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Aspaqlaria

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The Invisibility of Providence - How?
 
Posted: 15 Mar 2007 02:29 PM CDT
http://www.aishdas.org/asp/2007/03/the-invisibility-of-providence-how.shtml


The fact is that Hashem hides His Presence from us. The question of why is an interesting one. Here I would like to look at part of the question of How? (I have no current plans for a part II, but I would be surprised if it never happens.)

For example, Rav Dessler asserts the well-known formula like the amount of hishtadlus (personal effort on the physical plane) one must invest is inversely proportional to the amount of bitachon (trust in Hashems Providence) one has. If someone has more bitachon, then their needs take care of themselves without much or even any hishtadlus. In the extreme case, R Chanina ben Dosa who saw Hashems hand in the fact that oil burns had vinager burn for him.

How is this possible? Dont we have the basic problem of theodicy  tzadiq vera lo, good people often fare worse than evil ones? How can we assert such a formula in the face of so many counterexamples?

Similarly Divine Justice. We assert that Hashem is Just, yet we all enounter stories of two siblings, one becomes an upstanding, observant Jew, and the other not  and it is the baalas teshuvah who has the harder life. How?

I was asked this question about bitachon recently by email. Novarodoks position is that bitachon is experimentally provable  if you have sufficient bitachon, everything will fall into place. As a lesson in this idea, they would put a student on a train without return fair, and the student would see how despite this, if they have bitachon, they would make it back. Things work out. The Alter of Novarodok signed his names with a trailing בב for Baal Bitachon (Master of Trusting in G-ds Providence). He explained that this is not bravado, but objectively established.

The Chazon Ish rebuts this position. He defines bitachon in a manner with which I am more comfortable. Not that it is trust that Hashem will provide what I want and what I think my needs are. Rather, trust that everything happens according to His Plan, and that plan is in my best interests. Of course, I am very ignorant of what it is that is best for me in the long run, what His plan holds for me, and what pitfalls my life could have hit that He steered me away from. So, I can only trust, not know experimentally.

Second, there is the issue of only looking at one goal at a time. We talk about bitachon, but what if what is in my best interest harms the masses? Or if it would be inherently unjust?

I would like to suggest this metaphor.

Since Newton, science has taught that there is a law: Anything in motion tends to stay in motion unless acted upon by an outside force. Cars dont suddenly stop when we take our foot off the gas pedal.

Why didnt anyone notice this law before Newton?

Well, why dont our cars continue moving forever? There is always an outside force. Wind drag. Friction between the axles and their bearings. Gravity, particularly when we reach a hill. Etc There are always other factors.

Except for experiments performed in space, where the friction is negligible (and even there it isnt quite zero), no one has actually seen a pure example of the first half of that rule.

And yet, the basic principle is true  even though we only catch very imperfect glimpses of it.

Hashems decisions involving human lives take into account far more factors what goes into determining the speed and momentum of my car. We shouldnt be surprised that sometimes these other things occlude our ability to see the various components such as our ability to connect to His Providence through bitachon, Divine Justice, helping us reach our goals in life even without our deserving His help, etc Thats not to say that they arent all in play. The fact that none of us (any astronauts reading this essay aside) have ever seen a real example of Newtons First Law of Motion doesnt shake our trust in its being true. We can see how it plays a role in the fuller picture. So too, the providence provided through bitachon.



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