[Avodah] Apikores?

[Moshe Y. Gluck]

R' Marty Bluke:
> When the brothers are planning on killing Yosef, Reuven saves him by
> suggesting throwing him into the pit. The mefarshim ask what did
> Reuven accomplish, the pit was very dangerous (full of snakes, etc.),
> even life threatening. The Or Hachaim and the Alshich both answer as
> follows. A person has bechira chofshis and therefore the brothers
> could kill Yosef even if he was not supposed to die. However, animals
> since they have no bechira chofshis they cannot kill someone if he is
> not supposed to die. In other words, bechira trumps hashgocha pratis.

The fact that the RBSO lets Yankel be Bocher to kill Berel doesn't mean that
a) it wasn't part of the master plan, or that b) Hashem can't stop Yankel
should He want to. Looking at it another way, should Berel not Daven or
fight back because of the fear of limiting Yankel's Bechirah? (Chazal
certainly didn't think that - Afilu Cherev Chadah...) Looking at it a third
way, the world runs on Teva. Does that mean that Nisim can't happen?
Personally, I like the way the Chazon Ish puts it - when someone is in
trouble he should realize that it is just as likely that the positive
outcome happen, as the negative one. 
R' Eli Turkel (as well as R' David Riceman) mentioned the Tzaddik V'ra Lo
and Rasha V'tov Lo in this regard in an earlier post: 
> For humans it conflicts with the old idea of good and evil. I find it
> hard to believe that
> the truly evil people who live to 100 have a some virtue that the
> kollel boy who dies at 20 has.
> Furthermore, it is obvious that eating well, exercise and other
> healthy habits causes a person
> to live longer while shemirat mitzvot has no such obvious effect.
<SNIP>
> The idea that people perished in the Holocaust because because of
> their sins seems absurb.
> In worse is to claim that the great rishonim died in the crusades
> because of their sins or the
> various great rabbis that died through gezerot Tach ve-Tat
> (Chemilnikzi).
It seems to me that Chazal understood this issue by explaining that
Tzaddikim and Reshaim are neither judged by the same standards, nor rewarded
or punished in the same way. I think that all your points can be explained
away that way.  
Earlier, R' Eli Turkel wrote:
> Mainly because it goes against common sense and modern science.
> We know from physics that objects fall due to gravity. According to
> the Baal Shem Tov
> no leaf falls or any action occurs without G-d decreeing it.
> Seems somewhat silly for G-d to decree what we know will happen anyway.
Why will it happen anyway? Who said that there would be gravity without the
RBSO decreeing that it be there every second? It seems pretty clear L'chol
Hadei'os (that I'm aware of) that if the RBSO would stop actively being
Mechayeh the world every instant it would be Chozer L'Tohu Va'vohu. The laws
of physics are part of the world, and so are you and I. Tomer Devorah
(1:1-2) puts it well (for another kabbalistic POV supporting Hashgachah
Pratis) when he says that the RBSO actively keeps a person alive even though
he had aveiros, when Shuras Hadin would require that Hashem remove his
support for the actions against him.   

KT,
MYG