Dilemmas On Screen: A Jewish Perspective

15. [Pulp Fiction] Miracle, or luck? "Don't blow this off. What just happened here was a miracle!" "Chill, Jules, this stuff happens." (With Rabbi Rick Fox)

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In this episode, join Rabbi Rick Fox and I in unraveling one of the most common questions we encounter on an even daily basis: is Gd actively involved in our lives? Are things that happen to us coincidence, or purposefully orchestrated by our Creator? “We got lucky” v. “What happened here was a miracle and I want you to acknowledge it!” Who’s right, Vincent (Travolta) or Jules (Samuel L. Jackson)?

As a quick overview:

  • Pulp Fiction (1994) is a nonlinear crime film directed by Quentin Tarantino.
  • In one segment, hitmen Jules and Vincent go to retrieve a briefcase for their boss, Marsellus Wallace.
  • After killing a man named Brett and Brett’s friend, they’re unexpectedly shot at by another friend who was hiding in the bathroom.
  • The gun is fired multiple times at close range… but not one bullet hits Jules or Vincent.
  • They both look at each other in shock and then kill the guy. 
  • Jules looks at the wall behind him, and sees a bunch of bullet holes exactly where he was.
  • Jules and Vincent then argue over whether it was a miracle. After the shooter misses all his shots, Jules insists it was “divine intervention.”
    • Vincent casually brushes it off, calling it luck. Things like “Chill, Jules, this stuff happens”
    • Jules cannot accept this. Among the things he says in response are, “Wrong, wrong, this stuff doesn’t just happen. Don’t blow this off. We should be dead. This was a miracle and I want you to acknowledge it.”
    • Jules becomes convinced this was a sign from God and decides to retire from his life of crime.
    • Vincent mocks this, refusing to change. He doesn’t care and shrugs it off.
    • Later in the film, Vincent is killed — while Jules, having “walked the Earth,” survives.

      • With that, we have a few questions we’d like answered:

      Was it a miracle — or did they just get lucky? What’s the difference, anyway?

      • From a Torah perspective, what distinguishes a miracle from a coincidence?
        • The Torah has examples of people interpreting events as signs — but it can go either way - sometimes it’s positive. But we do have a prohibition against being menachesh, or superstitious, or taking omens seriously.
        • So where’s the line between seeing Hashem’s hand in events, versus reading too much into events? If I miss my bus, is it because G-d willed it, or because I should have gotten there a little earlier?
          • What’s the Torah view on being shaken by life events? Are we expected to change only from trauma, or also from noticing small divine patterns?
            • Is belief in miracles inherently irrational — or can it be a form of wisdom?
            • We can certainly see how the bathroom guy missing from point blank range with a huge handgun was a miracle for Jules and Vincent. Their lives were saved - but that miracle cost the bathroom guy his life. How do we respond to that? That miracle was great for the hit men and a disaster for the shooter. So, firstly: why would a murderer merit a miracle? Secondly, it doesn’t seem fair that the miracle came at the expense of another man’s life! How does the Torah handle that?

              •  

              I am excited to welcome Rabbi Rick Fox back to the podcast as he joins us on this episode to answer our questions. Rabbi Fox formerly joined us to discuss the Matrix, and what the Torah approach is to taking the blue pill or the red pill. Rabbi Fox is the Executive Director of MEOR Penn, which is a Jewish outreach organization, servicing the Jewish community at the University of Pennsylvania as a campus chaplain, educator and mentor. A graduate of the Wharton School of Business at Penn with a minor in music. Rabbi Fox began his career in marketing consulting even as he remained an avid musician. While on sabbatical in Israel, Rabbi Fox developed a passion for Jewish education, eventually returning to teach Jewish students at his alma mater in 2015. Rabbi Fox resides in Philadelphia with his wife and four children. His wife, Rivkah Fox, is an active shadchanit i.e. matchmaker and founder of BlindFate, a dating platform for Jews all over the world. You can find Rabbi Rick Fox online on his podcast, “So, What Does Judaism Say About..?”, which is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Amazon, and on Instagram @rabbirickfox. You can find his wife Rivkah Fox on Instagram @rivkahfox.

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              Rabbi Rick Fox: https://www.instagram.com/rabbirickfox/

              Rivkah Fox: https://www.instagram.com/rivkahfox/

              Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3Skgi4px0z692jdlwSeiRz

              Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/so-what-does-judaism-say-about/id1632137067

              Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/66b36dd4-0052-40a4-b3c4-40241ed7616e/so-what-does-judaism-say-about

               

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              Dilemmas On Screen: A Jewish PerspectiveBy Dilemmas On Screen