Friday afternoon, the last day of Creation. All are unusual natural events, each being unique occurring once in History. Among those listed is the “Well” which the Rabbis connect with this event. This was when Moshe discovered the unique anomaly that kept them watered during their sojourn in the desert[3]. Another one listed in the Mishna is the Mann, another unique anomaly that kept them fed during the same sojourn. The Mishna is telling us that these anomalies were embedded in nature at Creation, discovered and taken advantage of by Moshe at the appropriate time, an outlook on miracles that I have discussed many times. As Moshe made these discoveries, he internalized not only the physical but also just as importantly, the ontological aspects of this anomaly. He apprehended a greater understanding of God, how He has structured the natural world and His relation to it.

Interestingly, although coming from a completely different perspective regarding the essence of nature, Ramban makes a comment that is quite similar. (This was brought to my attention by R. Koppel Schwartz in his Yekev Ephraim; in fact his comment got me thinking resulting in this post).
רמב"ן שמות פרק יז פסוק ו

(ו) הנני עומד לפניך שם על הצור בחורב - בעבור כי הפלא במים במקום הזה עתה היה קבוע, שיהיה הבאר עמהם כל ימי המדבר כדברי רבותינו (במדב"ר יט כה), בעבור זה נגלית עליו השכינה במקום ההוא, כמו שאמר במן (לעיל טז ז) ובקר וראיתם את כבוד ה', בעבור היותו פלא קיים:

Just as the Mann, an anomaly that existed for 40 years, made people realize that God is the creator, so too the continuity of the other anomaly, the supply of water, did the same. Ramban also understands the appearance of God on the rock as something that people apprehend and not an actual placement. The interesting thing though is that Ramban sees the word Omed as referring to the longevity of the anomaly, which to him is identical with God’s presence. Constantly seeing the wondrous keeps God in front of one’s eyes. He has a different take than Rambam but in a similar thought process.



[1] רמב"ן שמות פרק לג פסוק כא

(כא) הנה מקום אתי - בהר הזה אשר שכינתי שם:
ונצבת על הצור - שהוא בהר, כמו שנאמר (לעיל יז ו) הנני עומד לפניך שם על הצור בחורב:
Ramban notices the word Hatzur which indicates a specific rock and also connotes familiarity with it. There is no evidence that Rambam agrees with that. The choice of this homonym is intriguing.

[2]
יג וְעַתָּה אִם-נָא מָצָאתִי חֵן בְּעֵינֶיךָ, הוֹדִעֵנִי נָא אֶת-דְּרָכֶךָ, וְאֵדָעֲךָ, לְמַעַן אֶמְצָא-חֵן בְּעֵינֶיךָ; וּרְאֵה, כִּי עַמְּךָ הַגּוֹי הַזֶּה.
13 Now therefore, I pray Thee, if I have found grace in Thy sight, show me now Thy ways, that I may know Thee, to the end that I may find grace in Thy sight; and consider that this nation is Thy people.'

[3] It goes against my grain to conjecture what the anomaly could be. My first thought was an underground aquifer, but that would not be an anomaly. Maybe the access to it could be. I prefer however to leave both the Be’er and the Mann as mysteries.

Miracles as human psyche - a possible understanding of Rambam.

I was reading an article by Professor Tzvi Langerman and he brought to my attention two interesting comments by Rambam on free will and prophecy. In Shemona Perakim chapter 8 he discusses why Pharaoh was punished although the Torah repeats several times that God hardened his heart. He explains that part of punishment is the temporary removal of free will just as Yerovam had his hand paralyzed and the people of Sodom’s eyesight were removed. The way I understand removal of free will is that one becomes so entrenched in a position that he cannot see any other possibility. Pharaoh was so committed to thwarting the exodus of the Jews that he could not conceive changing direction. No amount of logical argument could sway him. How does that compares to Yerovam who’s hand was frozen and paralyzed stretched out towards the prophet who foretold the demise of his brand of religion (see Melachim 1:13)? How does it compare with the blindness of the people of Sodom?

It gets more intriguing when we read Rambam in MN 2:32, where he explains his understanding of prophecy that it is the result of study and contemplation following preparations in self-improvement. Theoretically anyone that goes through the proper preparatory regime prophesizes however not everyone does. He explains it as follows:

“For we believe that, even if one has the capacity for prophecy, and has duly prepared himself, it may yet happen that he does not actually prophesy. It is in that case the will of God [that withholds from him the use of the faculty]. According to my opinion, this fact is as exceptional as any other miracle, and acts in the same way. For the laws of Nature demand that every one should be a prophet, who has a proper physical constitution, and has been duly prepared as, regards education and training. If such a person is not a prophet, he is in the same position as a person who, like Jeroboam (1 Kings Xiii.), is deprived of the use of his hand, or of his eyes, as was the case with the army of Syria, in the history of Elisha (2 Kings Vi. 18).”

First note how he replaces the Sodom people with the camp of Aram (Syria). But even more striking is his seeing the withholding of prophecy as a miracle comparing it to the paralysis of Yerovam’s hand. He goes on to explain that the withholding of prophecy is a natural result of outside circumstances. In this chapter he touches on it and in MN 2:36 he expands:

“Imagination is certainly one of the faculties of the body. You find, therefore, that prophets are deprived of the faculty of prophesying when they mourn, are angry, or are similarly affected. Our Sages say Inspiration does not come upon a prophet when he is sad or languid. This is the reason why Jacob did not receive any revelation during the period of his mourning, when his imagination was engaged with the loss of Joseph. The same was the case with Moses, when he was in a state of depression through the multitude of his troubles, which lasted from the murmurings of the Israelites in consequence of the evil report of the spies, till the death of the warriors of that generation.”

What is common to all these examples is the human psyche element. Just like Pharaoh’s hardening of the heart can be seen as his entrenchment in an untenable position, so too can we understand Yerovam’s frozen hand as the result of internal conflicts. The Gemara in Sanhedrin 101 – 102 depicts Yerovam as a very complex person with many virtues. The Rabbis discuss in detail what did him in. As usual they were able to discern ambiguity in the way the story in Tanach relates to him.

Similarly the blindness of either Sodom people or Aram could be seen as the result of possibly some kind of hypnotic state brought about by the angels or the prophet (Elisha). The army of Aram that came to take Elisha followed him blindly to Shomron. Somehow Elisha convinced them to follow him. In the case of the sodomites it would seem that Rambam had a similar point of view. Especially as we know Rambam sees that whole episode with Lot and the angels as Avraham’s prophetic dream. That makes it even more telling that even in a prophetic dream Avraham saw the blindness as a natural event.

Rambam is consistent minimizing miracles wherever he can. Where did the hagiography that we hear so much about nowadays about great Tzadikkim and Talmidei Chachamim performing miracles that would put Moshe’s to shame come from? Even Rambam has suffered from this malaise as he is depicted in popular literature.