Divine Providence, 1 & 1 Million

 

DIVINE PROVIDENCE, 

1 & 1 MILLION

Mordechai Z. Hecht

 

At FIRST…

My regularly scheduled Thursday evening classes were recently dismissed for three weeks so I can research the concept of Divine Providence.

I have been blessed to find tremendous resources from our Rebbes of Chabad, as well as the great authors of this century and as early as the Bible itself.

Over the weeks I have managed to open dozens of books, and research hundreds of sources in this regard and have blown my mind away every page I turned.

It turns out that the Divine Providence concept is a web of ideas and counter ideas - A bouncing idea lending itself to gravity and then leaving gravity. Placing it’s onus on G‑d, G‑d himself, and then only returning to man’s responsibility in the world affecting the Divine and it’s Providence.

At every point where I thought I finally grasped the concept, the idea alluded me and took a turn, as if the concept I was studying knew I was studying it, not allowing me to grasp it in it’s entirety. Almost as if it was telling me it’s “too large, too fully grasp and put on to paper”, or in my case into a power point presentation.

I thought that I would create a power- point of a couple dozen frames, keep the class down to 1 hr., and off we’ll be.

What I am left with however is a growing organism. Some one hundred frames and 2, 90 minute classes, and that is just the beginning of trying to explain this concept on it’s elementary level of basic principles.

THE POINT

But that’s not even the point! The point is, just when I thought I got it down pat, and went on to give the classes and finally excused myself from my research, I was once again blown away by the commentaries on two verses in this week’s torah portion, jumping out at me, as if the sages the authors themselves were beseeching me to bring these thoughts, hidden among the thousands of words on the page of a mikraos gedolos chmuash -unto the masses.

And so my friends, here is what the sages, our great masterminds and awesome Baalei Ruach Hakodesh had to say this past week. Hold on to your seats.

GRAPPLING WITH FAITH

Many people grapple with Belief and faith in Hashem, and this is on a daily basis. No, not only ignoramuses and secularists but even, yes, even the sacred practicing Jew. Even the Rabbi with the black hat - even the ordained Rabbi and torah scholar. As the concept of faith and belief in Hashem, basic duties of the heart can be a roller-coaster of feelings and connections and disconnections in one’s mind and heart, there and back and there again. And then poof it’s gone! Until it returns, and then it goes through a vicious interrogating cycle all over again in our lives - continually.

FAITH IN ACTION

So, when something great happens, When something outstanding and unbelievable and unplanned and even essentially unplannable, when something awesome happens – our creepy little minds question the status and categorization and proper place of this item or event or thing. It questions it, by asking, “is it G‑d or is it me?!” “Is it science or is it G‑d”?! “Is it natural or super natural?” And here’s where the average mind goes on a roller-coaster ride trying to pick up the pieces to come to a conclusion and come back to a completes stop with a resolution – a ruling to go home with.

To the extent that many people will ask, “Can I and shall read my horoscope” – will that tell me my fate and give me a conclusion?

Can go to a Tarot card reader for $5 (for the first 5 minutes) and get a reading of my future?

May I see a psychic or a palm reader and find out what my fate and destiny hold in store for me?!

After all we live in a world of all these options. A world surrounded by all these things, things which the world is so impressed by and even assaulted by that they have become part and parcel of our society.

But is it permitted? Is it productive? And are these supposed powers [scams] able to guide us - the Jew, and actually give us insight into our lives or, are they absolutely wasting our time and money and negatively impacting our faith systems?

Are we really to place our faith in but the G‑d above. and lock in our target there ao Hashem alone? Lock stock and barrel, beginning, middle and end, the Good, the bad and the ugly - all being G‑d and G‑d alone. As we say, “G‑d is, was and always will be” - in every aspect of our lives, or not?     

To answer this fundamental question of multiple components we turn to this past weeks Torah portion of Vaeschanan.

Now remember this portion coincides with the Shabbos of Nachamu- the Shabbos of consolation.

The Shabbos after Tisha B’Av aft the great loss we all relive on Tisha B’Av.

Moshe comes to the Nation of Israel and he says[1],

”See, that I teach you today Chukim – mitzvos that are above rational, Mishpatim – mitzvos which can be explained within the dimensions of rationale, mitzvos which G‑d has commanded you to do, when you come into the land of Israel, where you will be established”.

”You shall guard them because they are the wisdom and the understanding to the eyes of the nations, which will hear all these laws and they will say, “what a wise and understanding nation, what a great and awesome nation they are”.

