The philosopher Yeshayahu Leibowitz is renowned for downplaying the religious significance of God’s miracles. He argued that miracles, in and of themselves, appear to have little lasting effect on human beings, as evidenced by the episode of the Egel HaZahav—the golden calf—which occurred so soon after the revelation at Sinai. For Leibowitz, the true miracle lies not in divine intervention but in the human capacity for an affirmative response.

This idea finds expression in the following midrash:

“The Lord said to Moshe: ‘Tell the children of Israel to turn back and encamp before Pi-Hahirot’ (Exodus 14:2). Moshe said to them: ‘Turn back.’ When they heard the command to return, those of little faith began to pull out their hair and rend their garments. Moshe said to them: ‘From the Holy One it was said to me that you are free people.’” (Mechilta de-Rashbi 14:2, Epstein-Melamed ed., p. 48)

Even after God had led the people out of Egypt, their willingness to act on their newfound freedom remained fragile. Moshe had to remind them that redemption demanded not only divine action but human affirmation. Freedom required expression.

A similar theme appears in a derashah by Rabbi Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter, the Sefat Emet, on Shevi‘i shel Haḥag, the Seventh day of Pesah:

The essence of the miracle of Kriyat Yam Suf, the splitting of the sea, was that the Children of Israel merited it through their own actions. Their initial redemption from Egypt came by virtue of God’s promise to their ancestors. Thereafter, however, there arose a need for a second redemption—one grounded in their own faith. It was no small matter to “turn back,” for they surely understood that it might mean renewed enslavement to Pharaoh… Yet this is the meaning of “before Pi-Hahirot”—the very beginning of freedom. Through the miracle of the first day of Pesah, the Children of Israel learned how to act on their own behalf. Thus it is written: “The Lord saved Israel that day” (Exodus 14:30)—that He saved Israel together with them. (Sefat Emet, Pesah 5632, Or Etzion ed., p. 162b)

Even after liberation, the human being stands again at the edge of decision; hesitant, uncertain, tempted to retreat. Moshe’s command to “turn back” becomes, paradoxically, for the Sefat Emet, the moment in which freedom must be chosen. The true miracle is not the splitting of the sea, but the willingness to step forward into it. Each generation, and each individual, must learn anew that to be free is not merely to be taken out, to be spoon fed faith, but to respond, to act, and to affirm. In that sense, God’s saving of Israel is never a solitary act; it is always, as the Sefat Emet suggests, a saving accomplished together with them.

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)