It's a question that still echoes today, isn't it? "What's the difference," Rav Pappa asks, "between those earlier generations, the ones practically swimming in miracles, and us? What makes us different? Why don’t we see the same things?"
He doesn't just stop there. Rav Pappa gets right to the heart of the matter. Maybe, just maybe, it’s about Torah study, right? But even that doesn’t quite add up. He points out that back in the day, during the time of Rav Yehuda, their learning was pretty much focused on one specific area: the order of Nezikin, which deals with damages and legal matters. "We," Rav Pappa exclaims, "we learn all six orders of the Mishnah!"
So, what gives?
Rav Pappa even brings up a specific example to drive his point home. When Rav Yehuda would delve into the tractate Uktzin—a fascinating, albeit somewhat obscure, part of the Mishnah that deals with ritual purity and the stems of fruits and vegetables—he'd struggle. The text says he found it difficult to understand. In fact, when he would discuss the halakha (Jewish law) about pickling vegetables, he'd pause and say, “Aha! Here we see the disputes between Rav and Shmuel!”
And what about them, Rav Pappa and his contemporaries? They, in contrast, he says, "learn thirteen versions of Uktzin!" Thirteen! So, they're studying more, digging deeper, wrestling with the text in more ways. Yet, the miracles seem… absent.
It's a powerful question, isn't it? It forces us to consider what truly matters in our connection to the Divine. Is it the quantity of our knowledge, or something else entirely? Are we missing something essential in our pursuit of wisdom? Is it the quality of our learning, a connection, a devotion, that perhaps those earlier generations possessed?
This passage, found in the Baal HaSulam's Introduction to the Zohar, isn’t just an historical anecdote. It’s an invitation to examine our own spiritual lives. What are we seeking in our study? What are we truly connecting to? Maybe the miracles aren't gone. Maybe we just need to learn how to see them again.