What’s the Code for a Miracle?

Originally published on Gimme Some Torah by Rabbi Eli Garfinkel on October 23, 2026.

If God had a computer…

Buy my book!

Bereshit/Genesis 14:14

וַיִּשְׁמַ֣ע אַבְרָ֔ם כִּ֥י נִשְׁבָּ֖ה אָחִ֑יו וַיָּ֨רֶק אֶת־חֲנִיכָ֜יו יְלִידֵ֣י בֵית֗וֹ שְׁמֹנָ֤ה עָשָׂר֙ וּשְׁלֹ֣שׁ מֵא֔וֹת וַיִּרְדֹּ֖ף עַד־דָּֽן׃

When Abram heard that his kinsman had been taken captive, he mustered his retainers, born into his household, numbering three hundred and eighteen, and went in pursuit as far as Dan.

Abraham receives word that Lot has been kidnapped and promptly assembles a militia of 318 men to rescue him. Rashi’s midrash is based on gematria, the practice of Hebrew mathematical midrash:

THREE HUNDRED AND EIGHTEEN — Our Rabbis said, “It was Eliezer alone whom he armed and it (318) is the numerical value of his name” (B. Nedarim 32a).

Rabbi Shlomo Ephraim Luntschitz, also known as the Kli Yakar (bio), takes exception with Rashi’s drash and says that Abraham mustered an army of 318 actual soldiers:

Rashi explains that only Eliezer was there, as the number three hundred and eighteen is the numerical value of Eliezer’s name. However, this raises questions: Is it the way of Scripture to use a number that refers to just one person? And [if so], what is meant by Gen. 14:24—“and divided the men who went with me,” when supposedly only Eliezer went with him? The explanation that seems closest to me is that even Rashi agrees that Abraham actually took 318 men with him…

Now R. Lutschitz asks a salient question about the nature of miracles: Why did Abraham need to send hundreds of men to rescue Lot? Why couldn’t he just depend on God to do so miraculously? His answer is that we have to participate in order to receive miracles:

Every person is obligated to act within the natural order to the best of one’s ability, and whatever nature lacks, the miracle will complete.

I like what the Kli Yakar says here because it resolves the tension between nature and miracles. We normally think of nature and miracles as opposites, that a miracle is a suspension of the natural order. The Kli Yakar is suggesting that miracles only happen if we do everything that we can do to achieve the goal. Only then can a miracle finish what we are unable to.

In other words, we cannot just sit passively and wait for a miracle to save us. The shorthand for this idea is אין סומכין על הנס (ein somkhin al ha-nes), which means “We do not rely on a miracle.” Whether the issue is saving a life or just making a living, we must not count on miracles happening. (See B. Shabbat 32a)

Instead, we should exert maximum effort on our part and then gratefully accept any miracle that comes our way.

•••