"Beshalach — Part VI — Philosophical Architecture of Redemption"

6.2 — Ralbag’s To’alos Method: Why the Torah Records Miracles

Miracles That Teach, Not Impress

Ralbag approaches the miracles of Beshalach with a question that reshapes how Torah is read: Why does the Torah record miracles at all? If miracles are meant only to inspire awe, their educational value would fade as quickly as the emotion they generate. Ralbag insists that this cannot be the Torah’s intent.

Instead, miracles are recorded because they contain to’alos—enduring lessons meant to be extracted, studied, and applied. The Torah is not a chronicle of wonders, but a manual for training the human intellect and moral will.

Ralbag’s Core Principle: Events Are Instructional

Ralbag teaches that nothing in Torah narrative is ornamental. Every event, especially miraculous ones, exists to communicate structured truths about Hashem, the world, and human responsibility.

Miracles therefore function as interruptions with purpose. They momentarily suspend ordinary patterns in order to make those patterns intelligible. Once the lesson is conveyed, normal order resumes—because the goal was never permanent disruption, but understanding.

This explains why miracles are rare, limited, and often followed immediately by human obligation.

The Sea, the Manna, and the War as To’alos

Applying Ralbag’s method to Beshalach reveals a coherent educational sequence:

• The splitting of the Sea teaches that Hashem governs history and can override power structures when moral necessity demands it.
• The manna teaches dependence without passivity—daily effort within Divine provision.
• The war with Amalek teaches that responsibility does not disappear after revelation; it intensifies.

Each miracle contains a lesson that must be internalized. Once learned, the miracle steps back, leaving the responsibility behind.

Why Miracles Do Not Continue

Ralbag is explicit: if miracles were constant, they would undermine human development. A world that continually overrides causality would never produce wisdom, prudence, or moral agency.

This insight was anticipated narratively in Part II (Essay #19), where Ralbag explains that incidental harm does not negate providence. Here, the principle becomes methodological: miracles teach how the world works by briefly showing how it can be altered.

When miracles end, the lesson begins.

Intellectual Redemption

Ralbag’s to’alos method reframes redemption itself as an intellectual achievement. Freedom is not secured by escape from danger, but by correct interpretation of experience.

A redeemed people must learn:

• when to act
• when to wait
• when to trust
• when to take responsibility

Miracles clarify these distinctions, but only temporarily. Lasting redemption requires thought.

Torah as a Guide for the Mind

Under Ralbag’s approach, Torah narrative becomes a curriculum. The repetition of themes, the careful sequencing of events, and the withdrawal of miracles all train discernment.

This guards against two extremes:

• Superstition, which waits for intervention
• Secularism, which denies meaning altogether

Ralbag charts a middle path: a Divinely governed world that expects intelligent participation.

Why This Matters Now

Ralbag’s method protects faith from collapse when miracles are absent. A person trained to extract to’alos does not panic when outcomes are uncertain. They ask instead: What is required of me here?

This is the intellectual backbone of covenantal life after redemption.

Conclusion: Miracles as Teachers, Not Crutches

Parshas Beshalach, read through Ralbag’s to’alos method, reveals miracles as instruments of education. They awaken, clarify, and instruct—but they do not linger.

The Torah records miracles so that the reader learns how to live without them.

This is redemption that endures: a people trained not to chase wonders, but to extract wisdom—carrying covenant forward through clarity, responsibility, and disciplined thought.

📖 Sources

• Full sources available on the Mitzvah Minute Parshas Beshalach page under insights and commentaries.