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Miracles

Beliefs
Miracles feature throughout the Jewish textual tradition. Supernatural events appear throughout the Bible, including the ten plagues, the splitting of the sea, and when the walls of Jericho fell, among others. Miracles feature in later rabbinic texts as well, and ancient through contemporary works analyze the nature and significance of miracles.
Notable Sources
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The Miraculous Origins of the Jewish People
MISHNAH
The exodus from Egypt, the origin story of the Jewish people, is described as a miraculous event. Pirkei Avot, a work of ancient rabbinic ethics and wisdom from the land of Israel, enumerates the miracles of the Exodus from Egypt.
Ten miracles were wrought for our ancestors in Egypt, and ten at the sea. Ten plagues did the Holy one, blessed be He, bring upon the Egyptians in Egypt and ten at the sea. [With] ten trials did our ancestors try God, blessed be He, in the Wilderness, as it is said, “and they have tried Me these ten times and they have not listened to my voice” (Numbers 14:22).
Pirkei Avot 5:4
Miracles of Redemption
LITURGY
Many holidays in the Jewish calendar celebrate events of Jewish redemption or salvation understood to be miracles. On Chanukkah and Purim, a paragraph is traditionally inserted during Birkat HaMazon (Grace After Meals) and the Amidah (standing prayer), describing the miracle celebrated on each holiday.
On Chanukah and Purim add:
We thank thee also for the miracles, for the redemption, for the mighty deeds and saving acts, wrought by thee, as well as for the wars which thou didst wage for our fathers in days of old, at this season. On Chanukah—In the days of the Hasmonean, Mattathias son of Johanan, the High Priest, and his sons, when the iniquitous power of Greece rose up against thy people Israel to make them forgetful of thy Law, and to force them to transgress the statutes of thy will…
Birkat Hamazon, Birkat Hamazon, Blessing on the Land 2-4
Miriam’s Moving Well
MIDRASH
According to the Torah, the Israelites’ biblical journey through the desert was characterized by miracles. The early medieval Midrash Tanchuma describes that a miraculous well followed the Israelites through the desert in the merit of Miriam, Moses’s sister.
(Numb. 21:17:) “Then Israel sang this song.” This song (of the well) was uttered at the end of forty [years], while the well was given to them at the beginning of the forty [years]? So what was the purpose of writing [it down] here? This matter has been explained from what is above (in vs. 14), “It is therefore said in the book of the wars of the Lord, ‘'t Waheb in Suphah (Sufah) [and 't the Wadis of the Arnon].’” What is this? That the Holy One blessed be He did for them signs ('twt…
Midrash Tanchuma, Chukat 20
Miracles of the Temple
TALMUD
The Temple in Jerusalem, understood in the Jewish tradition as the place where God’s presence resided, was thought of as a site of miracles. The Babylonian Talmud in tractate Yoma recounts 10 miracles that were said to occur regularly in the Temple.
As we learned in a mishna: Ten miracles were performed in the Temple. No woman miscarried from the aroma of the sacrificial meat, as a pregnant woman craves various foods and occasionally that craving leads to miscarriage. And the sacrificial meat never putrefied. And no fly was seen in the slaughterhouse, although flies are generally attracted to a place where there is flesh and blood. And a seminal emission did not befall the High Priest on Yom Kippur. And no disqualification was found in the omer or the two loaves, which are communal offerings…
Yoma 21a:4
Acknowledging Miracles by Singing Praise
MISHNAH
Hallel, a sequence of psalms recited liturgically, is recited as thanksgiving for God’s miracles. Tractate Pesachim of the Mishnah, the first codification of Jewish law from the early third-century land of Israel, establishes Hallel as part of the Passover seder to acknowledge the miracles of the Exodus.
Rabban Gamliel would say: Anyone who did not say these three matters on Passover has not fulfilled his obligation: The Paschal lamb, matza, and bitter herbs. When one mentions these matters, he must elaborate and explain them: The Paschal lamb is brought because the Omnipresent passed over [pasaḥ] the houses of our forefathers in Egypt, as it is stated: “That you shall say: It is the sacrifice of the Lord’s Paschal offering for He passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians…
Mishnah Pesachim 10:5
Publicizing the Miracle
COMMENTARY
A principle that underlies many Jewish rituals — especially those that commemorate a historical miracle — is the notion of “publicizing the miracle.” The renowned medieval French commentator Rashi, in his commentary on the Babylonian Talmud in tractate Shabbat, emphasizes the importance of this principle in the practice of lighting Chanukkah candles where they can be seen.
