רמב''ן על הניסים

EL SHAKAI. These are 2 [distinct divine] names, each one being an independent descriptive term. "El" means "Powerful", like "the powers (אלי) of Moav." Shadai means: Rashi says that שיש (there are) די (enough) means in His Divinity [to sustain] every creature. In Moreh Nevuchim, the Rambam explains [Shadai] That is to say that He has no need for the existence of any existing thing, nor for anything outside Himself or His own continued existence; rather, His existence is self sufficient. Ibn Ezra quoting the Nagid, may his memory be blessed explains [Shadai], from the root שודד ("vanquisher"), meaning the He triumphs over and vanquishes the Heavenly constellations. This is the best explanation, for it [refers to G-d's] Attribute of Strength, which guides the world, which the Rabbis call "The Attribute of Justice of Below." The reason this name is written here is that it is through [this Name] that hidden miracles happen to the righteous, to "save their souls from death and sustain them in famine" and to "redeem them from the sword in war," like all the wonders performed for Avram and the other forefathers, and like the other occurrences in the Torah, in the Torah-portion "Im Bechukotai" (Leviticus Chap. 10) and "Vehayah Ki Tavo" (Deuto. Chap. 28), in the blessings and curses [in those chapters] for all these are [hidden] miracles. Because its not natural that the rains should come at the right time when we serve G-d, nor the heavens [dry] as iron when we sow [produce] in the Seventh Year, and similarly for all promises in the Torah. Rather, all these are miracles, and in all these cases the array of the constellations is overpowered by G-d, except there is no [noticeable] change from the natural course of the world in these [miracles], like the miracles performed through Moses in the Ten Plagues and Splitting of the Sea, the manna, the Well and others, which were wonders that changed nature in an obvious manner. [Those miracles] are brought upon by the Unique Name (the tetragrammaton) which [G-d] told [Moses]. That's why [G-d] told Avram now that He is "the Powerful One Who Conquers the Forces of Nature" [The use of this name showed] that [Avram] would overcome his natural fat and have children, and there would be a covenant between [G-d] and [Avram's] descendants forever [to the effect] that His people (Israel) would be the portion of G-d, [meaning] He would guide them by His will that they too, wouldn't be in the control of the stars and constellations. WALK BEFORE ME. [Means:] "to walk in the path on which I shall instruct you." Like the meaning of "You shall follow the L-rd, your G-d, fear Him" For the One Who commands to follow to His way before He instructs him, will say, "Walk 'before' me" [but when the demand for compliance] comes after he command, [He] says "'After' Hashem, Your G-d you should walk" The meaning of both is "to follow G-d, to fear only Him and to do whatever He commands." AND BE PERFECT. [This is] a separate additional command in this matter. like the meaning, "you shall be wholehearted (תמים )with Hashem your G-d" (Deuto. 18:13) written after "There shall not be found among you… a soothsayer, a diviner of [auspicious] times, one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer," The meaning of both these expressions is that one should believe in his heart that G-d alone is all-Powerful One at the beginning and end, He alone is capable of putting [events] into action and annulling [events], and not listen to cloud- readers, diviners, omen readers or sorcerers, and not believe that their words will surely come true. Rather he should conclude with certainty in his heart that everything's in the hand of the Most Superior One, Who is El (the mighty one) and Shadai (the One Who overrides natural fate) Who can do kindness even when not in ones fate, and bring evil when the persons fate is good and favorable, [all] in accordance with the extent to which the person has walked before Him. "Who frustrates the signs of imposters, and diviners He makes mad." This is what the Rabbis meant "Abandon your astrology, etc.!" (Shabbat 156a). Rashi learns "be perfect" as, be complete in all your trials. Ibn Ezra says that He should not ask what the purpose if circumcision was. like the meaning of "May my heart be innocent (תמים )in Your statutes." But the correct is what I have explained.

God spoke to Moses and said to him, “I am the LORD.

I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as El Shaddai, but I did not make Myself known to them by My name יהוה.

God appeared to the Patriarchs as the Prime Mover behind all natural events. His miracles were apparent to them without recourse to violating the natural order. In times of famine He redeemed them from death and in war from the sword and provided them with wealth and honor and every good thing. These things, like all the promises in the Torah of blessing and curse, are not meted out to a man as his due, as a reward for good deeds and punishment for sin. They constitute miracles (of Divine grace). Man's own deeds do not automatically give rise to favorable effects or otherwise. But the reward and punishment alluded to in the Torah in this world are in the nature of miracles, hidden ones which the onlookers regard as the workings of nature. But in reality they are the providential allocation of reward and punishment.

