LEAD TIDBIT:
Miracles and Miracles

[Dedicated to RK, RK, and others] There used to be a show on BBC radio (maybe it’s still on), on which each contestant was challenged to speak for one minute - without hesitation, repetition, or irrelevance - about a subject that was announced right before the clock started ticking. The topics included “Ketchup”, “Underwater Basket-weaving”, “Pre-historic Musical instruments”, and the like.

The show came to mind as the Seventh Day of Pesach approached with the possible topic of “Miracles with Water”. The obvious direction to go with that topic is the Splitting of the Sea and the miracles within that super-miracle, such as sweet water to give Bnei Yisrael what to drink, the sea bed being comfortable dry for the passage of the People and turning muddy to bog down the Egyptian chariots, etc. But the topic of Miracles with Water is more than Yam Suf, more than the bitter water of MARA becoming sweet, more than water coming from a struck rock, more than a miraculous well in the merit of Moshe’s sister, Miriam.

How about this one: Matter expands as it is heated and contracts as it is cool. This is so because when heat energy is applied to a substance, its molecules become more agitated and push neigh- boring molecules away. Cooler molecules can “tolerate” (so to speak) being closer to other molecules because they vibrate less (they are more restful).

There is one substance that does not follow that (almost) universal law of nature: WATER. As water cools, it does, in fact contract. 40°C water is denser than 60°C water, and 10° water is all the more dense. But when cooling water reaches 4°C (that’s about 40°F), it stops following the behavior of all other substances. It starts to expand as it cools. 1°C water is less dense than 4°C water. So is 0°C water and ice. Colder ice reaches a point where it begins to contract again as it further cools, but the miracle of water has already saved the day!

If water kept condensing as it froze, this is what would happen. Cold air would cool the surface of a lake or pond and as the surface layer would turn to ice, it would sink. The surface would continue to freeze and sink until the lake would become solid ice, and fish and other water creatures would die. Instead, when the surface of a lake freezes, the ice is less dense (and there- fore lighter) than the cold water below it. The surface ice then acts to insulate the water of the lake from the freezing air and life in the lake survives.

Not as flashy as K’RI’AT YAM SUF, but no less a miracle. We are blessed with miracles that defy nature as we have come to know - and these miracles grab our attention in a special way.

The miracles we get used to - because they are part of the nature that G-d created - challenge us to appreciated G-d’s world and not take it for granted.