On the outside: [This is] in order to publicize the miracle. And it was not in the public domain, but rather in the courtyard; as their houses were open to a courtyard.
Rashi on Shabbat 21b:8:1
Moses’s Miracles in the Wilderness
COMMENTARY
According to the biblical narrative, Moses was able to lead the Israelite people through the desert with the help of miraculous divine intervention. Rashi, in his renowned 11th-century commentary on the Torah, connects the Torah’s praise of Moses with the Israelites’ experiences in the wilderness.
ולכל המורא הגדול AND IN ALL THAT GREAT TERRIBLENESS — the miracles and mighty deeds that were wrought in the great and terrible wilderness (cf. (Sifrei Devarim 357:45).
Rashi on Deuteronomy 34:12:2
Miracles, Hidden and Revealed
COMMENTARY
The Jewish tradition views as miracles not only supernatural events but also natural phenomena that, upon close examination, seem to have been orchestrated by God. Bachya ben Asher, in his 13th-century commentary on the Torah, compares these “revealed” and “hidden” types of miracles.
וגם את הצרעה, “and also the hornet,” etc.; Remember that miracles occur on two levels, so-called “open” (supernatural) miracles, i.e. visible manifestations of G’d interfering with the laws of nature; secondly there are the so-called “hidden” miracles (natural) which are no less miraculous although we do not witness overt interference with the laws of nature. In the previous verse G’d referred to the first category of miracles, the ten plagues, etc., in which G’d demonstrated His mastery over the forces of the universe, the laws of nature.
Now the Torah, i.e…
Rabbeinu Bahya, Devarim 7:20
The Many Miracles of the Fiery Furnace
TALMUD
The biblical book of Daniel describes how three Jews were miraculously saved from a fiery furnace during the Babylonian exile. The Babylonian Talmud in tractate Sandedrin describes several more miracles that occurred on the same day as their escape, demonstrating God’s superiority over Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.
The Sages taught in a baraita: Six miracles were performed on that day that Hananiah, Mishael, and Azarya were delivered from the furnace, and they are: The furnace rose from where it was sunken to ground level; and the furnace was breached; and its limestone dissipated; and the graven image that Nebuchadnezzar established, which he commanded his subjects to worship (see Daniel 3:5–6), fell on its face; and four ranks of officials from monarchies, who stood around the furnace, were burned; and Ezekiel revived the dead in the Dura Valley.
Sanhedrin 92b:13
Elijah’s Miraculous Revival
TANAKH
Elijah the Prophet is described as performing numerous miracles during his lifetime. In the biblical book of Kings, Elijah, while staying with a widow and her fatally ill son, cries out to God to revive the boy until God hears his plea.
Then he stretched out over the child three times, and cried out to GOD, saying, “My ETERNAL God, let this child’s life return to his body!”
I Kings 17:21
Future Miracles at the Dawn of Creation
MIDRASH
The rabbis suggest that historical miracles were built into the fabric of creation. Bereshit Rabbah, the ancient midrash on the book of Genesis, recounts how, as part of the creation of the natural world, God set the stage for various biblical miracles.
Rabbi Yoḥanan said: The Holy One blessed be He stipulated a condition with the sea [upon its creation] that it should split before Israel. That is what is written: “The sea returned to its power [le’eitano]” (Exodus 14:27), in accordance with its condition [litna’o] that He stipulated with it.
Rabbi Yirmeya ben Elazar said: It is not only with the sea alone that the Holy One blessed be He stipulated, but with everything that was created during the six days of Creation. That is what is written: “My hands stretched the heavens and commanded all their host” (Isaiah 45:12) –…
Bereshit Rabbah 5:5
Bringing Forth the Rain
MISHNAH
Stories of Jewish miracle workers persisted throughout antiquity. Tractate Ta’anit of the Mishnah, the first codification of Jewish law from the early third-century land of Israel, tells the story of Choni the Circle Maker, who had the power to summon the rain at will.
The mishna adds: In general, they cry out on account of any trouble that should not befall the community, a euphemism for trouble that may befall the community, except for an overabundance of rain. Although too much rain may be disastrous, one does not cry out over it, because rain is a sign of a blessing. The mishna relates: An incident occurred in which the people said to Ḥoni HaMe’aggel: Pray that rain should fall. He said to them: Go out and bring in the clay ovens used to roast the Paschal lambs…
Mishnah Ta'anit 3:8

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