Miraculous Nature

There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle. -Albert Einstein

There is a biblical command of the sabbatical year, the original divine order to leave ones field fallow every seven years. To willingly forsake ones livelihood, to have faith that nature itself will somehow be altered and that one’s food production will increase miraculously would seem foolhardy at best. However, the biblical text itself anticipates this fear and promises abundant produce to those who comply with God’s will.

In a sense, we have come to define nature as phenomena we have been accustomed to: the rising of the sun, the birth of a child, the decomposition of a seed and its subsequent growth into a plant, and so much more. Nature is commonplace and taken for granted, though no less incredible, even if science has given us explanations for how these things take place.

The Sfat Emet in 5637 (1877) explains that miracles and nature are one and the same and that what we know as nature is in fact the greatest miracle. Furthermore, for a person of faith that understands the divine origin of both and that they are both expressions of divine will, what the world calls miracles can occur to a person of faith with greater frequency because they are no longer blind to the hand of God.

He adds that just as there are laws of nature, there are likewise laws of miracles, which the people of Israel are predisposed to.

May we appreciate the miraculousness of nature and the naturalness of miracles.

Shabbat Shalom,

Ben-Tzion

Dedication

To Israel’s various technology industries. It is becoming natural to see the miracles they are developing.