Miracles and kindnesses

In the parashah This week's verse (Ki Tavo, When You Come) presents a series of curses that would befall the Jewish people if they did not observe the Torah (curses that were fulfilled in the destruction of the First Temple). Then, Moses establishes a covenant with the Jewish people just before they enter the Land of Israel. Following this covenant, Moses says (Deuteronomy 29:1): “You yourselves saw all that God did before your very eyes […] the great wonders […] the great signs and miracles,” and then adds, “Yet God did not give you a heart to understand, eyes to see, or ears to hear until this day.”.

Now, did the Jewish people not recognize God's miracles until that moment? The Torah itself recounts, right after the Exodus from Egypt, how the Jewish people thanked God for the miracles and even sang a song at the Sea of Reeds!

Rashi, the leading commentator on the Torah, explains regarding this last verse that Moses says the people, up to that point, had not been able to “recognize God’s goodness and cling to Him.” According to Rashi, Moses was not referring to the miracles in Egypt or the parting of the Red Sea, but to the “goodness of God” detailed in the following verses: “I led them forty years in the wilderness; their clothes did not wear out […], their sandals did not wear out […], we conquered the lands of Sihon and Og,” and so on.

A miracle is an exceptional event, beyond the limits of nature. When a miracle occurs, it generates a powerful excitement and awakening within the person. Therefore, it is not surprising that the Jewish people recognized the miracles of the Exodus from Egypt and even sang in gratitude. However, here Moses is speaking of the everyday miracles of the forty years of wandering in the desert, which they did not perceive as miracles because they were accustomed to seeing them and they were part of the natural world. That is why Moses says, “God did not give them a heart to understand,” as Rashi explains, “to recognize the goodness of God,” the everyday goodness.

Furthermore, Rashi adds that these divine acts of kindness did not lead the people to "attach themselves to Him." This is the difference between miracles and acts of kindness: miracles inspire awe and faith, while acts of kindness inspire closeness. If the Jewish people had recognized God's kindness, they would have automatically felt close to Him. Since they did not, Moses tells them, "God did not give you a heart to understand," meaning they still need to work on themselves to recognize how God is constantly watching over and guiding them.

These words of Moses were a preparation for entering the Land of Israel. If during the years in the desert, when all the people's needs were miraculously met directly by God and they still did not acknowledge Him, how much more so when they entered the Land, when everything would be governed by the laws of nature...

The lesson for us is clear: the very life we live is God's goodness. Even the hard and difficult moments are hidden blessings that, because they are so profound, reveal themselves in this world as difficulties. Humanity's task is to learn to recognize God's goodness and to "cling to Him.".