Sunday, May 04, 2014

As in the days you left Egypt - I will show wonders!

Set aside for now the fact that everything that Nature is - is miraculous. Let's just consider the continuity of Nature as "normal".

Beyond the "normalcy" of Nature, then, there exist 3 different forms of miracle that will supersede Nature.  In other words, within the fabric of Nature itself, miracles can stream through it in 3 ways.

The most obvious miracle imposes its own set of rules that counteract the laws of Nature. An example of this type of miracle is the splitting of the Reed Sea. Whereas normally the sea bed is covered by ocean, during the Jewish exodus from Egypt the elements of water, wind, earth and the fish - all had a change imposed upon them to conform with the miracle's agenda.

The next type of miracle is less obvious because it "respects" the laws of Nature without altogether "breaking" them. An example is the miracle of Chanukah. Although the Hasmoneans (חשמונאים) used swords in battle, their sword-fighting ability seemed miraculous in that so few could overcome so many Romans. So, although Nature was, in fact, abrogated during the fighting, an observer could have thought otherwise, seeing that the battle proceeded within the framework of Nature. Similarly, the fact that some oil lasted much longer than it should have may have seemed to an observer as an accident of "Nature".

Another example would be the miracles that occurred during the Purim story, where all those "circumstances" in a maze of events could easily be seen for what they were - an outright miracle - albeit within the confines of a "Natural" framework.

The miracle that transcends Nature, such as all the water in Egypt turning to blood, or the splitting of the sea, has its source in a level of divinity LOWER than that which respects the laws of Nature. The miracles of Chanukah and Purim that streamed through Nature, therefore, derived from a level of Godliness that was higher than the source that provided the miracles during the Egyptian exodus.

When the lowest level of the Infinite is "plugged into", it cannot cooperate with Nature. This level, from the Infinite, therefore, taps a limited infinity. The more that Nature conceals the miracle, the higher the source of Godliness tapped into to produce that miracle.

The very highest root of divinity produces miracles entirely disguised within the fabric of Nature. The target of this miracle, for whose sake the miracle occurred in the first place, usually does not recognize a miracle occurred! An example would be, where someone broke his leg on the way to the airport, only to find out later this airplane he failed to board exploded in midair.

Silent miracles run deepest.

There where God's handiwork to produce miracles accommodates Nature's guidelines, without "breaking" the latter's laws, demonstrates that control is exercised omnipotently over both Nature and miracles to mesh synchronously, without either phenomenon disturbing the other.

This highest source of divinity for weaving miracles through the fabric of Nature will be given visibility when the process for the Era of Redemption ramps up.

Regarding that future, you would think the prophet Michah (7:15) spoke silly when he said,
"As in the days you left Egypt - I will show wonders!"
  "כימי צאתך מארץ מצרים אראנו נפלאות"

Didn't Michah know that which our sages would teach us, that miracles in the Era of Redemption will far outclass the "mere" miracles that highlighted the Egyptian exodus (Brachot 12b)? Why even mention them when they'll be dwarfed by those to occur in the future? It's like praising a record-breaking Olympic champion for some high-school event he won in his junior years. Who could care about that?

In fact, because the future's redemptive miracles will be so phenomenal compared to those of the Egyptian redemption, in that they will tap the highest source for streaming miracles - plus the fact that they will thence be VISIBLE ("I will show you ..."), explains it.
(Culled from the Rebbe's Ma-amar [Sefer Hama-amarim, Melukat vol. 4, "כימי צאתך מארץ מצרים"]. )

1 comment:

izzy said...

nice - keep up the great work!

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