Q&A: Dualism and Miracles
Dualism and Miracles
Question
Hello,
From what I understood, the Rabbi arrives at the following 2 points:
- Dualism, and the connection between the soul and the body is not entirely clear.
- Reservations about miracles in our time — since every miracle is a physical change.
What troubles me is why the Rabbi does accept that the connection between the soul and the body exists and is not explained physically, but a connection between divinity and the body must be explained physically.
For example: a person sick with cancer prays “Heal us,” and God hears his prayer, and just as the soul can “transmit” to the body without changing the physics, so too God can “transmit” to the body to stop attacking itself.
Seemingly, in that way there would be room for prayer for health / livelihood, etc.
Thank you
Answer
I never said anywhere that there is a problem with interaction between the Holy One, blessed be He, and the world / the body. I simply do not see any indication that this exists. Clearly, if the Holy One, blessed be He, wanted to, He could do this, and He even did so in the past. But it seems that nowadays this no longer happens.
Discussion on Answer
Because if His policy is not to intervene, then there’s no point praying that He should intervene.
In “No Man Has Power over the Spirit,” the Rabbi says that not only does this no longer happen, but there may even be a problem with praying “Heal us” — since one cannot pray for a change in nature (just as it is forbidden to pray for a change in an embryo’s sex).
Why is there such a problem in light of dualism?