Here’s an ethical issue and Jewish source response:
Case
At the Seder table, after discussing the miracles of the Exodus, the Weiss family began talking about modern times. Mrs. Weiss said that there are no miracles today, but her son Jonathan, said that miracles still exist. As an example, he used the Six-Day War in 1967, in which Israel defeated seven Arab nations in six days. His older sister, Sharon said it was a miracle when 39 scuds hit Israel during the Gulf War, and only one person died, and even the creation of the state of Israel itself was miraculous. Mr. Weiss could not make up his mind whether these events are indeed considered miraculous, as his children believe, or whether miracles do not exist today as all, as his wife believes.
Answer
Do miracles exist today?
[a] If, by definition, a miracle is a supernatural event (one which defies the laws of nature), then this type of miracle indeed no longer exists. The reasons given are: a) people today would not accept these events as miraculous from God due to a lower spiritual level (Berachot 20a) and b) there is no longer a Temple in Jerusalem, where many supernatural miracles occurred on a daily basis. Soon after the Jews’ dispersion into the Diaspora, which followed the destruction of the first Temple (70 CE), a major event in Jewish history occurred, which shows us how the nature of miracles changed forever.
[b] The Purim story (the story of Mordechai and Esther, which occurred during that time period) was a series of events that certainly were not supernatural. And yet, these events, which seem political and coincidental in nature, are called miracles. The prayer recited by Jews to celebrate Purim is called Al Ha-Nissim (“For the miracles”). Therefore, even though the events of the Purim story do not seem particularly miraculous, or even seem to be from God, they are labeled miracles. They seem less miraculous even than the Scud missiles of the Gulf War that failed to kill Israelis. This non-supernatural type became the form of miracles from that point onward in history. This is also one reason that God’s name is not mentioned in the Book of Esther, making it the only book of the Bible not to contain direct references to God. This demonstrates that although God was certainly there and was involved in the Miracle of Purim, God’s role was not obvious (as it is in supernatural miracles). Based on this, Jonathan Weiss is correct that all of these modern events in Jewish history would be considered miraculous. They are natural miracles like the story of Purim.
[c] There is a third type of miracle in Judaism as well. These are everyday events that occur thousands of times. If any of these events (such as a person taking a single step) were to occur only once, everyone would agree that it is a miracle. For example, if there were only one baby’s birth or one sunset each year, then everything and everyone would stop to witness these great miracles. Judaism believes that the fact that these occur daily make them no less miraculous. We thank God in the Modim prayer of the Amidah for “your miracles that are with us each day.”
It is interesting that in Judaism, of the three types of miracles mentioned, the supernatural is considered the least miraculous. More miraculous is the natural miracle, while the everyday miracle is the most miraculous of all (see Nedarim 41a, Pesachim 118a).
Joel Grishaver, “You Be the Judge 2”, pgs. 42-44
Used with permission from Joel Grishaver
