Stories of Divine Providence were Written by God
I was caught off guard by Karen’s question when she asked me if I had a “personal relationship with God.”
The reason I was caught off guard is because this is not an expression typically used by Jews. But after giving it some thought, I answered with a resounding yes.
I explained to Karen that Judaism teaches that everything happens for a reason and is guided by God, even though we may or may not understand it. There are numerous sources for this belief, including Psalms 37:23, which states, “The footsteps of man are established by God.” When you approach life with this belief, every event is an encounter with God and an expression of our personal relationship with Him.
To make my point, I shared the following story with Karen.
A great Chassidic Rebbe was frequently sought after by the authors of Jewish books to give his approbation (called a haskamah in Hebrew). Once, a rabbinic scholar brought two books to the Rebbe: one was his personal insights into Jewish law, called Chidushim in Halacha, and the other was a collection of stories of Divine Providence. The students of the Rebbe were curious as to which book the Rebbe would place on top of the others based on its holiness. When they asked the Rebbe why he put the stories of Divine Providence on top, he answered, "The insights into Jewish law were written by this scholar, but the stories of Divine Providence were written by God."
This story had an amazing impact on Karen because she realized that God is not absent from current history or our individual lives. God continues to be involved in every aspect of creation. God's book, so to speak, is still being written.
Alongside our belief in Divine providence, our sages teach in Berakhot 33b that “everything is from heaven except the fear of heaven.” This means that woven into the fabric of creation is the freedom of choice to do good or evil. Our purpose in life is to choose good by following the God-given path of Torah and mitzvot and thereby strengthen our connection with God.
Shabbat Shalom.
Rabbi Bentzion Kravitz
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