Rabbi Rael Blumenthal

A week ago, I got into a debate with a fellow Jew online. When the bodies of Kfir and Ariel Bibas were returned, without their mother, I harbored the unreasonable hope that Shiri Bibas was still alive, that somehow she had escaped.

Emotionally, I wrote the following:

I know it’s absurd but somewhere, deep down, I’m secretly dreaming, hoping, yearning that tomorrow Shiri Bibas will emerge in slow motion victorious a superhero from the hell hole of Gaza in a blaze of orange smoke as hamas is torn apart destroyed in her wake. Never to recover And without looking behind her, she’ll whisper with the voice of ten thousand mothers “That was for my boys.” And if Shiri Bibas cannot do it... Then Hashem it’s time You do it.

Tragically, as we now know, Shiri Bibas did not survive.

But the hope that Hashem eliminates our enemies and avenges the blood of His children is burning in the hearts and minds of Klal Yisrael.

It was this regarding this point, however, that I was challenged. Is it reasonable to Daven that Hashem destroys our enemies? One commenter wrote “Not the way the world works. God waits for us. He doesn’t like to intervene.”

That’s certainly true... to some extent. The Shulchan Aruch (או”ח רל:א) rules, we are forbidden to pray for a change in the natural order of the world:

One who prays for something that has already happened. For example, he entered the city and heard a cry in the city and he prayed “may it be God's will that this cry is not from a member of my household” or if his his wife was expecting and more than forty days had passed and he said “may it be God's will that my wife will give birth to a boy – behold this is a meaningless prayer. Rather a person should always pray for the future and give thanks for the past...

This Halacha, however, seems contradictory to a custom of the Kol Bo, as quotes by the Rema (או”ח קפז:ד):

If a person forgot to say Al HaNissim in Birkas HaMazon on Channukah or Purim, they should add a “Harachaman”, saying: “May The Merciful One Perform For Us Miracles Like He Did In Those Days”... and this is our custom.

Apparently, there are times that we can pray for miracles explicitly. The Rishonim and Achronim grapple with the distinction, offering explanations as to when we can and cannot ask Hashem to change nature.

• The Yeshuos Yaakov writes that we may not pray for open miracles that defy the laws of nature. But we are certainly allowed to pray for hidden miracles where nature is not obviously subverted.
• The Einayim Lamishpat explains that we differentiate between miracles that we want, versus miracles that we need for survival.
• The Bechor Shor (see Shaarei Teshuva 187:2) notes that there is a difference between an individual and Klal Yisrael. Individuals cannot pray for miracles, since there is no guarantee that an individual is worthy of miracles. But Klal Yisrael is always worthy of miracles.

From all of these explanations, it seems clear that we can and should be praying for Hashem to perform miracles for Klal Yisrael in Eretz Yisrael; for Tzahal and for the hostages still held in brutal captivity.

None of this means we can rely on miracles alone, the Talmud Yerushalmi (יומא א:ד) learns from the Pasuk לא תנסו את ה' אלהיכם – do not test Hashem your God. But we can certainly ask, yearn and hope for miracles when it pertains to life and death of individuals and the needs of the Jewish people.

Thus far, we have discussed the propriety and permissibility of these tefillos. The question that remains is if there is anything we can do it merit these tefillos being answered.

Rabbi Yaakov Yitzchak, the Yid Hakdosh of P’shischa, was asked this question in a harrowing moment in his own life.

It once happened that a messenger raced into the Beis Medrash telling the Yid Hakdosh that something was wrong with his son Asher. He had contracted some mysterious illness, the Rebbe should get home as soon as possible; not much time was left.

As he entered his home, a path was cleared to his son’s bed, where he saw the young boy in deep pain and distress, struggling to breath and holding by the last moments of his life. The Yid Hakadosh sat by his son’s bed waiting for the inevitable, when a talmid, Rabbi Peretz, grabbed a Chumash from the bed side table and opened it. The Pasuk was from our Parsha: וְאֶל־הָאָרֹן תִּתֵּן אֶת־הָעֵדֻת אֲשֶׁר אֶתֵּן אֵלֶיךָ – And into the Ark you should place the Tablets which I will give to you.

The Rebbe heard the last words of the Pasuk speaking to him, אֲשֶׁר אֶתֵּן אֵלֶיךָ, “The Torah is telling me, I will give you Asher. My son Asher!” Hope is not lost.

He then stood up and declared: I herby swear that I will give everything that I own to tzedaka; my home and everything in it, down to every thread and shoelace. Master of Universe, it is unreasonable to assume that a child taking has last breath will recover. But it’s also unreasonable for a person to give everything that they own to Tzedaka. I’ll be unreasonable for you, and You’ll be unreasonable for me.

As he finished speaking, color returned to his son’s face. Slowly, Asher made a full recover.

And that’s our Avoda as well. We need miracles. We need Hashem to intervene and help us; to violate the rules of nature which He put in place. But to merit these miracles, we need to overcome our nature as well. If we’re ready and will live an unreasonable life, we’re entitled to ask for unreasonable results.

With Hashem’s help as Chodesh Adar enters, we should soon see miracles. Like He for our ancestors in those days, in this time.