[Avodah] Feedback, causality & G-d

[Daniel Eidensohn]

> The older I get, the more wary I've become of such absolutist statements.
> Does the Ramban consider the possibility of a person who is *mostly*
> perfect? Would he accept that such a person exists *slightly* in the
> framework of nature?

> The way RDE phrases it bothers me very much. I could be wrong, but I don't
> even like the idea of an *average* person being thrown out of Hashgacha
> Pratis and consigned to the laws of chance, or, as he put it, "totally in
> the framework of nature."

> Even moreso am I bothered by the idea that only a "completely perfect"
> person would escape such a fate. Even Moshe Rabenu wasn't "completely
> perfect."...

Seforno[1] (Vayikra 13:47): When a person sins because he follows his
lusts and thus turns away from G-d's will or he simply rebels against G-d,
he will be punished justly according to G-d's justice. When a person
sins accidentally, he will typically be punished either financial or
physically according to G-d's wisdom in order to arouse him repent. In
contrast those who are as insensitive as one asleep and thus have no
realization of what is happening and are not motivated to know - this
includes all the nations as well as the majority of Jews except for a
few exceptions - they are without doubt under the direction of nature
or mazel. They do not receive hashgocha protis but rather a general form
of Providence which is for the species rather than the individual. Thus
they are like the animals and other forms of life which do not have
individual Providence. They thus fulfill G-d's will only on the level
of the group not as individuals.