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<DIV>I wrote >>In times of hester panim, His hashgacha /appears/ random
and removed.<< </DIV>
<DIV>and would just like to add:</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>That, BTW, is how I understand the Chazal, "Keivan shenitna reshus
lamechabel, eino mavchin bein tzaddik larasha" -- in times of war, or epidemic,
many good people will die who would not have died if there had not been a war or
an epidemic -- and from our human perspective, these deaths /appear/
random. For the person to be saved in a time of war or epidemic would take
more "effort," so to speak, on Hashem's part--more Divine intervention--than in
a time of peace, and He will not necessarily protect everyone whose life is in
danger. So there are more deaths of good people, and they look random, but
in reality Hashem still exercised Hashgacha in each and every case--deciding
whether to shield this and that Ploni from harm, or not.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Segue to a slightly different point: every single Holocaust
survivor I have met--and of course I've met many--has amazing stories of
Hashgacha Pratis, how he came to be saved when others around him died. I
know one lady who had no fewer than seven "miracles" done for her during the
war. I put "miracles" in quotation marks because they happened through
natural means, but yet were so improbable that a believer has to see Yad
Hashem--e.g., a Nazi soldier walking right past her on a street after curfew
(long story why she was out) and just not seeing her. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT lang=0 face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="10"><BR><B>--Toby
Katz<BR>=============</B></FONT></DIV></FONT><BR><BR><BR><DIV><FONT style="color: black; font: normal 10pt ARIAL, SAN-SERIF;"><HR style="MARGIN-TOP: 10px">Check out AOL Money & Finance's list of the <A title="http://money.aol.com/special/hot-products-2007?NCID=aoltop00030000000001" href="http://money.aol.com/special/hot-products-2007?NCID=aoltop00030000000001" target="_blank">hottest products</A> and <A title="http://money.aol.com/top5/general/ways-you-are-wasting-money?NCID=aoltop00030000000002" href="http://money.aol.com/top5/general/ways-you-are-wasting-money?NCID=aoltop00030000000002" target="_blank">top money wasters</A> of 2007.</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>