Berakhot 54
“One must recite a blessing for the good that befalls him just as for the bad.”
Miracle of Miracles! Today’s reading is about miracles and the blessings we say to acknowledge such wonders in our lives. There are the miracles of the natural world, including thunder, gale force winds, lightening, mountains, hills, rivers, and the great sea (which the Koren Talmud says is the Mediterranean.) Immersing oneself in the Mediterranean early in the morning when you have the still waters all to yourself can feel like a miracle.
It is not difficult to say blessings for majestic wonders, or for when we are fortunate in our lives. But what about when despair occurs? The Talmud says: “One recites the appropriate blessing for the trouble that he is experiencing at present despite the fact that it may conceal some positive element in the future. Similarly, one must recite a blessing for the good that befalls him just as for the bad.” I want to read this to mean we should say a blessing for trouble because bad things often bring with them growth in our life and new opportunities. We all know the saying that “if one door closes, another opens.” But that is not what the text says, which is that we should say a blessing despite the fact that trouble may conceal positive outcomes in the future. It is asking a lot of us to say blessings over misfortune; it is a very high bar for being a person of faith. In the case of Lot’s wife who is turned to salt, two blessings are required: one for the “true judge” and one for remembrance of the “righteous.” We are offered a more comforting perspective with the quote from Psalms 107:28 that offers a respite from pain: “They cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and He brings them out of their distress.” The language in the Psalms offers us some possibility of deliverance from pain, even if the earlier text about the blessing suggests we just accept it.
Temple Mount is one of the miraculous sites that the Talmud tells us we should revere; we are warned against conducting ourselves “flippantly opposite the eastern gate of the Temple Mount, which is aligned opposite the Holy of Holies.” Although the site today is one of the most contested in history, it is also one of the most beautiful; the dome on the top of the mount is breathtaking in its golden glow and how it overlooks the city of Jerusalem. It is truly a miracle.
Many more miracles appear in today’s text, including the parting of the Red Sea, the crossings of the Jordan, hailstones of Elgavish on the descent of Beit Ḥoron, the rock upon which Moses sat when Joshua waged war against Amalek, and the wall of Jericho that was swallowed up in its place. We are reminded to give thanks for all these miracles.
It’s can be a challenge to understand the miracles that occurred in the bible from our modern perspective. How can we explain the parting of the dead sea? Is there a natural explanation for the phenomenon? Is it possible with our knowledge of the natural world that many of the miracles mentioned in today’s reading might be explainable? Should we step out of our modern selves for a moment and put aside our rational thought and accept that there are miracles in the world?
This article from My Jewish Learning reminds us that “miracles” is a relative concept at the time the Talmud was written, because there was no concept of natural law before the advent of modern science. At the same time, the article reminds us that although there is a tendency to explain miracles from today’s scientific perspective, we may not want to so quickly dismiss the existence of something out there larger than ourselves that is responsible for things we cannot easily explain.
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/jewish-views-on-miracles/