[Avodah] "The Great Miracle of the Volcano Shutdown "

[Micha Berger]

On Wed, May 05, 2010 at 10:09:10AM -0400, Joseph C. Kaplan wrote:
: As someone who originally criticized the volcano/liver transplant
: story in an Areivim thread, I'd like to note that I have no problem
: with the basic story itself; my problem is with the way it was told.
: Just think if the thrust of the story had been to inspire people not to
: give up hope no matter how dire things seem to be and to keep on doing
: what you think is important rather than fall into despair and depression.
...

Here's are excepts of (a teaster for) what I wrote on the subject
<http://www.aishdas.org/asp/2010/05/backgammon.shtml>:
    The following is probably fiction, but is certainly possible.

    Picture a salt truck in February 2008, running down a Manhattan
    street, its mechanism scattering salt behind it. One particular
    piece of salt is sprayed out of the back of the truck, balances on a
    pebble embedded in the asphalt for a moment...

    ... and falls to the left. There it enters a weak spot in the street,
    a crack where water accumulates. The salt and its effect on freezing
    water accelerates the growth of that crack.On May 1st 2010, a Nissan
    Pathfinder bounced over the crack. Something fell out of place in
    the crudely made incendiary device in the back of the truck. The
    effects were scary, but no one was harmed.

    ... and the salt falls to the right. The SUV doesn't get jarred, and
    the device remains functional. In this world -- Explosion, fireball.
    Possibly hundreds of lives ended or people maimed. The number of
    people whose fate would have permanently altered for the worse would
    have been large.
    ...
    In chess, the players have full control of all the events on the
    board. The player who plays a stronger game and avoids mistakes will
    inevitably win.

    In backgammon, there is an element of chance -- the moves are not
    entirely under the payers' control. And yet still, the better
    player is far more likely to win. And if it's a full tournament, so
    that no one die roll is all that important, the better player will
    certainly win.

    Similarly, G-d can work out the outcome He wants even without
    asserting full control over the events.

    It could have been my mythical grain of salt. But if not, it was
    something else. Every event is the product of a large number of
    causes, pieces that fit together and combine to make it happen. Free
    will determines some of them, G-d's unwillingness to let us see Him
    tweak nature fixes others, but many of them seem to just come down
    to what Mayor Bloomberg thinks is "chance".

    ------------------------------------------

    This is a distinct issue to how we respond to these glimpses of the
    Divine. Here’s another relatively recent event, as told in
    BeChadrei Chareidim and translated by the author of the Dreaming of
    Moshiach blog:

        The Great Miracle of the Volcano Shutdown
    ...
    The problem here is one of perspective. It is exciting to be the
    one who won the lottery. But as an outsider, I know that someone
    is bound to win, and can't be amazed that one particular person I
    hadn't heard of before won rather than another.

    "[N]ot even one patient was able to fly into Belgium for the very
    needed healthy liver transplant due to a volcanic eruption in
    Iceland." How tragic! But that story is ignored.

[Stuff I wrote here already ellided.]

    R' Yosef-Gavriel Bechhoffer forwarded (with his agreement to its
    sentiment) an anonymous comment that adds that this ideological flaw
    (or the one he specifies in his variant on the above observation, to
    be more correct) is not just abstract, it has day-to-day
    consequences. He writes:

	I happen to think we in our generation, and especially from an
	educational standpoint our young people, are more in need of
	examples of tziduk hadin and moving forward in life despite
	disappointment, loss and suffering, than we are in need of
	further gushes of chicken soup for our already
	entitlement-ridden souls....

Note this is pretty much RJCK's point, IIUC.

    The point I'm trying to make is a subtle but important one -- THE
    DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SEEING THE HAND OF G-D IN AN EVENT, AND BELIEVING
    ONE CAN SECOND-GUESS HIS MOTIVATION FOR IT. This is easier to remember
    when the results are tragic, since we have no motivating desire to
    assume Hashem is cruel. But if we can not understand the tragic,
    we can't claim to understand happier outcomes either.

    And so, when we crossed the Red Sea and the Egyptians drowned, the
    angels wanted to sing praise to the A-lmighty. Hashem stops them,
    saying "the works of My 'Hands' are drowning in the sea, and you
    are singing songs?" However, the Jews themselves did sing Hashem's
    praises, we repeat the song daily as "Az Yashir".

    A difference in perspective. The angels' song would be claiming to
    understand why G-d saved the Jews, and ignoring their ignorance of
    why He did not extend Compassion and Patience to the Egyptians. FOR
    US THE RECIPIENTS OF HIS LARGESS, HOWEVER, GRATITUDE IS APPROPRIATE.
    GRATITUDE DOESN'T REQUIRE KNOWING WHY, OR CLAIMING TO UNDERSTAND
    HIS PLAN.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Today is the 43rd day, which is
micha at aishdas.org        6 weeks and 1 day in/toward the omer.
http://www.aishdas.org   Chesed sheb'Malchus: How does unity result in
Fax: (270) 514-1507                           good for all mankind?