Do you believe in miracles?
Is the good in your life just coincidence?
Are you skeptical when people tell you “your life is full of miracles”?
There was a friend of a Jew from Bulgaria who wrote to the Rebbe that his friend claimed that “when he sees miracles with his own eyes, he will become observant…”
The Rebbe responded: “Tell him this: Since you insist on being honest with yourself, take a good look at your own past, and you will recognize that you have already witnessed miracles and wonders. Do you really want to test G-d? Do you really want to be brought again into a place of mortal danger and have to be saved? You know very well the trauma that is experienced by being in danger, because you have been there. It is just the negative voice inside you trying to come up with an excuse to avoid observing G-d's commandments.”
The Rebbe then addressed the writer who would convey this message to his friend:
“The very fact that I write intimate details about the past of a Jew whom I have never met, that he was once in danger and was miraculously saved, should be proof enough for him to start putting on Tefillin, keeping kosher and observing Shabbos, immediately upon receiving this message.”
Regardless if you read this letter as a believer or as a skeptic, the Rebbe was right. Saying "I will be observant when I see miracles" is a cop out.
[As a believer: The Rebbe here openly admits to having prophetic vision. Reading the thoughts of a stranger, he knew that this unnamed Bulgarian Jew went through a traumatic life-threatening experience and supernaturally survived. The Rebbe showed him a miracle just by writing this letter!
As a skeptic: Everyone has a story, trauma, events in their past etc.]
If you are honest with yourself, you too have experienced plenty of supernatural events in your personal life.
Stop making excuses. Your life is full of miracles. So, what are you waiting for? It’s time to connect with Hashem on a deep meaningful level.
Hope to see you at Shul this Shabbos 😊.
Rabbi Kushi Schusterman
Adapted from an article by Rabbi Aron Moss of Sydney, Australia