Miracles, The Birth of Isaac and Jewish Theology

Whoever believes in miracles is an imbecile.  Whoever does not is an atheist.

          Menahem Mendel of Kotzk, the Kotzker Rebbe.

I want to offer some brief thoughts about miracles in the context of the birth of Isaac.

The story begins “And YHVH appeared to him in the oaks of Mamre And he was sitting at the tent entrance in the heat of the day and he raised his eyes and here were three people standing over him.” (18:1-2). Abraham is once again at the  sacred grove, the Alon Moreh, the teaching tree of Chapter 12 which was his first stop  after leaving his homeland. 

Abraham feeds his guests a just slaughtered calf, special for the occasion, and curds and milk (18:8), a nice non kosher meal.  One of the visitors says he will return to you next year and you will have a son.  (18:10) Sarah, hearing this from inside the tent simply laughs since she no longer menstruates and says how is she to have children?  But YHVH says to Abraham “Is anything too wonderous for YHVH?” (18:13) and indeed Isaac is born a year later. This is  the foundational text for the virtue of Hachnasat Orchim, hospitality to guests, that is such an important practice in the desert.

This is also the story of a miracle.  I define “miracle” here as a divine intervention in the natural order of things that contravenes the natural order.  Sarah, as a post menopausal woman should not have been able to get pregnant and bear a child.

Miracles were a huge philosophical problem for Jewish philosophy in the Middle ages because, under the influence of Aristotle, philosophers such as Maimonides wanted to reject the very possibility of occurrences that counteracted the natural order.  Yet the Hebrew Bible is the story of a divine being, YHVH, who actively and routinely intervenes in history, completely contrary to Aristotle’s vision of a divine being who sets the universe in motion and then steps back and lets it unfold, following what we today would call scientific laws. Part of the fierce Medieval debate were philosophers who held that without miracles, a belief in the divinity didn’t make any sense.  They believed, as the Kotzker put it, if you did not believe that miracles existed, you were an atheist.  

Carol Christ in her wonderfully readable book She Who Changes, talks about three views of the divine.  Theism, Panentheism and Pantheism.  Theism holds that the divine is completely separate from the world.  This is much the view of Aristotle and I read Maimonides this way. Panentheism holds that the divine is separate from the world AND able to be active in the world.  This is the view of the Hebrew Bible, as exemplified in our story of Isaac, or the Exodus from Egypt, or the battles of Joshua etc etc. It is also the view of the Baal Shem Tov and Arthur Green in our day.  Pantheism is the view that the divine is in no way outside of the world or separate from the system. This is the view of Spinoza, and his noisy advocacy of it led to his excommunication from the Jewish community.

Theology is a really difficult topic, but if you can sort through where you are on the Theism, Panentheism, Pantheism spectrum, that will give you some clarity about your theological beliefs and your view of the relationship of the divine and the world we inhabit.

QUESTIONS

Where are you on are on the Theism, Panentheism, Pantheism spectrum?

How would you define the word “miracle?”  Do you believe miracles are possible? What have you experienced in your life that you would define as a miracle? 

I can think of things in my life where I have been incredibly fortunate.  Is that the same as a miracle?