Shemoneh Esrei 51 - V’al Nisecha: Miracles Large and Small

ועל נסיך שבכל יום עמנו, ועל נפלאותיך וטובותיך שבכל עת

for Your miracles that are with us every day, and for Your wonders and favors in every season

Throughout our history, Hashem has performed many open miracles and even many more hidden miracles for klal Yisrael.  Some of these open and initially hidden miracles are celebrated and “re-experienced” by us as we travel through time during the yearly cycle of yamim tovim.

HaRav Avigdor Miller zt”l, in his siddur Tefilos Avigdor, points out that we, in our generation, experience nisim each and every day, as we say in Modim: “ועל נסיך שבכל יום עמנו–for Your miracles that are with us every day.”  The difference between the past open miracles, such as Y’tzias Mitzrayim, and the miracles of today are that, in the past, these miracles were open and revealed to all, whereas today miracles are hidden, due to “הסתר פנים–hester Panim.”

“נסיך–nisecha” includes both miracles that occur to the klal and miracles that occur to us as individuals.  These are less frequent miracles.

Perhaps we are less cognizant of the miracles that occur to us at all times – “נפלאותיך וטובותיך שבכלעת–Your wonders and favors in every season” – because they can be attributed to “nature.”  These miracles are more frequent and are disguised as “teva (nature).”

Each of us, in our own personal lives, experiences hidden miracles all the time.  Many times, these are “small” everyday miracles, like finding a parking spot in an “impossible” area.

Often we don’t recognize these more frequent miracles.  The following story comes from “Emunah Daily,” produced by Rav Ashear:

“Rabbi Paysach Krohn told a story about Rav Shach, in his old age, attending the funeral of a woman in Haifa who had very few relatives.  Upon inquiry, Rav Shach explained who the woman was.  He said that when he was younger, learning in yeshivah, the conditions were almost intolerable.  As one of the younger boys in a yeshivah that was filled to capacity, he had to sleep on a cold, hard floor.  In the frigid winter with no heat and no blankets, he was suffering.

“One Wednesday, he received a letter from his uncle inviting him to come join him in his business.  He was a successful blacksmith with no children, and he assured his nephew that he would teach him the trade, and the business would eventually become his.  His uncle asked him, “Why stay where you are in poverty and hunger?  Work for me and your life will be set.”  The young Rav Shach thought about it for a day, and by Thursday night, he decided his uncle was right.  He was going to leave.

“The next morning, a woman came to the yeshivah, saying that her husband, a blanket salesman, recently passed away.  She was in town sitting shiv’ah with his family, and she had a few extra blankets that she wanted to donate to that yeshivah.  They were heavy Russian blankets, filled with goose down.  One of them was given to the young Rav Shach.  That Friday night, he was warmer than he had been all winter, and he decided to stay in yeshivah.

“He eventually grew up to become the Gadol HaDor, a rav who impacted generations of people to live Torah lives.  That woman never remarried.  She lived a quiet and seemingly uneventful life.  Little did she know that her small act of kindness changed the world.  She will reap the rewards for eternity.”

Many of us ignore the blankets sent to us by Hashem, not recognizing the miracles in our lives.  Let us learn from the way a gadol ha’dor recognized the miracles in his life, and the hakaras ha’tov he displayed for Hashem’s worthy messenger.  Let us seek Hashem out and contemplate Hashem in our own lives more deeply, as we say in Hodu: “בקשו פניו תמיד–bakshu fanav tamid (seek His Presence always).”