Weekly Torah Portion

How different would religious commitment be if we saw open miracles? If I asked G-d to split the sea of traffic in front of me and a hand came out of the sky and actually parted the traffic, how would that affect my everyday devotion? I think most of us would answer that it would change it a lot! I would give more charity, keep Shabbat more fully, go to synagogue every day– after all, I just witnessed a miracle. We see from this week’s Torah portion that this idea cannot be further from the truth.

We read that he Jewish people are mad. They are not just mad; they are ready to kill their leader, Moshe. They utter the words, “Did you bring us out of Egypt just to kill us?” In this moment the Jewish people were very thirsty. They did not have water and were fearful that they would die without water. The fighting was so intense that Moshe actually named the place afterwards Bitterness and Fighting.

How could the Jewish people stoop so low? How could they think G-d forgot about them? Didn’t they witness the miracles of the 10 Plagues? The Splitting of the Sea? Their faith should be stronger than ever, yet we see them losing faith even after witnessing open miracles.

I think the answer to this phenomenon can be explained by realizing the true nature of faith. Faith cannot be external. If something miraculous happens to you, you might be inspired for an hour, a day, maybe even a week. But it’s fleeting.

In order to keep that inspiration with us we need to actively work on it. We need to make the external, internal. It must become a part of us for it to make a lasting impression.

Let’s take this lesson to heart, especially in a world where we do not see open miracles on a daily basis. Let’s have the strength and the courage to take time each day to work on the things most important to us. When we realize that happiness, joy, contentment and even faith in G-d need to be worked on, we will be that much closer to achieving all we want out of life.