Miracles and Nature

“The notion of a reality independent of either of us, taken from ordinary social experience, lies at the base of the pragmatist definition of truth.” 

Pragmatism and miracles are our topics of the day. And what better way to do it than with the work of the late philosopher and psychologist William James.

Born in 1842 and died in 1910, William James is considered by some as the father of Psychology as he was the first to offer a psychology course at Harvard University in 1875.

In his philosophical writings however, James made contributions in Epistemology by exploring the definition of truth. To James, an idea was true as long as it proved useful — hence, pragmatism.

Before we dive further into James’ definition of truth, let’s take a sharp 180 turn, to talk about miracles.

Miracles are at the heart of our Torah portion this week - Balak.

Balak ben Tzipor who was the king of Moav saw that the people of Israel were very successful in their conquest. Fearing for his kingdom, he summoned Bilaam ben Beor, the great prophet and asked him to curse Israel so they would begin to fail. God forbids Bilaam from agreeing to this and so Bilaam refuses Balak’s messengers. After Balak keeps insisting, God allows Bilaam to go, but only if Bilaam does what God instructs him to do.

On his way to Balak, Bilaam’s Donkey suddenly freezes and refuses to move. Bilaam strikes the Donkey several times but she still does not move. Finally:

וַיִּפְתַּ֥ח יְהֹוָ֖ה אֶת־פִּ֣י הָאָת֑וֹן וַתֹּ֤אמֶר לְבִלְעָם֙ מֶה־עָשִׂ֣יתִֽי לְךָ֔ כִּ֣י הִכִּיתַ֔נִי זֶ֖ה שָׁלֹ֥שׁ רְגָלִֽים׃

“Then יהוה opened the ass’s mouth, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you that you have beaten me these three times?””

Yes, God opens the donkey’s mouth and she speaks, asking Bilaam why he keeps striking her. Then God opens Bilaam’s eyes and he sees that there is an angel holding a sword, standing in the donkey’s way. 

Eventually Bilaam reaches Balak, but whenever Bilaam opens his mouth with a full intention to curse Israel, a blessing comes out of it instead. 

This story describes several miracles, but even more exceptionally a breaking of a natural law. Conversations with God and different types of revelation are common in the Torah, but a speaking animal is not. 

To this the sages of the Mishnah had something very interesting to say and it appears in Pirkei Avot:

עֲשָׂרָה דְבָרִים נִבְרְאוּ בְּעֶרֶב שַׁבָּת בֵּין הַשְּׁמָשׁוֹת, וְאֵלּוּ הֵן, פִּי הָאָרֶץ, וּפִי הַבְּאֵר, וּפִי הָאָתוֹן, וְהַקֶּשֶׁת, וְהַמָּן, וְהַמַּטֶּה, וְהַשָּׁמִיר, וְהַכְּתָב, וְהַמִּכְתָּב, וְהַלּוּחוֹת. וְיֵשׁ אוֹמְרִים, אַף הַמַּזִּיקִין, וּקְבוּרָתוֹ שֶׁל משֶׁה, וְאֵילוֹ שֶׁל אַבְרָהָם אָבִינוּ. וְיֵשׁ אוֹמְרִים, אַף צְבָת בִּצְבָת עֲשׂוּיָה:   

Ten things were created on the eve of the Sabbath at twilight, and these are they: [1] the mouth of the earth, [2] the mouth of the well, [3] the mouth of the donkey, [4] the rainbow, [5] the manna, [6] the staff [of Moses], [7] the shamir, [8] the letters, [9] the writing, [10] and the tablets. And some say: also the demons, the grave of Moses, and the ram of Abraham, our father. And some say: and also tongs, made with tongs.

This list sums up most miracles which appear in the Torah and even the Tanach. Number 3 on the list, “The mouth of the donkey” of course refers to our portion.

In Jewish thought there are different approaches to miracles. A known Machloket (dispute) is between the Ramban (Maimonides) and the Maharal of Prague.

Rambam, who comes from the rationalistic philosophical approach, sees miracles as a built-in part of nature. According to him, during the creation of the world, the miracles were created as well, and thus they are not breaking the laws of nature but rather, they are a part of it. In Guide for the Perplexed the Rambam writes:

“...when God created the Universe with its present physical properties, He made it part of these properties, that they should produce certain miracles at certain times…”

The Maharal of Prague holds the exact opposite view on miracles and claims that those were deliberately created to break the laws of nature in order to display God’s superiority and power. In his book “Gevurot Hashem” he writes:

 "כי הנס הוא דבר שהוא נגד הסדר הטבעי, כי הסדר הטבעי הוא שנתן השם יתברך לעולם, והנס הוא שינוי הסדר הזה על ידי כח עליון שהוא למעלה מן הטבע, ולפיכך הנס הוא דבר שהוא מורה על השגחת השם יתברך בעולם... כי הנס הוא דבר שהוא מראה שהשם יתברך הוא בעל היכולת לעשות כרצונו, ואין דבר מעכב אותו."

"Because a miracle is something that is against the natural order, because the natural order is what God, blessed be He, gave to the world, and a miracle is a change in this order by a higher power that is above nature, and therefore a miracle is something that indicates God's providence in the world... Because a miracle is something that shows that God, blessed be He, has the ability to do as He wills, and nothing hinders Him."

General philosophy too has several different approaches towards the definition of truth.

The rationalist approach, that of Descartes and Leibnitz, like the Rambam assumes absolute truths about the world and nature which are deduced from logic. Famous example is Descartes’ Cogito (I think therefore I am.)

On the other end there are the Skeptics such as David Hume and later William James, who do not assume any truths about the world. Truth is utilitarian, an approach closer to the Maharal.

According to James, truth only resides in our experience. For example, one can claim that a book is always soft until something comes in contact with it. Judging this claim by my experience alone could make it true. I can only feel a book when I come in contact with it, and therefore it is always hard.

Is the belief that otherwise a book is soft useful to me? Not really. It is therefore not necessarily false, but it is unnecessary. 

According to James truth is an adjective rather than a noun. It can be applied on a case by case basis.

Israeli-French Rabbi Uri Sherky, gives a mindblowing teaching about the possibility of miracles. Back to the Mishnah that we started with, miracles according to Jewish tradition, were created Bein Hashmashot. At twilight. What is that twilight?

Sherky examines the different philosophical approaches to truth through a Jewis lens.

Jewish tradition differentiates between the six days of creation and the seventh day of rest. 

During the six days, Sherky explains, God was constantly changing and molding the world, shifting it and intervening in it. Essentially this was a world which was in constant state of flux and since there was no one to experience it, it was a William Jamesian world where everything was possible.

On the seventh day God rested. That rest is to mean that now nature exists in an immovable, absolute and constant world, a world which has rules, a rational world, that of Descartes and Leibnitz.

What makes miracle possible is exactly the twilight between the the six and the seventh day; it is the magical moment right before Shabbat enters, it is the merger of the uncertain and certain, it is when the laws of nature can break and transfer to the natural world — this is the time that the sages of the Mishnah were referring to.