Belief in Miracles and an Omnipotent God
Adapted from Rabbi Braun’s sermon in 5770
I had two conversations with some of the younger members of our shul over the Yom Tov season, one in high school and one in college regarding what stories we must believe to be literal and which we do not. Must we believe that all of the stories in the Talmud happened or do we assume that they are just good stories meant to illustrate a message. What about the stories in the Torah, or the rest of the Bible?
Those are certainly fair questions and they are questions that I think about every time I encounter such a story.
I am not going to answer that question this morning, but I would like to provide a context in which to frame the question.
My point of departure is a seemingly benign suggestion of the Netziv, Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin relating to exactly which humans were brought into the Ark. The Torah seems to be very clear that it is Noah, his wife, his sons and their wives.
The Netziv argues that it was not only the immediate family members but the household staff as well.
His proof, although far from ironclad, is a textual one. In chapter 6 verse 18 Noah is told exactly who is to come into the ark and that is the list that I just read to you. At the beginning of chapter 7 God tells Noah, “Come with your entire household into the ark.”
The Netziv believing that this can’t simply be an unnecessary restatement of the previous command argues that this command instructs Noah to bring the staff and his family animals as well. This is a favor that God does for Noah; because Noah is righteous God allows him to keep his animals and allows him to bring the staff onto the boat to make life a little easier for him during the flood. According to this, there were animals on the ark to ensure continuity of the species and then there was Noah’s private collection.
He uses the same idea to answer another interesting question. We all know that Noah sends out two birds, a raven and a dove. Why those two birds and not a faster and better flying bird? You would expect the answer to be something symbolic of peace or some reason that these specific birds are chosen.
There is an unasked question which I think is quite good. How could Noah send out a bird if he was unsure if it would make it back? Would that not destroy the species and ruin God’s plan?
The Netziv argues, the reason that these two birds are chosen is simple- they were part of Noah’s private collection. They were his birds and thus he could send them out without risking the species.
According to this approach we are not all descendants of Noah. You thought you were, but you might not be.
You have to ask yourself, why does the Netziv make this claim? There are plenty of other quality answers to both of his questions. Why introduce this new piece to the story? Is there some other benefit from or reason to adopt such an approach?
The destruction of the entire world of people except for Noah and his family raises 2 very good questions:
- How did the world repopulate so quickly and where did all of the people come from?
- In the world today we have many different types of people, Caucasian, Black Asian etc. How did we evolve so quickly?
Certainly, having more people on the ark and possibly different types of people on the ark can help us answer these questions.
If we are to accept that this is pushing the Netziv then we must confront another good question- does the Netziv have the right to introduce facts not in evidence in the Torah because logically he feels it to be right or necessary?
Is “how can that be if it does not square with what we know about the world” a fair question or not?
Can we ask it about the flood? Can we ask it about evolution?
I think that it is a fair line of inquiry and one that we should not be afraid of, but I would add in the same sentence that that we have to be very careful as we proceed.
There are two things that I believe are absolutely essential to keep in mind:
- Be humble and understand that you don’t know everything- we don’t know everything about the world and even what we think we know might change in the future. That does not mean that we discard human and scientific knowledge, but it should introduce a level of humility into the discussion.
- I think that this idea is more critical than the first. We must not confuse the question of “how do I reconcile the information that the Torah shares with us and the world as we see it?” with “how can I believe in anything that I can’t understand and see?” The first question is a legitimate one, the second I believe is not.
The line between those two seems to be very fine and I think there is a correlation. Once you ask the first question- how based on my knowledge can I understand this episode in the Torah, you have introduced human and scientific knowledge as a factor in interpreting and understanding the Torah. That I believe is correct and necessary. The danger occurs when one takes that line of reasoning too far and crosses the theological boundary into – I can only accept what is rational and logical etc. Once there you try to unread the miracles recorded in the Torah and the Bible.
That is certainly wrong, and I believe that it is quasi heretical as it challenges the omnipotence of God.
I wonder why so many in our world have trouble with the miraculous and divine and I wonder what it says about our perception of Hashem?
Even regarding the wild stories in the Talmud, which for numerous reasons I do not believe that they are, or were ever meant to be recordings of historical episodes, I usually respond with – I believe that anything is possible; I just don’t believe that it did. But when it comes to that which is recorded in the Bible, I am not sure why people are bothered by the miracles and wonders. Why can’t we conceive of it?
Especially in today’s age of logic, reason and science, we need to make sure that our hearts and minds are open to a God who we can’t comprehend and who is omnipotent and all able beyond our wildest dreams.
