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Gleanings
Talmud, Bible, Martin Buber...

The Message

"It was the cold winter of 1944 ... in a miserable little concentration camp grotesquely called tieberose ... my father took me and some of our friends to a corner in the barracks. He announced that it was the eve of Hanukkah, produced a curious-shaped clay bowl, and began to light a wick immersed in his precious but now melted margarine ration".
Before he could recite the blessing, I protested at this waste of food. He looked at me — then at the lamp — and finally said: "You and I have seen that it is possible to live up to three weeks without food. We once lived almost three days without water; but you cannot live properly for three minutes without hope!"of Hanukkah
...I would like to be able to end with a story of another miracle d would like to — but I cah't.
Unless it is that our guards did not see our little celebration. But that could be because the margarine had more water in it than fat, and after some spluttering and smoke the little flame went out. Nor did my father survive. But I like to think that his spirit which went back through Judah and Zechariah all the way to Abraham, is in me too; and, with a bit of luck and hope, has gone into my children. That, too, is a miracle of sorts.
(Hugo Gryn, European Judaism 1: 1977 p. 5)

Miracles about Eating

A man came from Baal-shal'ishah, bringing the man of God bread of the first fruits, twenty loaves of barley, and fresh ears of grain in his sack. And Eli'sha said, "Give to the men, that they may eat." But his servant said, "How am I to set this before a hundred men?" So he repeated, "Give them to the men, that they may eat, for thus says the Lord, 'They shall eat and have some left.'" So he set it before them. And they ate, and had some left, according to the word of the Lord.
2 Kings 4:42-44

When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, "This is a lonely place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves." Jesus said, "They need not go away; you give them something to eat." They said to him, "We have only five loaves here and two fish." And he said, "Bring them here to me." Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass; and taking the five loaves and the two fish he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
Mt. 14:15-21

They tell:
On New Year's Day, it was usual for fifteen hasidim to come to Rabbi Elimelekh, and his wife gave them to eat and to drink. But she could not serve them very generous portions, because at that time she did not have much money to spend for the household.
Once — quite late in the day — no less than forty men came instead of the expected fifteen. "Will you have enough for them to eat?" asked Rabbi Elimelekh.
"You know how are fixed!" she replied.
Before the Afternoon Prayer he asked her again: "Couldn't we divide what food we have among the forty, for they have, after all, come 'under the shadow of my roof'!"
"We have hardly enough for fifteen" said his wife.
When he said the Evening Prayer, the rabbi prayed fervently to God who provides for all creatures. After the prayer, he announced: "Now let everyone come and eat!" When the forty had eaten all they wanted, the bowls and platters were still full.
Martin Buber, Tales of the Hasidim, Early Masters, Shocken Books, New York


Says Rabbi Samuel bar Nahmani: "The earning of bread is an even greater wonder than redemption, for redemption is done through an angel, and the earning of bread is made possible through the Holy One, blessed be He. In regard to the first we read 'The angel who has redeemed me from all evil' (Gen. 48:16), while in regard to the second we read, 'Thou openest thy hand, thou satisfies( every living thing' (Psalm 145:16)." Rabbi Joshua ben Levi says: "The earning of bread is a greater wonder than the division of the Red Sea."
(Genesis Rabba Ch. 20,22. See Bab. T Pesahim 118a)


Healing at a distance:

...At Capernaum there was an official whose son was ill. When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and begged him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. Jesus therefore said to him, "Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe." The official said to him, "Sir, come down before my child dies." So Jesus said to him, "Go; your son will live." The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went his way. As he was going down, his servants met him and told him that his son was living. So he asked them the hour when he began to mend, and they said to him, "Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him." The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him "Your son will live": and he himself believed and all his household.
John 4: 46-53

Our Rabbis taught: "Once the son of Rabban Gamaliel fell ill. He sent two scholars to R. Hanina b. Dosa to ask him to pray for him. When he saw them he went to an upper room and prayed for him. When he came down he said to them, "Go the fever has left him." They said to him, "Are you a prophet?" He replied, "I am neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, but I have learned from experience that if my prayer is fluent in my mouth. I know that he is accepted, but if not I know that he is rejected." They sat down and made a note of the exact moment. When they came to R. Gamaliel, he said to them, "By the Temple Service, you have not been a moment too soon or too late, but so it happened at that very moment the fever left him and he asked for water to drink."
B. Talmud, Ber. 34b

The authority of miracles?

