A Miracle Within a Miracle

The youths were punished for their indiscretion. Miraculously, bears came from a nearby forest and attacked the youths. The Gemara proceeds to cite a dispute between Rav and Shmuel about the exact nature of the miracle. There were certainly no bears there before. However, the argument is whether Hashem miraculously created a forest as well or it was pre-existing. The Gemara then inquires: what purpose would miraculously creating a forest serve? All that was needed was for the bears to attack the youths. The Gemara answers that the bears in the story would have been too afraid to attack the youths, unless they had refuge nearby in their home turf.

The Maharsha is incredulous! Once Hashem was miraculously creating bears, couldn’t He create aggressive bears that had no qualms about attacking the youths without the need for a comfort forest?

The Steipler says that the answer lies in the mistake these entrepreneurs made. They assumed that their financial success was a result of their own efforts. They didn’t see the Hand of Hashem guiding their money-making enterprise. Consequently, they didn’t see any way they could earn a living after the bottled water market crashed. The truth is that Hashem is obviously not constrained by market forces. Hashem would have arranged for their livelihood to come despite the bleak market outlook.

These youths failed to see that their livelihood came directly from Hashem. This is because Hashem’s intervention is hidden in what appears to be the natural course of events in the world. In reality, nature itself is a miracle. Their livelihood was therefore a miracle within a miracle. For failing to discern this point, they were punished by a miracle within a miracle. The bears were created, and their home in the forest was created as well. This serves as a lesson to us, that Hashem miraculously controls our livelihood, in the context of nature which is itself a miracle.

A young businessman, now in the Five Towns, started his career in a job that offered primarily commission-based compensation. He only had one car that he shared with his wife, a Toyota Camry. One day, while his wife was driving their car, she was involved in an accident with a police car. Eventually, New York City was found fully liable and paid for the damage. However, it would take two years for the check to arrive.

Meanwhile, the young businessman had to find a replacement car. The serious issue was his lack of funds. Fortunately, his sister-in-law was currently in Israel and graciously allowed the couple to use her car. However, the sister-in-law let them know that she would be returning and would need her car immediately upon her return. Someone else in his office had also totaled his car. The co-worker announced that he found a replacement car for himself. The co-worker’s father-in-law was learning in a morning kollel. Someone walked into the kollel and announced that he had a car he wanted to give away. The co-worker thus had his problem solved.

The young businessman thought to himself, “You see Hashem could get me a car in a blink of an eye, the same way He helped my coworker!” The young businessman was shmoozing with an old acquaintance from yeshiva. This acquaintance had already established himself in a different field. In the course of the conversation, the protagonist mentioned his car issue. His friend said, “Really? I have a car that I leased and I’m still making payments on it, but I already leased a second car. The first car has been sitting unused in my garage! Take my first car until the end of the lease!”