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Miracles (1)

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Miracles [1:80-91]

 

This is a concept, like many others, which we cannot define in advance.  Its definition and understanding are under debate.  In other words, the definition will not be the starting point, but the concluding point of our discussion.

 

     Looked at simply, we can say that miracles are a completely extraordinary phenomenon, which cannot be explained within the natural system.  However, on second thought, as both believers and philosophers have stated, the greatest miracle is the very existence of the laws of nature.  The order, the fact that the world functions according to unvarying laws, constitutes the greatest miracle of all.  However, man must reach a high level of development to understand how extraordinary of the order of nature is; the miracle of the behavior of the planets, which "adhere" to the laws of mathematics and physics; and the wonder of the movements of subatomic particles.  Macrocosmos and microcosmos alike sing the praises of the Creator.  Certainly, it is a wonder!  However, we have grown used to this wonder, and are like a child who thinks that amazing inventions, the result of thousands of years of scientific and technological development, are to be taken for granted.  Thus we are not amazed at the works of creation which surround us.  One of the results of this lack of amazement is that we transform nature into an independent being.  Nature, the conglomerate of principles which control the world, becomes all powerful; the ruler of the world.  This was, phrased differently, the position of the idol worshippers.  However, it has not disappeared from the world.  It is returning in a modern form, in Pantheism on the one hand, and, on the other, in the beliefs of those (whom we have already met earlier in our series), who find an explanation for everything in nature.  Our tendency to see in nature the final and undisputed law and principle, must come to a crisis, in order for us to recognize the existence of a power which is beyond nature.  This power is the divine essence.  When it penetrates into nature, inexplicable events occur.

 

     Humanity has often witnessed wondrous and amazing phenomena.  However, the Chaver teaches us here that although these experiences can bear witness to the existence of a level above nature, we must not base our religion upon them.  This surprising claim is found explicitly in the verses which warn us of the possible appearance of a false prophet who can perform miracles.  We must not blindly follow a mistaken mathematical proof, which will teach that 1=2, nor should we follow a miracle which will try to prove the truth of idolatry, or religions which are in essence the modern versions of idolatry.  We must distinguish between miracles  and phenomena which are the result of hallucination, illusion, or extraordinary sensory perception.  We must further distinguish between miracles and legitimate phenomena which are not miracles, and belong to the field of parapsychology.  It is possible that some people possess certain powers not only to bend spoons or forks through a mental exercise, but also have the psychic power to change things in reality; it is possible that some people have the power to set a compass using only their thoughts, or to light a fire without using their hands.  These things merely teach us that there are other natural powers that we must study, if they do exist.  This is clearly a breakthrough to spiritual powers which materialism has tried blot out, but this is not a breakthrough into the world of divinity.  The breakthrough into the divine is expressed in commands which only the Creator of the world can give and carry out.  The connection with the divine is expressed mainly through revelation, in the encounter which contains in its essence something that will one day dispel all doubts.  The existence of collective revelation is based on the principle that we must neutralize personal error, subjectivity and the fact that we could be faced with an illusion or a hallucination.  There are miracles that are connected to individuals such as healing the sick, and the resurrection of the dead.  However, in the exodus from Egypt, we are faced with changes in the powers of nature, we are witness to truly cosmic phenomena.  The miracles refer to powers that are beyond human existence and even beyond the universe itself. 

 

The Natural Explanation of Miracles

 

There is often a tendency to try to give natural explanations of miracles and it can be done.  Surprisingly, this does not detract at all from Rihal's proof.  In order to understand this, we will discuss the approach of Rabbi Yitzchak Breuer, one of the greatest of Rihal's modern successors.  Rabbi Breuer wrote a book (in German), called "The New Kuzari," in which he presents his position.  In this book, he does not argue with the Aristotelians or the Karaites.  However, it is interesting to state that, despite the differences, there is a basic similarity between Rihal's Kuzari and the "New Kuzari."  The philosophical basis of Breuer's approach is found in the writings of the modern philosophers, particularly Immanuel Kant and Arthur Schopenhauer.  We cannot get into the depths of this discussion, however will still try to present his approach in general, without getting into the maze of fine lines and details. 

