Rabbeinu Bachya (Shemos 30:12) In fact it is axiomatic to remember that a person is not a true believer, i.e. does not really have a share in Moses’ Torah unless he is absolutely convinced of the fact that G’d performs such hidden miracles all the time, that there is no accident and no coincidence in the universe. G’d is aware of all that occurs and has had a hand in it (See Nachmanides at the end of Parshat Bo.) The second part of this absolute faith that is required of each Jew is that he must be convinced that every one of his good deeds will qualify for reward and every one of his sins will be subject to punishment.
The whole matter of blessings and curses which was already spelled out in Deut. 27,15-26 and some of which has been debated in Niddah 31, i.e. that the person who is subject to a miracle being performed for him is unaware of that at the time, is the reason our sages said in Baba Metzia 42 that when one enters one’s grain storage chamber in order to measure the size of one’s crop, one should pronounce a benediction asking G’d to bless one’s store. If one first measured the size of the stored grain and pronounced this benediction only subsequent to having measured it, such a prayer is considered as using the name of G’d in vain as G’d had already decreed either blessing or curse on that grain. We have a principle that blessings are not bestowed on matters which have been measured, weighed, or counted. Only matters which have escaped our eye and its ability to measure it are subject to blessings. This is another way of saying that the principle we have called נס נסתר, the “hidden miracle,” is constantly at work. If such blessings could be applied to matters we have weighed or measured such a miracle would no longer be “hidden.” This was one of the major reasons the Torah forbade head-counts of people to ensure they would not be exposed to the “evil eye,” As long as the blessings apply to people in a manner which cannot be checked, the עין הרע, the evil eye, the negative influence brought to bear, does not have a precise target on which to focus. The evil eye can influence only matters which have been measured, weighed or counted. Having appreciated this you will understand why the count of the males over 20 years of age which is the subject of the early part of our Parshah had to be conducted by means of a coin, i.e. the half-shekel.
there is a miracle even ona sub atomic scale - this is the awareness that a physicist has. however, you cannot fathom or count all the atoms or sub-atomic particles in the universe, or spend time with each one.
ReplyDeleteBut we need to have a definition of what miracle is.
In the Torah, G-d reminds us of miracles He performed eg the splitting of the sea, manna, clothes that never wear out etc.
Observing the world is something we can use for increasing Yirat Shamayaim.
A leaf falling off a tree has not much obvious significance - but it has biological meaning. To say it is a siman and has relevance for what my day will be like is idiotic and a violation of the Torah.
"that there is no
ReplyDeleteaccident and no coincidence in the universe"
And if you throw dice, the outcome is no accident?
Depends on you how you define accident.
Even if you claim there is a purpose, itis not knowable to us - to consider every event as being auspicious is dangerous and can lead to madness.