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Our Rabbi's Message
August 31st 2007
By Rabbi Aaron KriegelWe have almost finished reading the Book of Deuteronomy, but it is in this book that we review all of the miracles that happened to our people. We were redeemed from the slavery of Egypt. We received the Ten Commandments to the accompaniment of thunder and lighting. When we were in the desert we always had manna to eat. The rabbis, however, believed that the most remarkable miracle of all had to do with the clothes that we wore. According to tradition we only needed the clothes on our backs because they never wore out. They were exposed to all of the elements.
During the day the desert sun beat upon them with an unceasing heat. During rainstorms our clothes became sufferingly wet. At night the cold winds of the desert blew upon them. Some of them became fatter and some thinner. Children grew tall, old people lost inches to their heights, yet the clothes always fit and never wore out. They were not made of any miracle fabric, but most probably of wool or of linen, but they never wore out.
That our clothes did not wear is the greatest miracle of all because it was with us all of the time. It did not happen once, as did the Exodus or the revelation at Sinai. It was more constant than the Manna that we ate. The miracle was upon our shoulders; we could not avoid looking at the miracle whenever we opened our eyes. And that is the reason the rabbis held that that miracle was so great. Miracles in but a moment could be caused by happenstance, but miracles that never fade give proof to themselves every day.
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