God said to Moses: I appeared to the Patriarchs as One who assists His chosen ones through the might of my hand (but without violating nature). By My ineffable name expressing the essence of all existence (Exodus 3:14) I was not known to them to introduce innovations changing the natural course of events. Therefore tell the Children of Israel that I am the Lord and let them know My great name through which I shall perform for them wonders that they may know that I am the Lord who does these things.

“And so it shall be as a sign upon your hand and as a symbol on your forehead that with a mighty hand the LORD freed us from Egypt.”

And for frontlets (totafot) between your eyes: This word does not have a known family (meaning etymologically it has no relation to any other word), but the masters of language (linguists) have thought to relate it to the expression, "and speak (hatef) to the South" (Ezekiel 21:2), "and my word would drip (titof) upon them" (Job 29:22) - which is a borrowed [usage] from "and from the mountains will drip (vehitifu) sweet wine" (Amos 9:13). [The verse is] saying that you should make the leaving of Egypt on your arm a sign and between your eyes a speech, that it should drip like dew upon its listeners. But our rabbis call something that is placed on one's head totafot, like they said (Shabbat 57a), "not with totafot and not with sanbutin." And Rabbi Abahu said (Shabbat 57a), "Which is totafot? [That which] surrounds from ear to ear." And they are the real masters of language, as they speak it and know it, and from them it is fitting to accept [their explanation]. And the verse says totafot (in the plural), and not totefet (in the singular) because they are [made up of] many compartments, as we have received [this tradition] about their form from our holy forefathers, who saw the prophets and the early ones making [them] like this all the way until Moshe, our teacher. And behold, the principle of this commandment is that we should place the written word of leaving Egypt on our arm and head, which correspond to the heart and the head that are the dwelling places of thought. And behold, we write the 'Kadesh' section (Exodus 13:1-10) and 'Vehaya ki yeviekha' (Exodus 13:11-17) in the totafot, because of this commandment that we have been commanded about them, to make the leaving of Egypt totafot between your eyes. And in the 'Shema' section (Deuteronomy 6:4-9) and 'Vehaya eem shemoa', (Deuteronomy 11:13-22), we are commanded that we also make the commandments totafot, as it is written (Deuteronomy 6:6), "And these words which I command you today shall be on your hearts and they will be totafot between your eyes." And therefore we write these two sections in the totafot, which are the commandment of unifying [God] and the memory of all of the commandments and their punishments and rewards and all of the basis for faith. And it stated about the one of the arm, "and it shall be a sign upon your arm, and they expounded upon it (Menachot 36b), "It is [on] the left [arm] towards which the heart veers." And according to the true path, that which the verse stated, "Because of this, did God do for me," is just like, "this is my God and I will adorn Him" (Exodus 15:2), to say that because of His name and His honor, did He do this for us and took us out of Egypt. "And this will be a sign" upon the forearm of your strength is like the explanation of "You are the glory of their strength" (Psalms 89:18). And behold, the sign is like the sign of circumcision and Shabbat. And because all is included in its general rule, our forefathers copied the sign on the hand from Moshe - from the mouth of the All powerful - that it be one compartment, as is the matter that the verse stated (Song of Songs 5:1), "my sister (achoti), my bride (kallah)," because it unifies (mitachedet) and is composed (kelullah) of thirty-two paths; and it is written (Song of Songs 2:6), "And his left is under my head." And it states, "and for a memory between your eyes," that he should place them on the place of memory between the eyes which is the beginning of the brain. And that is the beginning point of memory and where forms are stored after they separate from being in front of him. And the expression, "between your eyes," is that it be in the middle of the head and not to one side; or since there are [found] the roots of the eyes, and from there is seeing. And so [too] (Deuteronomy 14:1), "do not place a baldness between your eyes for the dead." And to explain this, it went back and stated, "and for totafot," to elucidate that the commandment is not between the eyes below, but [rather] at the top of the head are they placed, like totafot. And it states a plural expression, as there are many compartments, as we have received [in our tradition]. And now I will tell you a general rule about the explanation of many commandments. Behold, from the time of there being idolatry in the world - from the days of Enosh - the opinions about faith started to blur. Some of them deny the fundamental principle and say that the world is prior [to God's creation] and 'they rejected God and say, "It is not Him.'" And some reject His knowledge of particulars - 'And they say, "How can He know, and is there knowledge to the most High?"' And some of them concede His knowledge but reject His oversight, and 'they make man to be like the fish of the sea,' that God not supervise them and there not be punishments and reward with them at all - they say, '"The Lord has abandoned the Earth."' And when God favors a certain community or individual and does a wonder for them by changing the custom of the world and its nature, the nullification of these opinions becomes clear to everyone. As the