 

     The approaches that we are presenting now are based on the idea that we must distinguish between reality itself, and the way we perceive it.  Nature, the cause-and-effect reality that we perceive, according to this approach, is not the true reality; rather it is the result of our perception.  Let me give an illustration of this idea.  Think of a person wearing sunglasses.  The color of his vision is determined by the color of his glasses.  This is also true of optical glasses which distort one's vision.  If we want another example, we can think of a device for night vision, in which the information that the machine receives is processed such that we see before us images which mimic the original day-time images.

 

     In our perception and our consciousness there are two elements: the thing itself, and the way we process it.  We do not understand how very important this processing is.  It is like a person sitting in a theater innocently watching a play, who does not notice that this sophisticated theater is built in such a way that the observer is also the director of the play.  Part of the action on the stage takes place according to the actions and reactions of the observer.  He is not an objective observer who is not involved.  The very fact of his presence involves him in the play.  We know today that the fact that the observer interferes in reality, and that the "play" changes in accordance with the presence or absence of observers, is one of the most amazing elements of quantum physics.  It is important here to point out that according to this approach, as Rabbi Breuer says, the very fact of our encounter with reality, creates a framework of cause and effect.  Human perception places reality in a natural framework, which will later create the illusion that miracles can be explained.  Rabbi Breuer uses a number of models to express this duality.  One of the best models is the relation between the Tetragrammaton and the other names of God.  We do not pronounce the Tetragrammaton, for it is the "real thing," while the other names are our perceptions of the Tetragrammaton.  In this way, wonder of wonders, there is a Tetragrammaton, which expresses the true reality, while the laws of nature stand at the opposite pole, expressing the other divine names, our perceptions of reality.

 

     Rabbi Breuer points to the possibility that certain miracles may be explained naturally, and still retain their miraculous character.  Prophecy is in essence a breakthrough to the true reality.  If we return to the example of the theater, we are familiar with the curtain that rises to reveal the play, but we are not aware of the fact that behind this curtain there is another curtain.  This is the entrance to backstage, where the illusion of reality which we see behind the first curtain, is created.  We do not sense, either in theater and or in the actions of the magician, the other side of things - the people without their costumes and the source of the various sound and light changes which create our illusion.  Rabbi Breuer claims that God created the world such that we will always construct this framework, so that we will not be able to see behind the scenes.  Prophecy is the breakthrough to backstage.  If a regular person sees a miracle, even if the miracle is clearly significant, he can try to explain it, but the meaning which is beyond the miracle can be given only by the prophet.

 

     Let me give a "trivial" example: Was the salvation of the Six-day war a miracle?  Whoever lived through it and his eyes were open, will say that it was miraculous.  Yes, in hindsight, explanations can be given, proving that all the events were completely natural and inevitable.  However, despite this, whoever lived through that experience knows that it was miraculous.  If we return to the example of the theater, it is similar to the story of the actor who shouts "Fire, fire!" and the audience claps in appreciation of his extraordinarily realistic acting, without understanding that a fire has really broken out.  The audience remains stubbornly convinced that this is a part of the play, although really what is going on is outside the framework of the play.  Thus we sometimes find a person persisting in explaining the miracle, without sensing that something outside the framework of the play is taking place.  Seeing is no guarantee that people will understand that what they are seeing is extraordinary.  Man, or actually his perceptive abilities, insist on putting events into the framework of a known system.  And yet, a miracle can be seen.  Sometimes things are just too coincidental to be a coincidence.

 

     The Sages distinguished between a hidden miracle and a revealed miracle.  Rihal teaches us that a miracle is a one-time historical event, and its role is to shake man out of the closed scientific play he is watching.  The Torah wants to explain to him that what appears to be nature, is really a costume and a disguise.  As the Chasidim say, the world is an act of concealment, and the role of miracles is to remove us from this concealment.  The first obligation is to prevent the concealment of the concealed, in other words to understand that the concealment exists.

 

 

(This lecture was translated by Gila Weinberg.)

 

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