[Avodah] effects of religous worship on health

[Micha Berger]

On Thu, Dec 04, 2008 at 11:38:53AM -0500, Rich, Joel wrote:
:> What's random from our perspective is never random from HaShem's
:> perspective, no?

: Depends, iiuc there are those that say hashgacha klallit can also apply
: to humans.

To some people, to a greater or lesser degree. Many rishonim, including
the Moreh 3:18. Others limit HP to all people, which the Moreh even
says is Chazal's position -- before saying that "people" is a set with
fuzzy edges. IOW, the Rambam holds HP applies to all people, which some
homo sapiens only partially qualify as.

I'm not sure a proof of His Presence would necessarily be hashgachah
peratis. Something like that has the potential to spread to someone who
gets HP.

And last, as is my wont when the rishonim are raised in this context,
I feel a need to point out that RJR is shifting the topic of the
conversation. Until now, it was "how do we assess such data?" I'm
convinced nearly all of the "we" buy into the universal HP idea, and
certainly at least the universal-for-people variant. So, by raising
the opinion of those rishonim who limit HP to only some/most people,
RJR is shifting the topic from how do we respond to how in theory would
they have responded. It's less useful in a "developing my own worldview"
sort of way.

I tend to view hashkafic discussions on those two levels: building my
own worldview vs talmud Torah.

(A very loose parallel to RRW's observation of those who pasqen based
on which sevara they find compelling and those who review the breadth
of the literature.)

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             You will never "find" time for anything.
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