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Its a Miracle!? -
Reflections on the Foundation of Belief

jrosenfeld@lss.org

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.1" | Maimonides

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...and we praise and extoll to He who did for us and our forefathers all these miracles, and took us
out from slavery to freedom

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R. Asi said: why was Esther compared to the dawn? To tell you this: just as the dawn is the end of
the night - so too, Esther is the end of all miracles.

Miracle is essentially sign

- Franz Rosenzweig
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!R. Yosef said: come and see how great this person is that such a miracle occurred for him
Abaye said to him: how lowly is this person that the orders of creation have been changed for
him...

.4 ) ( | R. Avraham ibn Ezra

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Know, that peoples natural abilities to believe are not always the same, in that they [all] believe
in his great name, [but] many believe that which they hear when people tell them God is as such...
and if a heretic comes to argue on this, that there is no God, they stand aghast, not knowing what
to say this is why God combines I am God with that I brought you out - so that all shall know...

.5 ' | R. Yehuda ha-Levi

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...and when God first opened to speak to the multitudes of Israel: I am the Lord your God who has
taken you out of Egypt, and didnt say: I am the creator of the universe and your creator. And so
I have initially responded to you, King of the Khazars, when you asked me about my faith - I
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replied in the manner that I am required, and so are the rest of the community of Israel required
[to say],
as it was clarified to them this great event that they saw with their very eyes, and
that afterward the tradition continues as if it was actually seen
...

Nahmanides | - " .6

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And now I will say to you a general rule regarding the reason for many Mitzvot. You see, from the
time that idolatry was found in the world, from the beginnings of man their minds became
confused in matters of faith
they said God has left the world
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And so, when God chooses a specific tribe or individual and conducts for them a sign with
the changing of the regular order of the worlds nature, the nullification of those beliefs is
clear to all, because this great miracle indicates a God who cares about and renews the
world
, cognizant, involved and (omni)potent...

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if so, then the signs and the great wonders serve as

true witnesses to the [validity] of faith in
the creator, and in the entire Torah and so too with all the many concomitant Mitzvot
which all serve as a remembrance to the Exodus
. And this is all to remain for us a testimony in
all generations so that we do not forget, and that there is no room for some heretic to open his
mouth and disprove the faith in God who has taken us out from slavery to freedom and great
honor in the merit of [our] his fathers and
from the great, famous miracles a person is
moved to admit and recognize the hidden miracles which are the foundation of the entire
Torah
...

Maimonides | " .7

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Moshe Rabbeinu was not believed by the Jewish people because of the wonders he
performed
, because the believer based upon signs has a weakness in his heart in that it is possible
that the sign can be shown to be nothing more than magic or sleight of hand, rather all the signs
that Moshe performed in the desert were done out of sheer necessity
and that which they did
believe in him was because of the event at Mount Sinai that our own eyes saw and our own
ears heard the fire, the thunder, and the blaze, and he [Moshe] approached the haze and
the voice spoke to him
, we heard Moshe, Moshe, you shall say such and such to them and so
he [we] spoke face to face with God, and it was said: not with your fathers has God formed this
covenant...; and from where do we know that it was the event at Mount Sinai alone that is the
proof of his truthful prophecy, which has no falsehood - as it is said: behold I am coming to you in
the thick of the cloud, so that the nation should hear me speak to you, and also in you they will
believe forever,
it therefore seems that before this matter they did not actually fully believe
in him a fundamental, lasting faith, but rather they still wondered or second-guessed him
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R. Avraham Yitzhak ha-Kohen Kook |140 ,74 ' .8

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Miracles serve to clarify the faith in God which transcends all boundaries, and the perfection of
God is established through this holy faith in the soul. And once faith completely fulfills its task, and
brings the soul to the light, then there will no longer be an independant need for a strong faith in
miracles and to their memory. But, this completing of faith in its lofty holiness does not come
unless there exists already a strong, established connection to the practical belief in miracles, and
especially in the Exodus and its attendant miracles, which is its
[belief in other miracles. JR]
foundation, which draws across history until the coming of the Messiah
The Miracles complete the recognition of Godliness. A limited recognition and understanding of
God solely limited to nature will not prove fruitful, and does not itself have the same segulah, in
that the ultimate recognition of Godliness is what completes faith.

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R. Shalom Messas | ' " " .9

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he mentioned a story which he heard from a certain Rabbi, who had also heard it from R. Yehuda
Tzedakah zl who was present 20 years ago (maybe more) in which a child was born, and in that
very moment began to recite the entire Torah from beginning to end, and even many complete
Mishnayot and Posekim, etc., until a great Rabbi from the Yeshiva came and slapped the child and
then it went quiet and said no more, and thus completed the Rabbinic story.
And I was wondering how, after I looked in my book, vol. 2, and saw that the Maharsha said
exactly like my words, in that I wrote that
even if we believe that God Almighty is all-powerful
and was able to change nature with the splitting of the sea, the ten plagues, and the
descent of the manna, etc., and that He did many wondrous acts to let the world
acknowledge his greatness, as is written in order to tell over my name in all the land, and
you shall know that I am God, and that since then God has become stingy with miracles,
no longer performing any miracle to change nature, unless for some great pressing
need
even the miracles of Esther are cloaked in nature...

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Morocco,19132013...I
n1978,thenIsraeliChiefRabbiOvadiaYosefaskedRabbiMessastocometothe
holycityandbecomeitsChiefSephardicRabbinicalauthority.WhenhedepartedforIsrael,RabbiMessas
wasescortedtotheairportbyMorocco'sKingHassanhimself,whorequestedthattheRabbiblesshimone
lasttimebeforehisdeparture,andwiththatwashislastofficialactinMoroccan.[FromWikipedia]

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and that which he brought these stories that he heard from a Rabbi who heard from a Rabbi that
they brought this baby before the Rabbi in the Yeshiva as we wrote earlier - tell me, my friend: if
this is true, how come R. Tzedaka never mentioned the story in any of his books, for this is a great
thing, such that like it there hasnt been ever, and it would be necessary to publicize it, to write
that he saw this thing himself, why - this matter would have been publicized in all the newspapers
of the world, for it is no empty thing, they would have shook the world about this also it is
suspect, why would this Rabbi from the Yeshiva slap the baby on its lip, he should have left this
great wonder to play out for if so, this is a miracle greater and greater, that even if [this baby]
spoke meaningless things, they do not have the ability to do so;
Rather,
of course this thing for sure never happened, and it is nothing more than rumors
that go from person to person to person, and from these origins that these new things
which never were and never will be are born, and there is no obligation whatsoever to
believe in them at all, for they were never recorded in their time in a Sefer, or anywhere for
that matter - we have no obligation to believe in things which go against our logic, that
there should be great miracles for no reason
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R. Tzadok ha-Kohen | 39 ' )' ( ' .10

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I have heard from our holy Rabbi ztl that the Rebbe Reb Bunim zllhh said that even though the
generations and their minds are declining at every moment, [but] the point of life/energy in the
heart/soul is ever-expanding and becomes more and more purified in the exiled as time goes on.
And our holy Rabbi said that this was a totally new thing when he heard it in Przysucha and that
afterward he found it in many places and did not explain to us his secret...

-: .11

Like the days in which you left Egypt I will show you great wonders. The nations will see and be
ashamed despite all their might, they will place a hand over their mouths, their ears will go deaf.

| (252-6 ' , , )": .12

Lubavitcher Rebbe

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13. Elliot R. Wolfson,
Open Secret
; pp. 63-64

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