The Greatest Wonder What do you think was the greatest wonder of
the Exodus from Egypt? One could point to the splitting of the
sea in this weeks Torah portion or to any of the ten plagues
described in the preceding chapters. But the great commentator
Ramban (Nachmanides) surprises us by insisting that the greatest
wonder of all was the fact that Pharaoh, against all reason,
pursued our ancestors into the sea where all his forces drowned.
Here was the leader of a superpower who had suffered the pain
and humiliation of ten plagues before pleading with his Hebrew
slaves to leave his country. Here was the witness to the most
spectacular display of Divine intervention in the form of a
highway in the sea for his intended victims. How was it possible
then for him to insanely issue the suicidal order to charge into
those deadly waters? The answer has been provided by the wisest
of men, King Solomon, who wrote (Mishlei 21:1) that "the heart
of the king is in the hand of G-d, and He can direct it however
He wishes." W