"Miraculous Nature" - Part One

OVERVIEW

The centrality of miracles within religion is not a new concept. If an omnipotent G-d exists then the possibility of a transcendent force breaking the laws of nature is obvious and apparent. What is not as apparent is if there is a comprehensive system within Jewish thought for understanding the interaction between the laws of nature and miracles. What are the mechanisms of this interaction. Are there different categories of miracles and what are the conceptual differences between them. When does G-d intervene and when does He not. Why would G-d intervene if he wants man to forge his own destiny and ultimate redemption.

All these are important questions. Yet it appears that a system and language was not fully developed for understanding this area of Jewish thought until recently. What follows is an analysis of the inner workings and intricacies of miracles as the concept has been developed by the Chabad masters. In later posts we will explore these same concepts from the perspectives of other Jewish thinkers and discover the differences that exist on this topic.

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CHAPTER ONE

To begin we must first define our terms. A miracle means that according to the natural order of the world the outcome would have been x. Instead, the outcome was y and we are attributing this unnatural outcome to the intervention of the divine. Meaning there is an engagement and interaction between two systems of reality. How do these two systems connect? Or do they? What are the consequences of this connection?

To understand this we have to step back and examine the meta-physical structure of a miracle. A miracle in Chassidic thought means that there is a revelation of a level of G-dliness that transcends the physical world. It is this revelation that is the catalyst for the physical phenomena that we see on the experiential end. So there are two distinct elements here. There is a spiritual level descending into the material natural realm and revealing itself, what we will call the “divine end”. The second element is the physical result of this divine revelation, what we will call the “users end”. 

I.e. G-d places a certain degree and quality of life- force into nature to make it work and a miracle is when G-d takes out this degree of life-force and inserts a higher and loftier life- force into the world. Let’s consider a specific case such as when the sea of reeds split for the Jews. There was the normative level of divinity that is usually in the water giving it its existence and nature. This divine bundle of energy, if you will, gave the water its nature of flowing and being under the dominion of certain forces such as gravity, the pull of the moon and the currents flowing within it. The sea splitting and standing like a wall was the result of a transcendent life-force being inserted into the water, a life-force that was above the physical realm and thus not subject to its laws.

This is the first most basic level of a miracle, what we will call the “open dominant miracle”. Open because it is a revealed apparent miracle. “Dominant” because in this category there is no dialogue or engagement between the two systems (of nature and the divine). Rather the divine comes in and takes over, i.e. breaks the system of nature and doesn’t reckon with it.

Then there is what Chassidus calls the integrate miracle. An integrated miracle is a miracle that is not readily apparent to the perception of Man. An example of this would be the military miracle of Hanukkah. By Hanukkah there was no specific place where one could point and say there is the breaking of nature. What you had was a situation that was incredibly unlikely to the point of being impossible to believe. If one saw one weak person overwhelm one hundred battle hardened veterans they would be utterly shocked to the point that they would most probably feel that they had just witnessed an act of G-d. Yet nowhere was there an openly supernatural act occurring that was clearly beyond the realm of the natural. This is what Chassidus calls the “integrated miracle”.

An important point to bear in mind is that a dominant miracle is dominant because it is open and is open because it is dominant. The two concepts are bound together. If something is openly flouting the rules of nature then clearly it is not working with nature but rather breaking and dominating the system of nature. And so too with an integrated miracle. An integrated miracle is integrated because it is concealed and is concealed because it is integrated.

[Within this itself there are two categories. There is the “recognizable integrated miracle” such as Hanukkah where clearly something incredible and otherworldly took place. Then there is the “non- recognizable integrated miracle” where the miracle is so internalized within nature that it is not apparent at all that anything supernatural occurred. What the Talmud calls ‘ein baal hanes maker be’niso’ or “the master of [i.e. the one who experienced] the miracle does not even recognize his own miracle”. For the sake of clarity and conciseness this analysis will limit itself to the general category of the “recognizable integrated miracle”.]

The conceptual implication of this category (of the integrated miracle) is that there is a possibility of the divine system working with the natural system and not just ignoring it at will. I.e. G-d wanted the Jews to win over the Greeks- yet there are different ways they could have won. G-d could have rained down fiery hail on the Greeks as He did in Egypt. He could have stopped the sun as He did for Joshua. Yet the miracle took place within the system of nature and not outside its scope.

Obviously there was a bending of nature; but a breaking did not take place. Nature was manipulated and redirected instead of simply being ignored.

CHAPTER TWO

Chassidic thought asserts that the primary purpose of a miracle is to show that G-d is present and in charge. If that is the case then what innovation does each category of miracle bring to the table? I.e. do the two categories of the “dominant” miracle and the “integrated” miracle represent simply two different ways of achieving the same end result? Or are they actually two radically different paths resulting in two very different ends.

In fact they are two very different paths with two different ends. A dominant miracle expresses something that an integrated miracle could never express and vice versa. When G-d breaks nature He is showing that the system of nature is not something that he needs to deal with and redirect; rather the entire system has no say in the matter. The sea split not because the divine coaxed nature or redirected nature but rather because in the face of the divine there is no substance to nature that one would need to reckon with in the first place. Put simply the dominant miracle is expressing the negation of the natural order to the divine will.

Not so with the integrated miracle. The integrated miracle is expressing something quite different. This category is demonstrating that the divine is not just powerful because it can negate the natural order and overwhelm it. Rather the divine is so powerful that it can even bend nature to its will from within the system itself. Natural and yet supernatural. An act of G-d taking place from within rather than from without. Put simply the integrated miracle is expressing the vulnerability and compatibility of the natural order to the divine will.