Shabbat Chol HaMoed Sukkot - 5786

Shabbat Chol HaMoed Sukkot - 5786

Rabbi Hal Miller

  He said, behold I seal a covenant, before your entire people I shall make 'niflaot'

  such as have never been created in the entire world and among all the nations, and

  the entire people among whom you are will see the work of God, which is awesome,

  that I am about to do with you. [Shemot 34:10]

What are these 'niflaot' that God promises to make before Israel? The usual translation of the word is 'wonders', but what is the Torah referring to here?

Torah Temimah and Rav Soloveitchik both translate the words as wonders. The Rav adds that the greatest miracle or wonder of all is "the Jewish people's steadfast commitment to the Torah and the preservation of the nation's identity through its study for thousands of years." Rav Hirsch calls them 'miracles' and says "These will be direct creations, evident by their having no connection with ordinary physical causes."

Our understanding is that everything was created in the original six days, with a massive creation from nothing followed by an assembly of things from that initial creation, and that nothing was created after that. How could there now be new creations mentioned here that had never existed before?

Because of this, some commentators translate the word differently. Rashi says "'niflaot' is related to 'v'niflinu', that we will be set apart, that you will be separated in this respect from all nations in that My Shechinah shall not rest upon them." Thus he calls the word 'distinctions'. Rashbam agrees, saying the word refers to God giving Moshe and the people "a mark of distinction", from Shemot [33:16], "I and Your people will be made distinct". Ramban also ties it to that verse and continues by arguing against those who call the word 'wonders', saying "it is not sound to interpret 'niflaot' that God is promising to perform with Israel now 'wonders such as have never been created in the entire world and among all the nations' because after this, no wonders were performed for them greater than what was performed for them in Egypt and at the sea. Rather the matter alludes to the dwelling of the Divine Presence among them and its being with Moshe."

The way to reconcile the two approaches would be to assume that God has a "bag of tricks" so to speak, wonders that He created but has not yet implemented in the world. We could include the pit that swallowed up Korach and his gang, the talking donkey of Bilaam, and probably some other things that seemed at the time to come out of nowhere, and say they all existed although not within our purview. The Rashi/Ramban approach seems to tie in to other verses a little better, but either way could be understood in the Torah.