
Miracles from the Satan
#2
Posted 22 February 2012 - 02:02 PM
"I asked the Brisker Rav for his opinion on the matter, and how we should explain it to our community. He answered me as follows: It is impossible, and even forbidden, to say that miracles were performed for the founders of the State who do not believe in God. They are not worthy of miracles. On the other hand, it is also forbidden to say that this is a ma'aseh Satan, because the Satan is nothing more than an angel who can only act as Hashem's emissary. The truth is that these miracles were performed for the small remnant of those who learn Torah and observe mitzvos so that they will be able to keep the Torah alive in Klal Yisrael and pass it on the future generations . . . "
1) What is the Brisker Rov saying with regard to the satan?
2) Was the Satmar Rebbe's position really that the Israeli military victory in 1948 was ma'aseh Satan? If so, what would the Rebbe answer back to the Brisker Rov (assuming this quote accurately reflects the Brisker Rov's opinion)?
2) I understood from your article that the satan only works in furtherance of his own interests. If the Satan's interests are against the ratzon of Hashem, why did Hashem give the satan the power to act? Is it a similar idea to bechirah? I guess what I'm really asking is, now that we know what kind of miracles the satan does, why does Hashem give satan the power to do so?
#3
Posted 09 April 2012 - 05:17 PM
In Bmichitzasam (page 197 english version), Rabbi Lorincz discusses the Brisker Rov's position on the Israeli victory in the 1948 war. According to R'Lorincz, as opposed to "the zealous factions of the chareidi community, Neturai Karta and Satmar" who believed the victory was a ma'aseh Satan, the Brisker Rov disagreed. R'Lorincz writes:
"I asked the Brisker Rav for his opinion on the matter, and how we should explain it to our community. He answered me as follows: It is impossible, and even forbidden, to say that miracles were performed for the founders of the State who do not believe in God. They are not worthy of miracles. On the other hand, it is also forbidden to say that this is a ma'aseh Satan, because the Satan is nothing more than an angel who can only act as Hashem's emissary. The truth is that these miracles were performed for the small remnant of those who learn Torah and observe mitzvos so that they will be able to keep the Torah alive in Klal Yisrael and pass it on the future generations . . . "
1) What is the Brisker Rov saying with regard to the satan?
2) Was the Satmar Rebbe's position really that the Israeli military victory in 1948 was ma'aseh Satan? If so, what would the Rebbe answer back to the Brisker Rov (assuming this quote accurately reflects the Brisker Rov's opinion)?
2) I understood from your article that the satan only works in furtherance of his own interests. If the Satan's interests are against the ratzon of Hashem, why did Hashem give the satan the power to act? Is it a similar idea to bechirah? I guess what I'm really asking is, now that we know what kind of miracles the satan does, why does Hashem give satan the power to do so?
The Brisker Rav never said that. I asked some big Talmidei Chachamim from Brisk who said they never heard of such a thing. If you look closely at what it says in Bemechitzasam, you'll see that the Brisker Rav was saying something completely different. It says there that the Brisker Rav said there are no miracles from the Satan because everything comes from Hashem. This is something the Satmar Rebbe, and all Orthodox Jews, do not question. Everything comes from Hashem, including acts of the Yetzer Horah, aka the Satan.
Lorincz on his own decided that this statement by the Brisker Rav is in disagreement with what "Satmar and the Neturei Karta", were saying. He doesn't even say the Satmar Rav said this. Just that "Satmar and the Neturei Karta" were saying this. I don't know if he means people on the street, but there is a reason he did not attribute this opinion to the Satmar Rav himself: The Satmar Rav never said such a thing.
I don't know if anyone - including "Satmar and the Neturei Karta" ever really said such a thing, but one thing is for sure - what the Brisker Rav told Lorincz is not in disagreement with anything the Satmar Rav ever said. Clearly, what happened was, Lorincz asked the Brisker Rav if it is possible for the Satan to make miracles that don't come from Hashem, and the Brisker Rav said of course not. Lorincz took that to mean that the Brisker Rav was saying "Satmar and the Neturei Karta" are wrong.
