Praying For A Miracle

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by Rabbi Berach Steinfeld

In Bereishis 32:11 it says that Yaakov said he is too small in stature to receive all the Chessed of Hashem. The Gemara in Taanis 20b learns from here that a person should not stand in a place of danger and say that Hashem will make a miracle. There is a possibility that Hashem may not make the miracle, and even if Hashem does bring about a miracle, the person will lose some of his zechuyos.

The Rema in Orach Chaim 187 and 687 says if one forgot Al Hanissim in Birchas Hamazon on Chanukah there is a special Horachaman to be said that Hashem should make us nissim the same way he made nissim during Chanukah. How could one daven for a miracle if he will get his merits deducted? In addition, we find the Gemara in Berachos 60 that says that one whose wife is expecting should not daven that his wife should give birth to a boy as it is a tefillas shav. The Gemara then brings down that we find that one may daven as we see that when Leah was expecting her seventh child, she was worried that Rachel would have fewer shevatim than the shfachos so she davened that the baby should turn into a girl. Hence, she had Dina. The Gemara answers that one can’t bring a proof from a miracle. Nevertheless, we still see that one may daven for a miracle to have a baby boy, yet the Gemara still calls it a tefillas shav. We see that one should not daven for a miracle.

The first tirutz to this seeming contradiction is based on the Bechor Shor in Shabbos 21 that differentiates between a private person davening for a miracle and a tzibbur davening for a miracle. A private person should not daven for a miracle since Hashem might not do it and even if it happens, he will lose zechuyos. A tzibbur may daven for a miracle; that is why in the horachaman the word lanu is used in lashon rabim, to indicate we are davening for the tzibbur. With this answer we can also explain how the Yidden were able to derive benefit from oil that came as a result of a miracle. We know that one is not allowed to derive hana’a from maaseh nissim. Since the miracle on Chanukah happened for the whole tzibbur, they were allowed to benefit from the oil.

A second tirutz is based on the above Bechor Shor that differentiates between different ways of davening for a miracle. A person is not allowed to daven for a nes nistar, for instance, to change a girl to a boy while the mother is expecting. Since this is not a miracle that everyone will know about, in order for the miracle to happen one would need to have zechuyos deducted. However, in the case where the miracle is seen by a lot of people, a Kiddush Shem Shomayim occurs, so the recipient of the miracle not only does not lose zechuyos, he actually gains since there is a Kiddush Hashem. Because of this, one may daven for an open miracle.

A third tirutz is also based on the above Bechor Shor. The miracle of Chanukah kind of took place in a natural way. They found oil that was there, and they won a war, but it wasn’t a miracle which would only be able to be interpreted as a miracle. One may daven for a miracle which comes dressed within the confines of teva.

A fourth tirutz is based on the Divrei Yatziv that refers to Rav Chanina ben Dosa in the Gemara in Taanis 25aRav Chanina ben Dosa said that just like Hashem can make oil burn, the same Hashem could make vinegar burn. This means that one who realizes that every teva is also a nes to its fullest extent may daven for a miracle. In Brachos 33a we see a story concerning an animal called the Arod that would hurt people. Rav Chanina ben Dosa asked for the location of the animal’s hole and stuck his foot on top of it. The Arod bit Rav Chanina and the Arod promptly died. Rav Chanina said you see from this that the Arod does not kill a person, only Hashem has that power. Rav Chanina put himself in danger relying on a miracle because to him every teva was a miracle! On Chanukah and Purim, every Jew is reminded of this concept that our day to day life, despite being dressed up as teva, is really a miracle. We therefore are allowed to daven for a miracle!

May we be zocheh to see miracles in our days like in those days!  

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