On a certain occasion R. Eliezer used all possible arguments to substantiate his opinion, but the Rabbis did not accept it. He said, "If I am right, may this carob tree move a hundred yards from its place." It did so. ...They said, "From a tree no proof can be brought." Then he said, "May the canal prove it." The water of the canal flowed backwards. They said, "Water cannot prove anything." Then he said, "May the walls of this House of Study prove it." Then the walls of the house bent inwards, as if they were about to fall. R. Joshua rebuked the walls, and said to them, "If the learned dispute about the Halakah [the rule, the Law], what has that to do with you?" So, tohonour R. Joshua, the walls did not fall down, but to honour R. Eliezer, they did not become quite straight again. Then R. Eliezer said, "If I am right, let the heavens prove it." Then a heavenly voice said, "What have you against R. Eliezer? The Halakah is always with him." Then R. Joshua got up and said, "It is not in heaven" (Dent. xxx, 12), What did he mean by this? R. Jeremiah said, "The 'Law was given us from Sinai. We pay no attention to a heavenly voice. For already from Sinai the Law said, 'By a majority you are to decide— (Exod. xxiii, 2 as homiletically interpreted). R. Nathan met Elijah and asked him what God did in that hour. Elijah replied, "He laughed and said, 'My children have conquered me.'
(B. Talmud Bab. M. 59b)

The belief in "the hidden miracles is the basis for the entire Torah. A man has no share in the Torah, unless he believes that all things and all events in the life of the individual as well as in the life of society are miracles. There is no such thing as the natural course of event ..."
(Nahmanides, Commpentary on Exodus 13:16 A.H. Heschel, God in Search of Man, Meridian Books and J.P.S.A.)

How St. Francis Miraculously healed the Leper

It came to pass once that in a certain place near to which St. Francis then dwelt, the brothers were serving in an infirmary for lepers and other sick, where was one leper so impatient and so insufferably insolent that everyone believed for certain that he was possesed by the devil, because he assailed with such shameful abuse, and so showered blows upon everyone who served him and ... he blasphemously reviled the blessed Christ and his most holy Virgin Mother Mary, till at last no one could by any means be found who could or would serve him. Although the brothers strove to bear patiently the injuries and insults levelled against themselves ... yet those which were uttered against Christ and His mother they could not in conscience bear, so that they determined to abandon him altogether. But they would not do this until they had mentioned the matter to St. Francis, who was then staying in a place close by.

And when he had heard what they had to tell. St. Francis went to this peverse leper, and saluted him saying: "God give thee peace, my beloved brother!" But the leper answered: "What peace can I have from God, who has taken away peace and all good from me, and caused me to be covered with rottenness and to stink?" Francis Said: "My son, have patience, forasmuch as the infirmities of the body are given by God in this world for the salvation of the soul, because they are of great merit when borne patiently." The sick man replied: "And how can I bear patiently the continual pain which afflicts me both day and night? And I am afflicted ... still worse by the brothers whom thou hast sent to serve me, and who do not serve me as they ought."

Then St. Francis. knowing ... that this leper was possessed by the evil spirit, went and gave himself up to prayer, and besought God devoutly for him. And his prayer ended, he returned to the leper and said: "Now I will serve thee myself, since thou art not contented with the others ... Whatsoever thou desirest, I will do." Said the leper: "I desire that thou shouldst wash me allover, because my wounds smell so foully that I cannot bear with myself." Then St. Francis quickly had water heated, and many sweet-smelling herbs put :into it and after this, he stripped the leper and began to wash him with his own hands whilst another brother poured on the water. And by divine miracle, whenever St. Francis touched him with his holy hands the leprosy departed and the flesh became perfectly whole; and as the flesh began to heal, so the soul began to be healed also. Wherefore the leper, seeing that he was on the way to be healed, began to have great compunction and repentance for his sins and to weep bitterly; so that as the body was cleansed outwardly from the leprosy by the washing with water, so the soul was purified inwardly from sin by repentance and by tears...

(The Little Flowers of St. Francis of Assisi, The Carroll Press, Baltimore. USA)