But the Satmar Rav would not disagree with that. In fact, he often refers to miracles from the Satan as "miracles from Hashem על צד הרע". Nobody says they don't come from Hashem. At least no more than any other act the Yetzer Horah does to give people Nisyonos. The concept of miracles from the Satan is simply a Posuk in the Torah:
.
ספר דברים פרק יג
ב) כִּי יָקוּם בְּקִרְבְּךָ נָבִיא אוֹ חֹלֵם חֲלוֹם וְנָתַן אֵלֶיךָ אוֹת אוֹ מוֹפֵת:
ג) וּבָא הָאוֹת וְהַמּוֹפֵת אֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר אֵלֶיךָ לֵאמֹר נֵלְכָה אַחֲרֵי אֱלֹהִים אֲחֵרִים אֲשֶׁר לֹא יְדַעְתָּם וְנָעָבְדֵם:
ד) לֹא תִשְׁמַע אֶל דִּבְרֵי הַנָּבִיא הַהוּא אוֹ אֶל חוֹלֵם הַחֲלוֹם הַהוּא כִּי מְנַסֶּה ה' אֱלֹהֵיכֶם אֶתְכֶם לָדַעַת הֲיִשְׁכֶם אֹהֲבִים אֶת ה' אֱלֹהֵיכֶם בְּכָל לְבַבְכֶם וּבְכָל נַפְשְׁכֶם:
Just as the Yezter Horah is allowed by Hashem to put people into situations where they are tempted or tricked into doing sins - that is his job! - so too he is given permission to tempt or trick people into sinning to believe in false Hashkafos due to miracles.
This is not a Chidush nor is it controversial. Chazal say that the Satan showed the Jews an image of Moshe dead on har SInai that caused them to build the Egel. What we call "miracles from the Satan" is no more or less than that - and no more or less than the Navi Sheker does. And the reason is no different than in those cases.
There are tons of places - see the Ramchal I quoted above for example - where it states this clearly.
Rav Shach says this as well. In Michtavim Umaamarim (Vol. 1 #3) he brings from Rav Nissim Gaon regarding the miracles that were done by the peers of R. Elizer ben Hurkanus by Tanur Achnai, where the Halachah is we cannot follow Nissim. But if so, why did Hashem allow Nissim to show us the wrong path? His answer is, the Nisim are a Nisayon, like those of the Navi Sheker.
You could call those types of miracles - and the Satmar Rav would call them - Nissim from the Satan, or Nissim from Hashem על צד הרע. All it means is that these Nissim tempted people into doing the wrong thing.
It means they are a product of the Yetzer Horah, a.k.a. the Satan.
But, like all Nisyonos,they are a product of Hashem. There is no contradiction here and no disagreement. Shlomo Lorincz didn't understand what the Satmar Rebbe said and asked the Brisker Rav something the answer to which he went around saying means the Brisker Rav disagreed with the Satmar Rebbe (or "Satmar and the Neturei Karta", whatever he meant by that). But it is not so. He does not claim the Brisker Rav was even asked about what the Satmar Rebbe said; he was merely asked something to which he answered "Everything comes from Hashem; the Satan cannot do anything by himself, including making miracles."
Attributing miracles to the Satan is meant no differently than attributing anything to the Satan. Such as this statement, made by the Brisker Rav himself:
"This State [Israel] that the have managed to create is the greatest triumph of the Satan since the sin of the Golden Calf!"
Of course he does not mean the Satan has independent power, and neither did the Satmar Rebbe when he mentions "miracles" of the Satan.
And no, the Satmar Rebbe never said Israel's victory in the war of '48 was a miracle from the Satan. He said it was no miracle at all (as do all military experts and historians). So too for the '67 war. See here. What he said was, the temptation that many people had to believe in Zionism that was generated because of the war victory, was obviously from the Yetzer Horah, a.k.a. the Satan. This is not anything remarkable. Here is the rule: Whenever anybody is tempted in any way to do an Aveirah, that comes from the Yetzer Horah, also known as the Satan. It is not complicated.