JHOM - Letter from the Editor

"When one observes a place where miracles have been performed on behalf of Israel, one should say: 'Blessed [is God] for having performed miracles in this place.'" (Exodus Rabbah. 24:1)

December 2000 / Kislev 5761

Dear JHOM readers,

Edition 36 of JHOM closes its third year of publication, and given that it is Hanukkah as well, MIRACLES seems a most appropriate Topic of the Month. What are miracles? In the Jewish context, we tend to think first of those extraordinary occurrences described in the Bible which God performs in times of great crisis, events that challenge the rational thinker's perception of the immutable natural order. This edition looks at the attitudes of the rabbis of the Talmud and of later philosophers who confront this challenge.

Enjoy also in this edition a new personality, Spanish military general, poet and courtier Samuel ha-Nagid, as well as our expanded Kislev section, with its many interesting angles on the Hanukkah festival.

On this Festival of Lights, we wish you and your loved ones everyday miracles, and miracles every day.

Simcha Shtull
Editor

*Steven Z. Leder, The Extraordinary Nature of Ordinary Things (New York: Behrman House, Inc. 1999), p. 58.