LEV1146 If a person in our own times would like to witness something similar to these [miraculous] events, let him look candidly at our position among the nations since the beginning of the Exile, and at our orderly condition in their midst, though we disagree with them in our beliefs and practices, as they well know. He will see that, in regard to standard of living and subsistence, our situation is close to theirs, and that in times of war and conflict, it may even be better than theirs. He will see that their middle class and villagers toil more than the middle and poor classes among us. This is as we were promised by our Creator, may He be exalted: “Yet for all that, when they are in their enemies’ land, I will not so abhor them and be disgusted with them as to destroy them and break My covenant with them” (Vayikra 26:44) ; As Ezra said: “Though we are servants, God has not abandoned us in our servitude” (Ezra 9:9); And as it says: “Had it not been for God, Who was for us, let Israel now say; had it not been for God, Who was for us, when men rose up against us” (Tehillim 124:1-2), and the rest of the psalm. In the gate on assuming the service of God, I will, with the help of the Almighty, elaborate sufficiently on the abundant favors God has bestowed on us in His Torah which He has given to us.