Judaism and the Supernatural

My friend Patricia Herdoiza (who is Catholic) wrote a note entitled "Love and Sex", in which she relates a story she heard, regarding a young woman walking alone who escaped rape because she had faith in God. When, at a police lineup, she asked the man (who later raped another young woman) why he didn't rape her, he answered that she had had two men accompanying her on either side.

I will give my own reply to her story, but let me first quote the story in full:

A teenage girl about 17 had gone to visit some friends one evening and time passed quickly as each shared their various experiences of the past year.

She ended up staying longer than planned, and had to walk home alone. She wasn't afraid because it was a small town and she lived only a few blocks away.

As she walked along under the tall elm trees, Diane asked God to keep her safe from harm and danger.

When she reached the alley, which was a short cut to her house, she decided to take it.

However, halfway down the alley she noticed a man standing at the end as though he were waiting for her.

She became uneasy and began to pray, asking for God's protection.

Instantly a comforting feeling of quietness and security wrapped round her, she felt as though someone was walking with her.

When she reached the end of the alley, she walked right past the man and arrived home safely.

The following day, she read in the newspaper that a young girl had been raped in the same alley just twenty minutes after she had been there.

Feeling overwhelmed by this tragedy and the fact that it could have been her, she began to weep.

Thanking the Lord for her safety and to help this young woman, she decided to go to the police station.

She felt she could recognize the man, so she told them her story.

The police asked her if she would be willing to look at a lineup to see if she could identify him.

She agreed and immediately pointed out the man she had seen in the alley the night before.

When the man was told he had been identified, he immediately broke down and confessed.

The officer thanked Diane for her bravery and asked if there was anything they could do for her.

She asked if they would ask the man one question.

Diane was curious as to why he had not attacked her.

When the policeman asked him, he answered, "Because she wasn't alone. She had two tall men walking on either side of her."

Amazingly, whether you believe or not, you're never alone. Did you know that 98% of teenagers will not stand up for God?

Repost this as Love vs. Sex if you truly believe in God...


PS: God is always there in your heart and loves you no matter what.....and if you stand up for him he will stand up for you.

I bet 99% of you people that read this won't repost.

My reply:

I myself belong to a school of Jewish thought that is very much indebted to the Medieval Spanish Aristotelians and the 19th century Germans, so suffice it to say, I don't put much stock in miracles and wonder-working and the like.

Now, I don't doubt that God practices Divine Providence (Hebrew: Hashgaha Pratit), but generally, I assume that He works within nature, using what exists in ordinary reality in order to perform His desires. Additionally, sometimes He must simply refrain from assisting the righteous and punishing the wicked, in order to retain free will. (If being righteous allowed one to go out in the cold without a coat, then the wicked would start being righteous merely for ulterior motive (Hebrew: lo l'shem shamayim), and not for the sake of Heaven (Hebrew: l'shem shamayim).

I generally follow Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch of 19th century Germany, who testifies that he never gave much thought at all to the reality of magic, miracles, the Afterlife (Hebrew: Olam ha'Ba), etc., because, he says, in the end, he knows what God has commanded him in the Torah. God says not to do evil, so what difference does it make whether God will reward you? Rabbi Eliezer Berkovits, also of the German school, says bluntly that success and failure are meaningless in things of the spirit; what is wrong is wrong even if it succeeds, and what is right is right even if fails.

Nevertheless, I've heard a few amazing stories in my time. My mother, who is about as rationalistic and naturalistic as I am, tells me of the time she was driving her car and got sideswiped by a tractor trailer. She says that in her mind, she heard a voice - not her own mind's voice, but someone else's - telling her to push the brake. She thought, "Why not?", and did so, and stopped just short of going over the barrier on the side of the road.

She tells me a story her mother told her: a flood was coming, and as people were preparing to cross a given bridge, a certain man appeared and told them not to do so. The people turned around, and when they looked back, the man was gone.

She tells me another story her own mother, my maternal grandmother, told her: one of our ancestors, I forget which - maybe my grandmother's sister, or aunt, or cousin, or...? - was sick and dying in bed. Her own mother in turn came, and the girl said, "Mommy, aren't they beautiful?" Her mother asked what, and she replied, "Why, the angels!" Within a few moments, she died.

Now, in my rationalistic and naturalistic skepticism of miracles and reward and punishment, I am indeed going further than most traditional Jews do. Most did in fact have a quite significant belief in the reality of magic, astrology, miracles, demons, etc.

But even for them, they didn't let this belief deter them from what they felt their duty was. A certain Hasidic (a certain very mystically-inclined school of Jewish thought originating in prewar Eastern Europe) rebbe taught that everything in the world has a purpose. Whereupon, one his students asked what the purpose of atheism is. The rebbe replied, "When a poor man comes to you, imagine that there is no one but yourself - not even God! - to assist him. God sent this poor man to you to aid him, not for you to refer him back to his Sender."

Similarly, in Deuteronomy 13:1-6, (according to the 1917 JPS translation, here)we read:

All this word which I command you, that shall ye observe to do; thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it. If there arise in the midst of thee a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams--and he give thee a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spoke unto thee--saying: 'Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them'; thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or unto that dreamer of dreams; for the LORD your God putteth you to proof, to know whether ye do love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. After the LORD your God shall ye walk, and Him shall ye fear, and His commandments shall ye keep, and unto His voice shall ye hearken, and Him shall ye serve, and unto Him shall ye cleave. And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken perversion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of bondage, to draw thee aside out of the way which the LORD thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put away the evil from the midst of thee.

Maimonides (of Medieval Spain) and others taught that Judaism puts extremely little stock in miracles. Perhaps the miracle *did* occur; perhaps this non-Jew or this idolater *is* a prophet - what difference does it make? God at Sinai told us to follow the Torah, and no miracle, no matter how amazing, will deter us. Perhaps Jesus did in fact perform miracles; what of it? The Torah itself long ago gave the Jew his answer.

To return to the Hasidic rebbe: Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, the present-day Chief Rabbi of Britain, explains why Moses refused to look at God at the burning bush: Moses did not want to see God and understand why the suffering deserve their punishment. God has His supernal truth, but that is for Him, not us. "The secrets are God's, but the revealed things are for us and for our children, to keep this Torah." (Deuteronomy 29:28 or verse 29, depending on your Bible.) Says Rabbi Sacks, had Moses discovered the workings of reward and punishment, he'd no longer be human. Instead, Moses desired to remain ignorant of G-d's ways of reward and punishment, so that he could continue to aid the poor and suffering, without regard for whether they deserve their suffering or not. Let God deal with His business, and we will deal with ours. "It is not in heaven." (Deuteronomy 30:12.)

With this, the Medieval refusal of Jews to convert to Christianity and Islam is readily explicable. Maimonides writes a letter to the Jews of Yemen regarding Muslim proselytism, saying that Mohammed may very well have been a prophet, but that it makes no difference; if he tells us to violate the Torah, or tells us anything but to keep the Torah, then we will not listen to him, no matter how many miracles he does.

Patricia, [who is Catholic,] I hope you realize that everything I've said is said for the sake of intellectual interest and honesty, and not for the sake of belittling others' faiths. I am only saying what I believe is true, and I respect the fact that others will disagree with me.