Nissim: Everyday Miracles
Jewish living means living in the realm of the miraculous. We are a people whose survival in every generation is wholly reliant on miracles. We expect our omnipotent God to have our back. We are eternal optimists and therefore our national anthem is called Hatikvah (The Hope.) David Ben Gurion summed up our penchant for positive thinking in the famous phrase, "Anyone who doesn't believe in miracles is not a realist."
Spiritual folks learn to perceive God's presence everywhere and understand that the inner workings of "Mother Nature" are simply frequent miracles to which we have become accustomed. The key to enlightened Jewish living is to rage against complacency and strive to retain radical amazement. The word for a miracle is Nes, (Nissim in the plural) and translates as something that is raised up or elevated, like a banner. Those biblical miracles are like a flag waving high making manifest God's mastery over creation. But our sages teach that we are surrounded by miracles daily; the ordinary events in our lives are also God's handiwork.
The word for nature, teva, also means sunken in. Our natural world is precisely designed to function within a God given set of parameters. When we dig in to this matrix we reveal a profound system of beauty and order that reveals God's handiwork, at least for the open hearted. Of course science and theology intersect! Researchers in every discipline are simply unearthing the boundaries of God's ingenuity. Periodically God breaks out of the "hiding place" of nature, upending the rules to which we are familiar. Miraculous events like the Red Sea or even Jerusalem in 1967 become "banners" where God's hand is revealed for all to see. But they are no more Godly than a beautiful sunset over the Pacific.
As the reader might recall from my essay on the connection between Purim and Pesach, we have ventured as a people from infancy in Egypt to spiritual maturity today. Our miracles today are far more subtle and require ample human involvement. Yet, they are miracles nonetheless. We have a legacy of Cecil B. deMille fire and brimstone events in our Tanach to create the irrevocable stamp of authority for our chain of transmission. When over two million people witness the sea parting or the revelation at Sinai, the authenticity of our theological fountainhead becomes enshrined for time immemorial. Therefore we can rely on our prophets and sages to accurately teach God's word and don't require new miracles to bolster our confidence.
Interestingly, when the Hallel service describes the parting of the sea it says that the sea "fled" (vayanos.) It's the same term that the Chumash uses to describe Joseph fleeing from the carnal temptation of cohabitating with his boss's wife. We call it a miracle when physical nature doesn't follow its nature. However, in God's eyes, miracles are when human beings go against their nature! Joseph created a human miracle. It was this against all odds act that earned him the title of Yosef HaTzaddik (Joseph the righteous.) The Talmud reports that there was a crazy commotion in heaven when Joseph overcame his inclination. This clarifies why the Midrash says that the sea split when it "saw" the bones of Joseph; in the merit of this astounding human miracle, Heaven answered in kind.
This distinction is crucial to perceive our life's true purpose. To the extent we can move beyond our animal nature and incorporate a Godly worldview, so too will God perform miracles for us. The word for a challenge is Nisayon, and shares the same root as Nes. When we channel our selfish tendencies to help others and work on behalf of our community both local and national, we are tapping into a primordial power source. Just like Adam was cursed with working the field by the sweat of his brow, so too are we faced with unique challenges in life. The Vilna Gaon says that you can easily tell what your tafkid (life task) is by addressing those seemingly insurmountable shortcomings in your personality. When you conquer them, even the small victories have the angels dancing.
One of the great gifts in life is getting "winks" from God. Everyone gets them from time to time. We often call them small miracles or coincidences. I have taught my kids to say "large world, well managed" instead of "small world" when they happen. They are those nearly imperceptible wrinkles in the fabric of reality where the doors of perception open for you to see God's hand. I wanted to finish this essay with a trio of personal "miracle stories" that I experienced this past year.
The first occurred in January when I was heading to Toronto for a gig and my sons had to get back to Yeshiva University in NYC after their winter break. Why not travel together and ski Colorado on the way? Of course! We flew to Denver and drove a few hours to get five days in a ski paradise that I believe has no equal. We timed it well: every day from first run to closing time we were flying down the slopes blanketed with fresh powder, impossibly blue skies and no crowds.
On our last day on the hill I was hopeful to meet up with one of my good college buddies who has moved to the Vail area. Unfortunately, my iPhone kept freezing up and we were unable to touch base. At about 1pm I was doing laps with my boys on one of my favorite runs, The Star in the remote Blue Sky Basin area in Vail's famed Back Bowls. My son Max is quite the kamikaze (almost as fast as his dad!) and was flying just behind me when he caught air off of a lip and unfortunately did not see a diminutive fifty-year-old woman cruising on the other side of him. He tackled her midair and they tumbled together about a half dozen times. I watched the whole thing and was utterly horrified. I slammed on the brakes and the woman's friend screamed at me to call ski patrol and find her friends with whom they were skiing. When I saw that Max was OK, I told him to wait with her and exchange information and then Jesse and I flew down in search of the woman's compatriots.
We didn't find them but thankfully by the time we rode the lift back up the ski patrol had arrived and was loading the poor pummeled woman in a toboggan, mostly as a precaution. Who was waiting with Max? My college friend Brian Ogawa, the guy I was looking for! Yes, it was Brian's ski partner that my son mowed down. This was not how we hoped to connect...but this "large world, well managed" moment gave us both a serious jolt of wonderment. Thank God, the woman is fine and Max escaped with a bruised leg and an important lesson of the need for a bit more caution.
