Reply To: Short & Sweet

Bo: Emunah Always

The Ramban at the end of this weeks parsha asks, why are so many of the mitzvos זכר ליציאת מצרים?

He explains that some believe that Hashem created the world, but think that He no longer controlled it. Through the ten makkos, Hashem proved not only that He exists, but that He controls everything that happens, and nobody else does.

But the makkos were a long time ago. With time, people might forget that everything that happens is from Hashem. That is why we need so many mitzvos, to remind us that Hashem runs the world.

The Ramban then takes this a step further. He writes that the purpose of the נסים המופרסמים, the obvious miracles, is that we should recognize that what we think of as “nature” is in fact נסים נסתרים, no less miraculous just because it happens more often.

Water to turning blood is obviously the hand of Hashem; but that ought to remind us that Hashem gives us water every day. Why should we consider one to be more miraculous than the other?

The Ramban goes so far as to write:
‎אין לאדם חלק בתורת משה רבינו עד שנאמין בכל דברינו ומקרינו שכולם נסים אין בהם טבע ומנהגו של עולם.

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