Miracles abound in our people’s past. Perhaps the most famous miracle of all was when the Sea parted allowing the slaves to pass through to newfound freedom. Celebrated each year at the Passover Seder we recall this powerful deliverance. Yet, there were others too. Think of the manna in the desert or the appearance of wells slaking the thirst of those on the forty year trek. What about the walls of Jericho? Or the famous walls of Solomon carved from rock without use of any metal?! Hanukka remembers another kind of miracle; great light generated from a miniscule amount of oil.
It is surprising that the birth of the universe is not accorded status as a miracle. Perhaps that is because no one witnessed the event. Note: something qualifies as a miracle only when people are involved.
Miracles are often abrupt. They happen swiftly and are over. A malignancy disappears: Life goes on. An accident is avoided and we drive from the scene shaken but unharmed.. Miracles can happen on a small scale: A person walks away after a fall from a treacherous height. Miracles may occur in a grand way: The salvation of the Israelite nation after Hitler is miraculous.
Purim is all about miracles. Yet, the holiday is built around the one Book which makes no mention of God. Nowhere in the tale of Mordecai and Acheshveros is God named. What exactly are we celebrating?
If a miracle is defined as something beyond the bounds of what is normal and expected, what do we make of the eclipse of the Holy One in the chronicles of Esther?
Perhaps the greatest mystery is also the simplest one to solve: a miracle only happens to us when we acknowledge it. Otherwise it passes unnoticed. In fact, if you think about it for more than a moment, you will realize that every miracle in the Torah can be explained away or ignored much in the same way we can miss the grandeur of a birth or regeneration of nature. Maybe that is why the holiday of Purim will still be observed after the Messiah comes: we will still need to be reminded to find holiness and miracles that happen every day..
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