These are the Days of Miracles and Wonder

Rabbi Noa Kushner

Parashat Vayishlach

These are the Days of Miracles and Wonder (Paul Simon) 

1.

It is very strange — in the Torah 

We cross the sea, you know this story

God opens the sea for us and we pass through on dry land 

And yes, we sing a very important song

There are timbrels and dances 

Make no mistake: Our lives are completely transformed 

We have all left Pharaoh and Egypt

But we never say the blessing for the miracle that took place at the sea. 

And, according the rabbis, sticklers for detail, the fancy song we sang didn’t relieve us of our obligation to bless God for the miracle in that place (see Berachot 54a:10, Sanhedrin 94a:9) 

And the reason our omission comes up is because 

In the Talmud, when the rabbis are trying to determine why we are commanded to make a blessing over a miracle 

They point to this place where we didn’t make a blessing for a miracle 

And they teach us that Yitro

Importantly, Moses’ father in law, who was not an Israelite, the tradition says he was one of the first converts, he was not even there when the sea was opened 

The rabbis teach that Yitro is the one who hears about the miracles, and comes running into the wilderness to join up with us 

And says, “Blessed is God who saved you from Egypt, from Pharaoh — “

Now Yitro doesn’t use the word miracle in his blessing but this doesn’t matter to the rabbis. It is close enough.

What do we learn from this?

We learn we are supposed to bless the miracles but 

Sometimes we miss the miracles

Even really obvious ones 

Sometimes we need other people to tell us: “That thing that happened? The fact that you are a totally different person now? That was a miracle. Say the blessing.”

2. This got me thinking 

If it is often unclear what the miracle is, how are supposed to know when to make the blessing?

What if we don’t have a Yitro around to tell us?

This is a timely question because Hanukkah is coming, the festival of miracles 

And we talk about miracles that happened in our ancestors’ time and ours

And when we talk about our time I want to know what we’re talking about 

I want to know why the oil lasting for eight days, or even a military victory is called a miracle but other, seemingly more obvious things (like babies being born) are not called miracles in our tradition 

I tried to find the answer but it was not clear 

Not only is there more than one Hebrew word for miracles (נֵס, פֶֽלֶא)

The Torah is full of miracles but no one seems to notice them 

In fact, more typically the miracles that God performs in Torah 

are misinterpreted as curses! (See scouts reaction to God’s gifts in B. Sot. 35a, Sefer Aggadah 90:88) 

So for example, in the wilderness God gives us manna and water and freedom and Torah 

and we cry and demand leeks and quail and Golden Idols and a return to Egypt 

So maybe what we are actually learning is that miracles are, contrary to what we expect, actually very hard to acknowledge when they happen, in Torah and now. 

Maybe that’s why Yitro is conjured up in Talmud by the rabbis as the “miracle identifier” even though he wasn’t there when it happened

Even though he doesn’t even use any of the words for ‘miracle’ in his blessing

It’s as if the rabbis are admitting its hard to make the miracle call 

And it is even hard to call out the miracles that already happened

You see, in Talmud 

When the rabbis are discussing the command to say the blessing upon encountering places where miracles occurred

In creating THE list of where the historic miracles of our people took place

A miracle map, if you will 

The rabbis themselves have difficulty b/c not everyone agrees on what the miracles were. (!) 

Some of the miracles on the list a few of them hadn’t yet heard of…. 

And in another case, one view wants to add the place where Lot’s wife was turned into a pillar of salt onto the miracle list and — memorable as it is — it is only when another view points out that, while Lot and his children miraculously live, this is actually really the site of a tragedy — that they seem to change their view (Ber. 54b:8-9)

As if to say

If we are having trouble with the responsibility of defining miracles in our lives, in our time

If there seems to be few places we can isolate where miracles abound without anything hard or painful accompanying them 

If miracles and tragedies can sometimes seem inseparable 

Take heart: even the rabbis have trouble finding miracles that are free from pain 

3. 

Maybe the answer is that there are far more miracles than we know

Maybe Hanukkah is a miracle and the sea splitting is a miracle and the fact of babies being born is miraculous and even in the case of Lot’s wife turning into a pillar of tears — her husband and children are saved and that is not to be forgotten 

Maybe the answer is that much of life is miraculous 

That God is always hidden

R. Yitz Greenberg teaches that all the blessings our rituals, the Jewish laws and ways are all created to help us see the miracles 

That is, to help uncover the hidden presence of God 

To teach us to be aware and look for hints and clues 

Maybe the answer is just to look more, praise more 

Maybe the difference between a miracle and no miracle is what we name it

Maybe that’s why we have blessings to help us get our miraculous toes back in the miraculous waters

And I think we understand now, 

In this moment in our country 

more than we ever wanted to, just how much we have taken for granted 

I am not saying God is punishing us with the pandemic, you know me well enough to know I wouldn’t be saying that

I am just saying now we are aware of many things that once seemed unremarkable, 

now we realize 

in their absence just how many were miraculous 

the being together, of greeting one another, of eating together at a long shabbat tables, of singing packed in on benches, people standing in the back of the room —  these were miracles 

And now that we cannot do these things — and of course we cannot, it would be an affront to the most basic Jewish principle of sustaining life — 

Now that we cannot do these things

We see all the miracles that went unnamed, unblessed 

The piles of unclaimed miracles 

Maybe it is not too late to acknowledge and bless what we once had and what we hope to have again 

To bless all the miracles that we still have 

4. 

