MIRACLES: OPEN
AND
HIDDEN
__________

g :
hello!!!
SimShalom :
Hi, how are you?
g :
I'm great!
and you?
SimShalom :
Ok thanks..so what is on your mind..?
g :
I was wondering...
what happened to miracles??
why don't they happen anymore?

SimShalom :
They do happen.
g:
but not like they did in the past...
it was so obvious back then...
SimShalom :
It is a good question nevertheless. Judaism does have an answer.
g :
so tell me...
SimShalom :
Well, the basic point is. As long as the two Jewish Temples were in existence, and the majority of the Jewish people lived in the borders of Israel, and did the Temple service, They had kings, priests, and PROPHETS who could communicate with God. Thus God's "Presence" (His 'Shechina') was more evident it was more in the open. And there were therefore many OPEN miracles.
With the destruction of the Temples, the Jewish people are sent into EXILE (Galut or Golus) and likewise God's Shechina also goes into "hiding and exile" and thus the way he runs this world is more "hidden", so the miracles become HIDDEN MIRACLES that are not open, but they are nevertheless miracles, just "camouflaged"..so many things in this world are mircales. The sun shining, the water we drink, the good things that happen to us. They don't ' just happen ' they are miracles just we are vso "blinded" by the superficiality that we don't even beginning to understand.
g :

I'm starting to get it.

SimShalom :
The way God runs the world for the last two thousand years is called thru "Hester Panim" (The Hidden face). Just like a mask covers a face. So this current world is like a "mask" that covers God's Face as he definitely performs miracles all the time. Our job is to know that the "mask" is not the "real thing",
In fact to rely on miracles is an INFERIOR form of belief because it means you expect God to "perform" like an "actor" some miracle for you to believe in Him. A person should have stronger faith than that and believe in God even tho we cannot "see" miracles as we would like to. But the real miracles are all around us. Like the fact that the oceans don't drown us, that the seasons are comfortable and that the Jewish people has survived fop 3,300 years all those are just some miracles...they are not "natural' acts.
g :
:))))

SimShalom (0:31 AM) :
Look at this: "Hidden Miracles"
g :
thank you so much

SimShalom :
Many Open Miracles were experienced by the Children Of Israel when they came out of Egypt (Mitzrayim) at the time of the Exodus, and we accept them because God has put it in His Torah, but even tho they had open miracles all around them it still did not stop them from sinning, forgetting God, and worshiping a Golden Calf. So miracles don't last. You need an inner faith that is not dependent on "outside stimulus" like a miracle to "Keep you connected" to God and keep you "going".
See "The Word of God"
g :
I'll read them all...
SimShalom :
The Festival of PURIM that we just had is significant. Because it is all about 'Hester Panim" the "Hidden Face" of God, how He can perform "miracles" in a way that seems "natural" that is why God's name is the only book in the entire Torah that does NOT have any mention of "God" at all.
It is also an event that happened in the Exile (Galut) in the Babylonian/Persian Exiles and Empires when the Jews were outside of Israel.
Take care, have a good weekend. Bye.

- posted by Izak @ 12:54 AM