[Avodah] (1) Re: The Census Numbers In Bmidbar, and (2) Half-Truths

[Micha Berger]

A side effect of spending time trying to make a moderation decision is that
I had time to think about the content of that exchange as well.

> From: <allan.engel at gmail.com>
> Date: Mon, 7 Jul 2025 17:32:18 +0100

> On Sun, 29 Jun 2025 at 16:25, Akiva Miller via Avodah wrote:
> > Way back when Hashem put confusing numbers in His Torah, He knew exactly
> > when and where R' Jay F. Shachter would post:

> By saying that "He knew exactly when and where R' Jay F. Shachter would
> post", you are diminishing (or removing completely) the schar due to R' JFS
> for the time and effort that he puts into his learning and his search to
> understand Toras Hasheim. There was nothing pre-determined about it.

Actually, the problem is more theological... Hashem is lemaalah min
hazeman. As I like to say, and therefore must have written on Avodah
numerous times, "Hashem doesn't Know now what I will do tomorrow. Not
because He doesn't Know, but because He doesn't now."

And therefore Hashem simply tenseless Knows "exactly when and where R'
Jay F. Shachter would post". And that Knowing has no relationship to
"Way back when Hashem put confusing numbers in His Torah". In fact,
if the Torah shared in His Timelessness, there is no "way back when"
to that either, only to when confusing numbers were revealed to humans
(Noshe first) and thus entered the timeline.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger                 A cheerful disposition is an inestimable treasure.
http://www.aishdas.org/asp   It preserves health, promotes convalescence,
Author: Widen Your Tent      and helps us cope with adversity.
- https://amzn.to/2JRxnDF       - R' SR Hirsch, "From the Wisdom of Mishlei"