Believing in Miracles

A major topic of the Pesach holiday is the idea of miracles. We celebrate the miracle of the Ten Plagues as well as the splitting of the Red Sea on the seventh day of Pesach.

There are two schools of thought regarding miracles. The Rambam was very much a rationalist. He downplayed the supernatural aspect of these events and attributed much of what occurred to nature. He was also concerned that even if they were outstanding events, over time people would downplay these events and attribute them to nature or sorcery.

Other scholars viewed these miracles as the Hand of G-d. Rav Yehuda Halevi reasoned that since even the Gentile world acknowledges these events, they must be true.

These two views also reflect the two schools of thought today regarding amulets, Segulas, and visiting graves of Tzaddikim. The rationalists will not put much importance to any of this. While the other viewpoint, sometimes referred to as the mystics, do believe in such Segulot as being authentic.

I will be sending out my Divrei Torah in the evening to remind everyone about Sefirat Haomer that we began last night.