But if everything is a miracle — 

Now I am brought back to my question of when to make a blessing 

Because if there are always miracles the mitzvah of acknowledging miracles becomes so hard it becomes irrelevant 

We can’t just bless all the miracles that happen all the time — who will order dinner? 

So we have to keep looking for an answer to our question: What miracles obligate us to bless them? 

R. David Hartman z”l has a daring teaching

He says that the miracle of Hanukkah was not when the oil lasted

It was when we, seeing the destruction all around, dared to light the oil at all. 

(David Hartman, A Different Light, edited by Zion and Spectre, p. 195)

It is beautiful teaching. But I feel it makes the question of when to say the beracha even harder:  Do I say the beracha for miracles when the scientists try to make a vaccine or when they get in their car to make it or when they have enough dry ice to ship it or when it is finished even though some people refuse to take it or when it goes in my arm or when it goes in the arms of my children or when it goes in the arms of the whole world? 

Is it now? Is the miracle starting now? 

I so want it to be now.

Where is Yitro to tell me when the miracle is happening?

Rav Soloveitchik 

Points out one last idea, 

He begins with the moment when Moshe discovers the burning bush

The bush that is on fire but does not burn away 

The place where Moshe will hear God and answer and change his life 

Soloveitchik teaches us that nowhere in this encounter does Moses call what happened a miracle. 

Moses says, “I see a great sight” (Ex. 3:3) / Mareh hagadol 

But note: Moses doesn’t call what happened a miracle 

(R. Aaron Goldscheider, “Making a Miracle Great: Rabbi Soloveitchik on the Miracle of Hanukkah,” www.ou.org) 

Now maybe Moses not saying anything here is not as big an omission as our not blessing the sea splitting but still, as miracles go, this one seems pretty obvious, pretty miraculous 

But Soloveitchik teaches from this — and this is critical — that miracles are only important, (and I’ll add) only worth blessing —  if they lead to transformation and change. 

In other words, you can call it a miracle, and you’ll be right, but if it doesn’t lead to anything, a burning bush is still just a burning bush. 

But see in Moses’ case, Moses also heard the voice of God and went to Pharaoh 

From that miracle Moses changed his life

He created an alternative to oppression

In other words, the miracle may have caught Moses’ attention but what makes it great in Soloveitchik’s eyes — and makes it worth a blessing in mine — is the mission Moses accepted

So now, at last, perhaps we understand when to say the blessing for miracles 

For now we understand, there are miracles all the time,

but then there are miracles that instigate our transformation, compel us to change

In Soloveitchik’s words, these are the moments that are not only miraculous, they are great 

It is those great times — the miracles that are accompanied by transformation and commitment 

that our tradition marks and refuses to let slip into oblivion

They earn their places on our miracle map, even if they are complicated, even if they are accompanied by moments of grief 

The rabbis teach us: Refuse to let those times go 

And this brings us, finally, to the miracle of Hanukkah

Because the miracle of Hanukkah

The miracle of the oil lasting

R. Soloveitchik teaches 

Was only called a miracle one year later 

Why not establish the holiday right when the oil was burning? You ask — 

Why wait so long?

Because the leaders of that time waited to see if the great changes

That were instigated by the oil lasting, by the little oil that could 

They waited to see if the great changes

The rededication

The commitment 

To see if those things would last 

Only once the people, like Moses, not only saw the light and fire but changed their lives, their society 

Then the rabbis established the holiday and the miracle and yes, the blessing for the miracle. 

So maybe we don’t always need to know miracles just as they happen

Maybe we can’t acknowledge them all 

Maybe we are living through a time of great miracles

because every time is a time of great miracles 

But what our tradition asks us to mark with the blessing for miracles is the change in us, the change in our world long after the miracles happen

That is why Yitro could see it when Moses and Israel couldn’t

He not only heard about the miracles and wonders but also saw the new people that arose in response to those miracles 

So when we all say the blessings over the Hanukkah candles in a few nights 

When we put our Hanukkah lights in our windows to proclaim the miracles 

We should remember the miracles of our ancestors, yes

But we should also consider the countless daily miracles that surround us at every moment 

The ones that may yet instigate great changes in each of us, in all of us 

Is it now? Is the great miracle starting now? 

I so want it to be starting now.