S'mihat ha-Torah II

U-l'khol ha-otot v'ha-mophtim asher sh'laho ha-Sheim la-assot b'eretz mitzrayim l'pharoh u-l'khol avadav u-l'khol ha-yad ha-hazakah u-l'khol ha-mora ha-gadol asher assah moshe l'einei kol yisrael: B'reishit bara Eloqim et ha-shamayim v'et ha-aretz:

Above (Smihat ha-Torah I) we wrote how our master joined together, as if by well-fastened nails, the end of the Torah to its beginning. And he lifted his hand a second time to unite the structure to be a single entity. The Rambam writes (Y'sodei ha-Torah 8) that the children of Israel did not believe in Moshe because of the signs and wonders that he performed their eyes, for, inasmuch as such signs could have been performed by means of secret arts, magic, and sorcery, anyone who believes in signs is misguided. All the signs that Moshe performed were required not to confirm the prophecy of Moshe but because of external necessity. And they believed in Moshe only because they stood at Mount Sinai and saw with their own eyes the glory of the Eternal and heard with their own ears His words from the midst of the fire.

Now in Bereishit the Ramban writes that the reason the Torah begins with the words "In the beginning, G-d created the heaven and the earth," is to teach us that anyone who does not believe that the G-d of the Universe is the Creator of the mountains and the winds, but says that the universe came first denies the most basic tenet of faith and denies the Torah. Now one may ask that although we did indeed see with our own eyes and hear with our own ears that the Eternal gave the Torah on Mount Sinai, how can we know nevertheless with an irrefutable sign that He created the world and conducts it. For there is no way for us to know that He is the Creator except by seeing a miracle or sign that displaces nature inasmuch as only the One Who has the capacity to control nature and reverse the laws of creation could, as the philosophers and scientists have written, have the capacity to create the world, so that only that Being could be its Creator.

However, when G-d descended on Mount Sinai enveloped in His Glory and Majesty, and we heard His voice from the midst of the fire, and every individual attained the paths of life and knowledge of G-d, they then also understood that the Eternal is the G-d of the universe and that His hand reaches the heaven. For the souls of all Israel together as one were exalted up on high and they recognized at that moment the living G-d and their eyes saw the glory of the splendor of His greatness.

Now the signs and wonders that Moshe performed before Pharaoh and his servants were performed only to show them that there is a G-d that judges them in response to Pharaoh's question (Exodus 5:2): "Who is the L-rd that I should hearken to His voice." And this is the meaning of the verse: "for all the signs and wonders which the L-rd sent him to perform in the land of Egypt." These were performed only for Pharaoh and his servants and his people - that they should know that there is none like the L-rd our G-d and that the land and its fullness belong to the L-rd - but not for the children of Israel. The verse "and for all the mighty power and all the great and terrible deeds which Moshe wrought in the sight of all Israel" refers not to the signs and wonders in Egypt but instead to the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai where they saw the G-d of Israel revealed to them in all His glory and splendor and they all heard His voice from the midst of the fire from which they understood with perfect clarity that "in the beginning G-d created the heaven and the earth." At that moment they knew well and understood that the Eternal is the Creator of the heaven and the earth. And what need had they for signs or wonders?