 

The Torah then  continues[2] 4 verse later and says,

“Rak – only guard yourself, and guard your soul, very much, so as not to forget, the words, the things, which your own eyes saw [at sinai – and every soul of all generations was at  Sinai], and don’t let be removed from your heart, all the days of your [own] life, and let it be known to your children, and grandchildren.”

 The Sforno[3] writes:

“ Rak – only guard yourself”: Even though I told you that I want you to be viewed as a smart and wise nation in the view of the nations, guard yourself from those philosophies and opinions which are gravely mistaken and contradict the existence of G‑d may He Blessed, His Capabilities and his Hashgach –supervision/ divinepProvidence, as they try to bring intellectual proofs for these matters.”

Then he continues, and says:

“Pen Tishkach - lest you forget what you once saw with your own physical eyes at Sinai, your physical eyes that saw the understandings of the Torah, opposing their teachings, opinions and philosophies which try to intellectualize matters, which contradict the Torah [view].”

I don’t believe we need any more words than the Torah itself and the words of the Sforno, read it again perhaps.

G-D’S SYSTEMS & G-D HIMSELF

A few verses later, Moshe continues his speech to the Jewish people further warning them not believe in the creations of Hashem, as Hashem himself, as the Torah states[4]:

“And don’t lift your heads to the heaven, and you will see the sun and the moon, and the stars and all the hosts of the heaven, and be pushed away by them, and bow down to them, to those items which Hashem has divided up to all the nations, under the heavens”

It is here that the Ibn Ezra[5], speaks up and so profoundly and even miraculously shares with us an enormous secret and factuality:

 “The Sun and the Moon: “The great luminaries, the stars and all the hosts of the heaven, stars that give light also, all the Mazalos – equinoxes and cycles, and their astrological formations.

 He continues:

“Which He has divided: “It’s a “Davar Menusah- tremendously challenging thing, because their is a star and mazal – a fate for all the nations of the world, and a star and a fate for every city of the world. But Hashem placed for the nation of Israel, a “Maalah Gedolah – tremendously advantageous thing , That Hashem alone is their counsel and their guide, and there is no star for them, and behold the beni Yisroel is a Nachlas Hashem – the inheritance of Hashem”.

Could you say it any clearer. Star gazers, tarot card readers, Pshychics, even some intelegences, even if it did work and did have some truth and effect in the world – “it does not have any effect and has no application for the Jewish people.”

No science can explain, nor has the right, nor the ability to even try to explain the hand of Hashem in our fate. No radar can pick it up. No computer platform has the application to decipher it.

No man has the eyes to see it, except Klal Yisroel – we alone. Only we can see Hashem’ Divine individual providence to everything in the world, particularly what happens to us. The world is as blind men, and we are their guide. Or as the prophet Yeshaya, put it so bluntly and eloquently in the Haftorah of Nacham Nachamu, “we are the bucket of fresh water and they are the little drip that drips down the side of the bucket and become moldy and putrid”, in comparison to our greatness.

Conclusion

When something happens, we must realize the Yad Hashem – the Zeroyah Netuyah, and the Yad Chazakah. How much more so when something great happens, we must sing it out loud for all to hear and see – for they are blind in these matters.

This past week something else great happened, 100,000 Jews gathered in a sports complex to celebrate the completion of the greatest work of scholarship [to say the least] in the world.

People were at argument if it was 90 or 100,000 attendees. To which I say it was neither, because thousands more were hooked up via radio and satellite around the world. And even more so, for every Jew that wasn’t there in the complex, there were at least 10 Jews, men , women and children, that heard of the news and was concerned and impressed by the event… so in fact we can easily say atleast 1million Jews participated in some form or fashion in the most monumental Jewish gathering in centuries.

CONCLUSION IN COTRAST

If you would ask a Jew in 1945 if he could even imagine that in 60 years 1million Jews would gather for a Siyum HaShas in America [the treifeh medinah- the flesh eating bacteria – spiritually, threatening the mere survival of some hundreds of thousands o Jews in America] he would think you were nuts. Even the first Knesiah Gedolah in the great Torah city of Lublin in 1926 only 20,000 were in attendance. But my dear friend it happened this week – “Lifnei Kol Am Vo’eidah” – see it and just don’t ever forget what you saw. And remember the world is looking at you and us.

These my friends are great feats and amazing miracles that the Rebbonoi Shel Olam alone, The Borei Olam – the creator of “heaven and earth, the great luminaries and all the hosts therein”, and Avinu Shebashomayim – our dear Father in heaven coordinates and supervises with his own personal Divine Individual Providence, what’s left for us to do, is recognize it and be Makir Tov – give thanks for all the kindness he has showered upon us enabling us all to reach this point together and to experience it and to see it.

 

All corrections and comments: rabbi@justaschabad.com