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Poster Commentary
"A miracle cannot prove what is impossible. It only confirms what is possible."Maimonides
Poster design:Seymour Chwast
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by Daniel Gordis•   •   •

At first blush, we might find it surprising that Maimonides, the famed 12th-century Jewish philosopher, would write about miracles. Maimonides, after all, is known as a great rationalist, as the man who sought to square as much of Jewish thought and tradition as possible with the teachings of Aristotle. How could a man so devoted to rationality include miracles in his highly systematic work of reason?

In large measure, Maimonides was being faithful to his tradition. The Torah and many other classical Jewish texts speak of miracles as a matter of course. Creation itself was a miracle—God merely spoke, and our universe was created. The Exodus from Egypt was preceded by miracles—the 10 plagues. Other examples abound. As a traditional Jewish philosopher, Maimonides was in no position to deny their possibility.

But for many of us, the very notion of miracles can be an obstacle to taking religious life seriously. If engagement with Judaism is going to require that we suspend our rationality, many of us are not interested. We seek a religious experience that augments our humanity, not one that diminishes it.

Perhaps, though, Maimonides can actually help us here. For Maimonides suggests that miracles can be found in what is possible. What might that mean for us? Perhaps religious experience can enrich us not only through our intellect, but also by highlighting those portions of our experience that reason cannot fully account for. How can two cells plus nine months render something that can smile? How can we account for the devotion of a life partner when one is dying or is rendered helpless by disease? From where comes the human capacity for making music, writing poetry, creating great art?

“For Your miracles that are with us every day,” says our liturgy, as we thank God for the unique experience which is human life. In our hyper-rational age, perhaps we ought to embrace Maimonides and his belief in miracles. For what is miraculous, he teaches us, is not just what can be, but what already is.

 

Author
Maimonides
1135–1204
Lived in Spain, Morocco and Egypt
Philosopher, commentator and physician

Maimonides—known in Hebrew as Rambam (Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon)—is considered by many to be the greatest of all Jewish philosophers. He advanced a universalist vision of Judaism through a unique integration of science and religion and the application of Aristotelian thought to an understanding of Torah.

Maimonides was born in Cordova, Spain, but the Almohad (Islamic) invasion of 1148 forced his family to relocate to Fez, Morocco. Maimonides spent the last 40 years of his life in Cairo, Egypt.

His two most important works are the Mishneh Torah, a 14-volume systematization of the commandments of the Torah that emphasizes the rational basis for Jewish law, and the Guide for the Perplexed, his philosophical magnum opus, which lays out a negative theology (we only know God by what God is not) and theories of creation, prophecy, providence and jurisprudence.

In seeking to integrate secular and religious knowledge, the Guide for the Perplexed exerted a significant influence on later thinkers, including Aquinas, Spinoza, Leibniz and Newton. It was a controversial work—even banned—among rabbinic circles, in part because of Maimonides’s strong rejection of literal interpretation of the Bible. Such literalism, he says, results in a material conception of God, a form of idolatry.

While Judaism has rarely presented itself as a dogma-based religion, Maimonides articulated in his commentary on the Mishnah 13 fundamental principles of Jewish faith: the existence of God; the absolute unity of God; the incorporeality of God; the eternity of God; God alone is to be worshipped; God communicates through prophets; Moses is the greatest prophet; the Torah was given by God; the Torah is immutable; there is divine providence; there is divine punishment and reward; there will be a Messiah; and the dead will be resurrected.

In addition to his work as a philosopher and commentator, Maimonides was a renowned physician who served the court of Saladin and the royal family in Egypt. In his 10 medical treatises, in which he addressed asthma, diabetes, pneumonia, hepatitis and other diseases, he advocated preventive medicine and a holistic approach to patient care.

Artist
Seymour Chwast
New York
Graphic designer
Illustrator

Seymour Chwast was born in New York City in 1931. A graduate of Cooper Union, where he studied illustration and graphic design, he is a founding partner of the celebrated Push Pin Studios, now known as The Pushpin Group. Pushpin’s distinct style has influenced contemporary visual communications worldwide. Today, Chwast is the director.

Chwast’s clients have included leading corporations, advertising agencies and publishing companies in the United States and abroad. His designs and illustrations have been used for advertising, animated films, corporate and environmental graphics, publications, posters, packaging and record covers. He created background images for the production of Candide at Lincoln Center in New York and for the Opera Company of Philadelphia’s production of The Magic Flute. He has designed and illustrated over 30 children’s books and developed several typefaces. He published The Push Pin Graphic, a magazine with subscribers all over the world. A book titled The Push Pin Graphic was published by Chronicle Books. With Steven Heller, Chwast formed Pushpin Editions, which has produced books on the arts and graphic design.

Chwast’s designs and illustrations have been exhibited in major galleries and museums in the United States, Europe, Japan, Brazil and Russia. Chwast and Pushpin were honored at the Louvre in a two-month retrospective titled The Push Pin Style. He has had several one-man shows of his paintings, sculptures and prints in the United States. His posters are in the permanent collections of The Museum of Modern Art, the Cooper-Hewitt, the Library of Congress, the Gutenberg Museum and The Israel Museum, among others.          

The American Institute of Graphic Arts awarded him the AIGA Medal for 1985. He has honorary PhDs in fine arts from both Parsons The New School of Design and the Rhode Island School of Design. He is also in the Art Directors Club Hall of Fame. He lives in New York with his wife, the graphic designer and painter Paula Scher.

Quote
"A miracle cannot prove what is impossible. It only confirms what is possible."Maimonides

The sole object of all the trials mentioned in Scripture is to teach man what he ought to do or believe; so that the event which forms the actual trial is not the end desired; it is but an example for our instruction and guidance…

Scripture says: If a man should rise, pretend to be a prophet, and show you his signs by which he desired to convince you that his words are true, know that God intends thereby to prove to the nations how firmly you believe in the truth of God’s word, and how well you have comprehended the true Essence of God; that you cannot be misled by any tempter to corrupt your faith in God. 

Your religion will then afford a guidance to all who seek the truth, and of all religions man will choose that which is so firmly established that it is not shaken by the performance of a miracle.  For a miracle cannot prove that which is impossible; it is useful only as a confirmation of that which is possible, as we have explained in our Mishneh Torah.