He was once asked by a petitioner, “Rebbe, where do we see nissim, miracles, in our lives? When the Jews left Egypt, they could sense Hashem in every aspect of their lives. The Clouds of Glory, the Pillar of Fire, the well of Miriam that miraculously travelled with them, and more accompanied them. Today, how are we to sense miracles in a realistic manner?
Rav Shteinman replied, “Today, too, we can experience miracles.” The questioner sought a clear example of Heavenly intervention. “The mere fact that one is able to marry off his daughter is a miracle.” Rav Shteinman became filled with regesh, emotion, as he declared, “Look at the wondrous miracles of the Creator.” He explained that, if one were to ask what is the greatest manifestation of Heavenly miracles in our generation, the answer would probably be: the continued existence of Klal Yisroel. [Indeed, in his Siddur, the Yaavetz writes that Klal Yisroel’s survival in galus, exile, is a miracle that supersedes even Krias Yam Suf.] Yet, the Rav reiterated that the greatest miracle is the ability of an avreich, young Torah scholar, whose material bounty (if anything) barely suffices to feed his family, can marry off his daughter.
He added that the period in one’s life in which a parent marries off his children is the twenty years between forty to sixty – the Hebrew letters mem and samach. We know that the letters on the Luchos were inscribed from both sides. This means that the inscription was engraved through and through. As such, the words were clearly legible on each side. Although the letters were engraved all the way through, they could, nevertheless, be read from right to left on both sides. Now, the Hebrew letters samach and mem are closed on all sides, such that nothing can hold them onto the stone. This was clearly a miracle. Rav Shteinman commented – “In our time, the samach (sixty years old) and the mem (forty years old) hang by a miracle.” (During these twenty years in which parents are marrying off their children – it is by Heavenly intervention.) (Peninim on the Torah)
