Parshat Tsav: Pesach – Of Magic and Miracles
One of the central themes of the Passover story told in the Haggada is miracles. They were an integral part to the Redemption of the Israelites from Egypt. The 10 plagues, the Splitting Sea, references to Manna from Heaven – it is a night where we recount miracle after miracle after miracle.
We don’t see too many of these supernatural events in our day and age, although one might argue that the mere existence of the Jewish people and our return to the Land of Israel is one big fat miracle in of itself. But the bottom line is that Pesach is about miracles and indeed the month that it falls out on – ניסן Nissan – has the Hebrew word for miracle as its root, נס nes.
So if miracles are in the air this time of year, how do we go about tapping into that energy and maybe getting some miracle magic to happen in our own lives? And is it even possible that we have a say in such matters, or is that a bit too presumptuous to assume? After all, when one thinks of miracles we usually think of them as God’s job and not ours. He is the one who created everything and can switch it up when He so chooses. That being the case, is it reasonable to think that we can influence if, when and how miracles might happen in our lives?
Actually we can. Maybe not outright miracles, but certainly extraordinary stuff. How so? The Talmud tells us: בדרך שאדם רוצה ללכתבה מוליכין אותו – “The path in which one chooses to walk on is the one that God will lead you down.” According to Jewish thought and tradition, God actually follows our lead and then and only then helps us in the direction we have already begun. Yeah, you lead and God follows.
The way God made His world is with the notion that nothing is more powerful than free-choice to shape our lives. And so wherever and whatever we set off to do, God helps us go that way – for better or worse.
So if we want an extraordinary life, then God will give us that. And if we don’t want a magical life then He will give us that too. It’s really up to us. And seeing that the power of this is very much in our hands, we need to remember what the biggest killer of miracles and magic is Pettiness.
Think of it, miracles by definition are above and beyond. They supersede the ordinary, rise above it and take us to new heights that we never thought humanly possible. But if a person is locked into the mundane, the petty, the trivial and the unimportant, then miracles have no room to get in. Magic can be happening right in front of our eyes but if we are too small-minded to see it, then it completely passes us by.
This happened all too often to the Israelites soon after the Redemption from Egypt when they complained time and again. Complaining is the offspring of Pettiness.
We too are guilty of this every day when we ignore the miracles in our lives. We take for granted the amazing state of our bodies or of nature because we are concerned with things or events that have very little importance. We are preoccupied recording the extraordinary for others to see rather than actually living it. We miss out on the amazing talents latent within each and every person because we get distracted by some petty flaw they may have in their character, or the way that they look or dress.
Sometimes we will be at an event that is extraordinary by nature, such as a wedding, but we get distracted by something trivial. A person can be at a lavish, beautiful, joy-filled wedding in a sumptuous setting with the most wonderful finery and flowers and where love, excitement and anticipation is in the air – but ignore it all because there is no salt on the table for the first course. “Can you believe this place? There’s no salt! No salt! Did you hear me?! NO SALT!!!”
We have all met people like this who completely miss the magic. Worse, we have been that person.
If we want extraordinary things to happen in our life, then we need to live an extraordinary life and have an extraordinary outlook. And that doesn’t happen by visiting exotic places around the globe, it happens by seeing the extraordinary in the every day. It happens by setting our sights a bit higher and looking beyond the silly, the petty, the unimportant and the trivial. It happens when we focus on things that matter – truth, good and making the word a better place, and ignoring the stuff that doesn’t mean much in the long run.
בדרך שאדם רוצה ללכת בה מוליכין אותו – “The path in which one chooses to walk on is the one that God will lead you down.” If you choose extraordinary and if you choose magic then God will make all kinds of magic and miracles in your life. Pesach is the time of and for miracles. A time when we rid ourselves of the excess and unnecessary chametz that drags us down. A time to latch onto the miracle magic and energy that’s in the air.
I said, “Go if you wanna go
Stay if you wanna stay”…
All I need is a miracle
All I need is you
All I need is a miracle
All I need is you
-Mike + The Mechanics
