[Avodah] ein mazal l'Yisrael

[Micha Berger]

On Thu, Mar 07, 2013 at 08:28:13PM -0600, Lisa Liel wrote:
> But ein mazal l'Yisrael comes from Avraham and the stars that Hashem  
> showed him.  So it wouldn't apply to the chasid umot ha'olam...

But that just means that this particular quote doesn't apply to
nakhriim. It does not support your claim that their win would necessarily
be sheer randomness. Nor does it contradict it -- the HP afforded Jews
(MOTs in good standing) has nothing to do with its presence or absence
among anyone else.

(That's just a rephrase of what I said about the truth of a proposition
having nothing to do with the truth of its converse.)

E.g. the Rambam makes hashgachah peratis contingent on knowledge of
G-d. Something open to anyone. In fact, he picks three Arabic names,
not Jewish ones, as his examples in Moreh 3:18:

   ... [I]t must further be admitted that the result of the existing
   Divine influence, that reaches mankind through the human intellect,
   is identical with individual intellects really in existence, with
   which, e.g., Zeid, Amr, Kaled and Bekr, are endowed. Hence it follows,
   in accordance with what I have mentioned in the preceding chapter,
   that the greater the share is which a person has obtained of this
   Divine influence, on account of both his physical predisposition and
   his training, the greater must also be the effect of Divine Providence
   upon him, for the action of Divine Providence is proportional to the
   endowment of intellect, as has been mentioned above....

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             When you come to a place of darkness,
micha at aishdas.org        you don't chase out the darkness with a broom.
http://www.aishdas.org   You light a candle.
Fax: (270) 514-1507        - R' Yekusiel Halberstam of Klausenberg zt"l