Well… what an exciting week.
We started the week with a country called Syria and Hezbollah preparing to reinforce and redeploy.
Now, we no longer have a country called Syria and Hezbollah has had its legs cut out from underneath it.
I couldn't help but think about something I read a year ago about Rav Moshe Sternbuch, head of the Eida HaChareidis in Yerushaliyim.
Before the attack on Simchas Torah, Rav Sternbuch would speak about the dangerous times that we are living in and his fear for the new year. He would say these things, even at times of simcha, clearly worried and feeling that something is happening.
Shortly after the attack, somebody came to him for a bracha, because he was getting married in a few months time. Rav Sternbuch replied that there could be a revolution by then. When asked what he meant by that cryptic response, he said, "A revolution could be a good thing or not a good thing, or first one and then the other."
Well, we just had a revolution. And the world is treating it as a good thing, which means, we should be wary about "or first one and then the other."
"Esav ran to meet him and embraced him. He flung himself on his neck, and kissed him, and they wept" (Bereishis 33: 4).
The Midrash (Bereishis Rabba 78: 9) writes that when Eisav "flung himself" on Yaakov's neck, he went to bite him, but Hashem turned Yaakov's neck as hard as stone, breaking Eisav's teeth. And why does the pasuk say "and they wept" (compared to "and he wept")? To teach us that Eisav cried in pain from biting down on this hardened neck, and Yaakov cried in pain from having his neck turning hard as rock.
On this, Rav Shimshon Pincus asks, "If Hashem made a miracle to turn Yaakov's neck into stone, why couldn't He simply have ALSO spared Yaakov that pain?" After all, if you're making a miracle already, why not simply add on a little and make it better for Yaakov?
He answers that from this Midrash we see that while miracles go beyond nature, Hashem still limits them, so only that which needs to be changed, is changed; that that which does not, does not.
Perhaps we can also learn from this a little extra point. Many times, especially over this past year, we have seen miracle after miracle. Yet, those miracles also came with pain and suffering. It's not a matter of "every miracle comes with a price," but as Rav Pincus says, each miracle we experience is limited to "do it's job" and no more. Being, "anything more," which could have also been done via a miracle and wasn't, is there for a reason. On top of that, if "anything more" is not done, there is more room for people to ignore the miracle part and chalk it up to a simple "fluke of nature."
It's important to see that we are surrounded by miracles, especially in times like this. At the same time, the miracles are constrained in a way, that 1) we can miss them if we're not looking, and 2) because we also need the "non-miracles" in our lives.
May we continue to be able to witness and recognize these miracles instead of crediting governments and individuals for these "natural occurrences."
Have a wonderful and relaxing Shabbos!