{"id":68756,"date":"2020-01-20T09:16:05","date_gmt":"2020-01-20T07:16:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=68756"},"modified":"2023-08-14T10:34:24","modified_gmt":"2023-08-14T07:34:24","slug":"who-sent-the-helicopter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/who-sent-the-helicopter\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Sent the Helicopter?"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[612,375,471],"acf":{"old_id":"68756","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34243,"related_cahpter":"398","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Which is better: experiencing miracles, or not?\r\n\r\n","content":"

A well-known anecdote tells of a man struggling to survive a flood who is so focused on a miraculous rescue that he refused to be hoisted into a hovering helicopter, declaring: \u201cI am a man of faith and God will save me.\u201d He drowned, and when he met his Maker and complained that God had let hm down, He replied, \u201cWho do you think sent the helicopter?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The balance between blind faith and human endeavor is reflected in Malbim\u2019s commentary on two successive verses in this chapter:<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet you have struck him who would gladly do justice and remember You in Your ways. It is because You are angry that we have sinned; we have been steeped in them from of old, and can we be saved? We have all become like an unclean thing, and all our virtues like a filthy rag. We are all withering like leaves, and our iniquities, like a wind, carry us off (4-5).<\/span><\/p>\n

Malbim* commented:<\/span><\/p>\n

[Isaiah] said: In the manner You acted then\u2014i.e., when You split the Sea and descended in days of yore to perform wonders [<\/span>see our comments <\/span><\/a>to the previous chapter]\u2014in this manner, You surely encountered someone who rejoiced in being righteous, because in a miraculous situation, one is bound to encounter righteous people who rejoice in their righteousness. Seeing Your wonders [persuades them] to be righteous and to rejoice in\u00a0 it. (4)<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, however, that You no longer act in a miraculous fashion and do not descend to earth from heaven to perform wonders, You will not encounter anyone rejoicing in righteousness. \u201cWe have all become like an unclean thing\u201d to the extent that we have drawn apart from holiness like one who is impure, who is sanctioned from [touching] anything sacred or entering the Temple. (5)<\/span><\/p>\n

This distinction presumes that it is easier to maintain one\u2019s faith in an era of visible miracles than in one in which God acts obliquely. While this is logical and may be true for many, I would like to suggest that precisely because it is a greater challenge to sustain belief in an era devoid of overt miracles that it becomes more rewarding.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

*For the significance of Malbim\u2019s commentary to the Book of Isaiah,<\/span> see our introduction to chapter 1.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":68757,"id":68757,"title":"is64-helicopter","filename":"is64-helicopter.png","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is64-helicopter.png","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/who-sent-the-helicopter\/is64-helicopter\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"is64-helicopter","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":68756,"date":"2020-01-20 07:15:49","modified":"2020-01-20 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