Shachrit raised a very interesting point. Is there any validity, or better yet, any evidence of validity, to the phenomenon of Jewish shamanism?
I spoke to many, many people, some of them very honest and sincere, who have personal stories and ''facts'' about how they were helped by this Zadik or by that Mkubal. They clearly didn't falsify facts just for the sake of indoctrinating me with their beliefs. They truly were convinced in the great powers of these miracle workers.
This phenomenon is not only limited to producing ''miracles'' as a result of a blessing, but also to occurrences of clairvoyance and other para-normal behavior. In addition, this phenomenon is clearly not limited to Jews. Every religion, from Christianity to Islam to Eastern religions has its own set of miracles that were performed by holy people. In Judaism however, it became more widespread due to the popularity of mystical beliefs developed by Kabalah and Chasidus.
Veto is correct that empirically it cannot be proven, simply due to the fact that even the most effective of these miracle workers don't have a 100% success rate, plus there are many other components to the act of the miracle, namely some outside influence on the outcome of the miracle. For example, when a Rebbe blesses someone with children there is usually a fertility specialist also involved in the process, or when a bachelor finds a match there is usually someone else, a family member, or even the Rebbe himself, actively looking for a match for this bachelor. But even when we grant all these exemptions, there are still many stories where one might point out a clear influence ''up there'' by the miracle worker.
Now, the question is: can we ascribe these miracles to the law of average? By that I mean, should anyone of you start giving out blessing en masse, similar to what Rebbes and Mkubalim are giving out, would the results be the same? After all, don't miracles happen to people who don't go to miracle workers, or to people who don't even believe in miracles? Let's say that there are a certain percentage of acts that could be described as miraculous, regardless if the people who attain them searched for them or not. If that's the case then it might be possible that should Maimoni for instance, start giving out blessings to poor people (I know there is a very slim chance…) the result would not be much different than those of established miracle workers.
On the other hand, this test might not work. Blessings are supplied by most or all Rebbes, but only those that reach critical mass attain the status of ''Baal Mofes,'' which indicates a relationship between the rate of success and the status bestowed on the performer.
As for Maimoni's assertion that regardless of the outcome of these miracle acts, it is an Un-Jewish act, he might be right, or he might not. That deserves a separate discussion. But on the merits of the miracle acts themselves; it would be interesting to hear some more views on this subject.
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