Q&A: Fatima in Portugal and Mary in Zeitoun
Fatima in Portugal and Mary in Zeitoun
Question
Hello Rabbi,
I wanted to ask why you do not accept the miracle stories of Fatima in Portugal.
There is not the slightest doubt that these famous events happened on the subjective level; they are documented worldwide and were widely publicized.
But if so, why not also accept the subjective impressions of those who were there as objectively correct as well (that the sun really did appear to move, and strange sights were seen in the church)? And if not, why accept the Revelation at Mount Sinai?
If 30,000 people can be mistaken that they saw the sun move (there is no doubt that many of them felt that way), then one could also fake 600,000, many of whom would feel that they saw the sun move, and perhaps one could also fake a revelation?
Answer
Greek mythology also spread throughout the world and is documented. So are the Iliad and Dante's Inferno. So what? There were three children there who saw something. Afterward a myth was created, and the number of spectators grew each year until it reached 70,000. Very unreliable, and it could certainly have been an illusion or a result of religious ecstasy. At the Revelation at Mount Sinai there were far more people, a specific content was given there with many details, and not just some vague sight (the sun moving) that could be hallucinatory. It came after the miraculous process of the Exodus from Egypt. In later generations there were miracles and an ongoing prophetic revelation, and the very detailed content was transmitted carefully from generation to generation. The reliability is not comparable.