amazing wonder teaches that there is a God in the world who innovated it, and knows and supervises and is able [to do whatever He wants]. And when this wonder is first proclaimed by the mouth of a prophet, the truth of prophecy also becomes clear from it - that God speaks with man and reveals His secret to His servants, the prophets. And with this, all of the Torah is established. And therefore the verse states about the wonders (Exodus 8:18), "so that you will know that I am the Lord in the midst of the Earth," to teach about [His] supervision, that He did not leave it to happenstance, as per their opinion. And it stated (Exodus 9:29), "so that you will know that to the Lord is the Earth," to teach about [His] innovation [of the Earth] - since they are His, as He created them from nothing. And it stated (Exodus 9:14), "in order that you will know that there is none like Me in the whole Earth," to teach about His ability, that He is the Decider about everything - there is no one that stops Him. As the Egyptians rejected or were in doubt about all of this. If so, the great signs and wonders were trustworthy witnesses about faith in the Creator and about the entire Torah. And since the Holy One, blessed be He, will not do a sign and wonder in each generation in front of the eyes of each evildoer or heretic, He commanded us that we should always make a memorial and a sign to that which our eyes saw. And we should copy this thing for our children, and their children for their children, and their children for the last generation. And [the Torah] was very strict about this, such that it made one liable for cutting off, for eating of chamets (Exodus 12:15), and for leaving the Pesach sacrifice (Numbers 9:13). And it required that we write all that was shown to us of signs and wonders upon our arms and upon our eyes, and also to write them at the entrances to houses in mezuzot. And [it required] that we mention it with our mouths, in the morning and in the evening, as the sages said (Berakhot 21a), "[The blessing that mentions the leaving of Egypt and begins,] 'true and solid' is [an obligation from] the Torah," from that which is written (Deuteronomy 16:3), "in order that you remember the day of your leaving the land of Egypt all the days of your life." And [it required] that we make a Sukkah booth every year. And so [too], many commandments in memory of the leaving of Egypt, are similar to these. And all of it is to be a testimony for us for all of the generations about the wonders, that they not be forgotten; and that there not be an opening for the heretic to speak and reject faith in God. As one who buys a mezuzah for one zuz and affixes it to his entrance and has intent for its matter, has already conceded to [God's] innovation [of the Earth] and to the knowledge of the Creator and His supervision, and also to prophecy. And [such a person] believes in all of the outlines of the Torah, besides conceding that the kindness of the Creator to those who do His will is very great - as He took us out of Egypt, from that slavery to freedom and great honor in the merit of their forefathers that desired to fear His name. And therefore they said (Avot 2:1), "Be careful with a light commandment as with a weighty one," since they are all very desirable and beloved - as through them a person concedes to his God all the time. And the intention of all the commandments is that we believe in our God and concede to Him that He is our Creator. And that is the intention of provenance, as we have no other explanation for the first provenance - and the highest God only desires the lower beings, so that man should know and concede to his God that He created him. And the intention of raising of the voice in prayer and the intention of synagogues and the merit of communal prayer is that there be a place for people to gather and concede to God that He created them and makes them exist, and to publicize this and to say in front of Him, "We are Your creatures." And this is the intention of what they said, may their memory be blessed (Yerushalmi Taanit 2:5), "'And they called to God with strength' (Jonah 3:8) - from here you learn that prayer requires [an audible] voice; the brazen is victorious over the timid (See Arukh's entry on chatzaf). And from the great public miracles, a person can [also] concede to hidden miracles, which constitute the foundation of the entire Torah. As a person does not have a share in the Torah of Moshe, our teacher, until we believe that all of the things and events we [encounter] are all miracles [and] there is no nature or custom of the world with them, whether with regard to the many or to the individual. But rather, if one does the commandments, his reward will bring him success and if the transgresses them, his punishment will cut him off - everything is the decree of the Most High, as I have already mentioned (Ramban on Genesis 17:1, and Exodus 6:2). And hidden miracles regarding the many become publicized when they come from the objectives of the Torah in [the form] of the blessings and the curses, as the verse stated (Deuteronomy 29:23-24), "All the nations will say, 'Why did the Lord do thus to this land?'[...] They will say, 'Because they forsook the covenant of the Lord, God of their fathers," such that it will be publicized to all of the nations that it is from the Lord, as their punishment. And regarding the fulfillment [of the commandments], it states (Deuteronomy 28:10), "And all of the peoples of the land will see that the name of the Lord is called upon you and they will fear from you.'" And I will explain this more with God's help (Ramban on Leviticus 26:11).

I will establish My abode in your midst, and I will not spurn you.