Maamar HaIkarim by R. M.Ch. Luzzatto Chapter 9 - The Miracles


BS"D


Back to Chapter 8


Translated by Ralph Anzarouth and an anonymous friend



9. The Miracles


All created things came into being only because His blessed will decreed it. Similarly, all their rules and limitations have been imposed upon them only because His blessed Wisdom deemed that they were suitable for them. However, just as He imposed these rules at His will, He can also cancel or modify them as He wishes anytime He wants. Whatever He, blessed be His name, innovates in this world and which does not conform to the rules He has imposed on nature is called a "Nes" (miracle). The Lord, blessed be He, generally prefers to maintain nature subject to its laws, since after He has chosen it and brought it into effect, He certainly knows that this is the ideal system. However, He does not refrain from changing it whenever He wishes and for reasons known to Him.


On the other hand, it is possible that He will perform a miracle in order to proclaim the reality of His Providence and power. And it may be that He will do so because this is appropriate in specific circumstances. And this proclamation can take [three] possible ways: [the first is] that it will be understood and revealed through the event itself as it is generally perceived; [the second is understood] through the hidden parts and the Divine Providence which is in it; and [the third] is by means totally beyond our comprehension. And it is possible that the Holy One, blessed be He, will perform a miracle by the means of His close servants, in order to make known His special affection He has for them through the power He gives them to control Creation; and their power by which they will perform miracles and wonders will be in proportion to their level of closeness to Him, blessed be He.


One of the aspects of this topic is that the Lord blessed be He wishes to be called by various names, according to the secrets of His influence upon this world and the manner in which He guides it. And He desired and decreed that in pronouncing His holy names, their power will also produce many wonders in the world. He also separated and ordered these matters with wonderful wisdom and conferred special attributes in each name as His wisdom decreed to draw down these influences created by the mentioning of these names, and by way of which these wonders will be brought into being.


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Original text in Hebrew
Nostra traduzione in italiano - Our translation into Italian