The following week, following four days among the "frozen chosen" leading a Shabbaton for the largest Conservative synagogue in North America, Beth Tzedec, Toronto, I offered a community Rockin' Youth concert on Sunday and then flew directly to Cabo San Lucas to deliver a Tu Bish'vat jam for Chabad of Cabo. That's right, my third country in a week! My wife and daughter flew down from LA to join me for some fun in the sun and thankfully Chabad delivered delicious meals to our hotel everyday. One of the days I opted to do a dive in the nearby city of La Paz in order to experience a very rare treat in the underwater world: swimming with the largest fish in the sea, the whale shark. Jacques Cousteau calls this unique gulf "the world's aquarium." The local dive boats charge around $200 a person for the trip but one can find local panga boat captains willing to do the same thing for about $20, especially if you have your own gear.
I expected the Sea of Cortez to be much calmer than the Pacific side of the peninsula but sure enough once past the breakwater we were tossed about by six foot whitecaps. After about forty minutes of turbulent travel, the captain announced to the Mexican tourists and me that it was time to suit up. I noticed that only I was getting ready. "What?" I stammered, "You folks aren't getting in?" "No," they replied. They weren't crazy enough to jump in the water with these 30-foot plus creatures lurking about the depths. "Oh, great," I thought, "I'm on my own!" When a vast grey shadow longer than our boat cruised by, the captain yelled, "Now!" I plunged into the roiling depths and swam towards the looming spotted skin of the leviathan before me. The whale shark was slowly ambling by and seemed to be keeping pace with my panicked strokes as I attempted to keep up. I travelled alongside only a few feet away from this beautiful beast! I avoided the gaping mouth that could have swallowed a Smart Car and also ensured that I steered clear of the tail that could have smacked me unconscious. After fifteen minutes or so of matching its pace I could no longer keep up and so I flagged down the vessel to pick me up. This crazy experiment repeated another three times with other leviathans as we trolled the area.
My forth dive in the water was the most transformative. I was now slightly more relaxed, as relaxed as one could be alone in turbulent surf with a sea monster! At least now I attempted to film the adventure with my GoPro camera, whereas before I was too freaked out to remember to breathe! At one point, the shark that I was chasing met up with a fellow giant and they affectionately rubbed heads against one another. For the first time I was able to just enjoy the scene without having to frantically keep up and I felt an uncanny sense of union with these peaceful creatures. I then followed the smaller of the two beasts for a while and finally flagged down the boat. When I flipped onto the safety of the deck I looked back at the sea to say farewell to my new friend and the shark rolled on its side and WAVED its six-foot long pectoral fin at us. I'm totally serious! And not just once...but for about twenty seconds! Yes, I'm still freaked out. And yes, that was a powerful wink from the Creator of the Universe Who LOVES when God's beloved human partners enjoy creation.
In late Spring my Jerusalem-based brother Yom Tov and his wife scheduled a vacation to the United States for his eight children, son-in-law and first granddaughter. It was the first time in over five years that they would pay tribute to their Diaspora relatives, a rare treat since the airfare alone costs over $20,000. The game plan was to spend Passover with my parents and then take a trip into the National Park wonderland of Southern Utah. Based on my experience travelling in that region Yom Tov empowered me to arrange an action packed itinerary for them. I plotted out in an eleven-day whirlwind tour of Zion, Bryce, and Coyote Canyons and located a fully-equipped six bedroom home equidistant to these three spectacular locations. The daily schedule included some of the best hikes that America has to offer plus zip lining, ATV riding and skiing. I got so excited about the itinerary that I decided to clear my schedule and join them on the trip, serving as tour guide and official photographer. We enjoyed adventure-filled days in the great outdoors and amusing nights frolicking in our cozy cabin. Thanks to an extensive late season snowpack we were able to spend the final day at the beautiful red rock ski resort of Brian Head.
At dawn we made about fifty sandwiches in assembly line fashion, cleaned up our beloved chateau to the best of our ability and packed in our fifteen-passenger rental van. I checked in with my folks from the road and shared the saga of where we had been and where we were going. My mother remarked, "You know, I think your brother Joey might be at that same resort." I called him to find that he had just arrived on the slopes with his wife and three kids. I should add that neither of us had ever been to this out of the way ski area as it is an unlikely destination for Southern California skiers. We all embraced at the ski lodge, amazed at the radical Divine providence that we could unite three of our four brothers and get eleven of our children skiing together.
Our plan was to drive home after that day of skiing but not before enjoying a group Jacuzzi at Joey's fancy condo that he had rented for the week. As we were getting ready to leave, my sister-in-law Jennifer got a phone call from her mother who reported that her stepfather, who has been battling cancer, took a turn for the worse and she needed to get home to say goodbye. Obviously this created an emotional upheaval for Jennifer who had to face leaving her family vacation, abandoning Joey with the kids and finding a ride three hours back to Las Vegas so that she could catch a plane back to LA. This was a miracle on top of a miracle. We were poised to leave when she got the phone call and now Jennifer had a built-in ride to get her down to the Las Vegas airport without burdening my brother Joey with a further six hour hours of driving. It also became an opportunity for us to comfort Jennifer and increase her resolve that she was doing the right thing and this is the only way to live without regrets and to be a hero for her extended family.
My friends, we can choose to live within the realm of the miraculous. Or we can carry on as highly evolved amoebas in a random world of pain and suffering. God has given us a gorgeous natural world where we can ski and surf and explore and study and never exhaust the limitless potential of God's bounty. And we have an inner world of triumph and tribulation with our Head Coach always rooting on the sidelines for each personal miracle. As Indiana Jones would say, choose wisely!
