Q&A: Miracles and the Supernatural
Miracles and the Supernatural
Question
Hello and blessings.
This site is very new to me, and it may be that I’m raising points that have already been discussed, so I’d be happy for references.
When people say about a certain rabbi that he performs miracles, or that observing a certain commandment benefits a person, is that something that can be scientifically proven if it turns out that statistically it succeeds?
More generally, is every claim of this kind considered something measurable?
Thank you very much.
Answer
Why not? If there is a rabbi who performs miracles, test it. For example, if he splits the sea, you can see it. If he predicts the number that will come up in the lottery, you can test that too (obviously it’s worth checking over time and not just once, since that could be accidental).
There is no such thing as “considered something measurable.” Either it is measurable or it isn’t.
Discussion on Answer
Obviously. You would need to check that he gets results above the average in a statistically significant way.
Positive results would indicate that that person has special abilities. I don’t know about spiritual laws and the like.
I’m not aware of such research, and not without reason.
Many thanks for the response.
Is the view that there is no spiritual regularity in the world—as I understand it, that’s what scientists think, which is why they don’t invest in examining this deeply (it seems that way to me, though I have no background in the field)—based on some reason for that (for example, that such things were disproved experimentally), or is it simply disbelief in these ideas, and therefore they don’t invest time in it?
No. It stems from the fact that there isn’t the slightest indication that such laws exist. Scientists also don’t invest effort in checking whether there are fairies or dragons. Not every bizarre claim that someone raises is worthy of scientific investigation. The burden of proof is on the person claiming that there is something there, not on the person who sees no reason to test claims that have no basis at all.
I thank you, but I really don’t understand the answer. There are tens of thousands of religious people who think, based on intuition, that good deeds benefit a person—and to call that a bizarre claim? Were all the scientific theories that were proven originally claims that already had a basis, or did it just sound to the scientist like a wonderful idea and nothing more?
They don’t think this based on intuition, but because they were educated that way. I don’t see the fact that there is a group that educates people in something as a reason to launch a scientific investigation. Pagans too are educated in all kinds of things.
Thanks so much.
Is the ability of a religious family, and especially a Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) one, to raise a very large family—many times larger than a normal family—and not only that but also to marry them off as well (whether we like it or not, that’s the reality), something that is scientifically reasonable? Isn’t that worth serious research and in-depth examination?
It seems to me we’ve completely exhausted this.
More power to you for the effort.
Thank you very much.
I’d like to sharpen the question.
I’m not talking at all about miracles and things that go against nature; I’m discussing an occurrence that has a natural explanation, but I want to give it a spiritual explanation—for example, all these sick people recovered through the power of that rabbi’s blessing.
A. Can this theory be defined as a scientific theory that we would test scientifically, and if not, why not?
B. If I tested it and got positive results—such that this rabbi really is much more successful with his blessings than statistics would predict—does that indicate that there are spiritual laws in creation, at least to the same extent that there are laws of nature?
C. Has there ever been a serious attempt to test, for example, Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky’s blessings in this way, and if not, why not? (I mean by researchers.)
More power to you!