“The miracle of all miracles is the will and spirit of [humanity].”

Rabbi Olan sets the stage for his sermon on miracles (delivered on February 15, 1970) by recounting the greatest miracle in the history of the Jews: when God divided the Re(e)d Sea so that the fleeing Hebrews could cross over on dry land.  This, he says, was a supernatural miracle.

Rabbi Olan contrasts this with today’s miracles, which are miracles of science: “the impossible is possible through science.”  He then returns to the dividing of the waters and teaches that the real miracle was not what God did but that the weary, frightened Hebrews still had the strength of “will and spirit” to use what God had provided.  Through all their years of slavery in Egypt, they had never given up the hope of reaching a promised land.

Hope, says Rabbi Olan, is common to all religions.  “But believing is not enough.  There is the need to do something.”  It was not enough for the Hebrews standing on the shore of the sea to believe that God would help them.  They needed to translate that hope and belief into action, and cross over even though walls of water towered over them on either side.

Similarly, Rabbi Olan concludes, “The real miracle of human life is the change which takes place when a person, by spirit and will, becomes another and better person… Then maybe we can bring into being a new world of justice and peace.”

*Written by Lionel S. Joseph and Frances M. Olan*