The arrogance of the assertion that one understands God\u2019s ways is frightful.<\/b><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Another possible approach would ascribe certain disasters to an absence of hashgachah pratit<\/i>, Divine providence, over the individual or community involved. The Ramban and the Rambam speak of hashgachah pratit<\/i> as being limited to a small cadre of people. According to the Ramban, it is moral-religious virtues which qualify a person for that hashgachah<\/i>, while according to the Rambam it is intellectual virtues. Regardless of that difference, they jointly take the position that hashgachah pratit<\/i> applies in varying degrees to different people, and it does not protect the ordinary individual. As such, the individual, or even a whole community, and possibly even the universal community of one\u2019s time, can sometimes be left to the devices of natural forces.<\/p>\n
I should note that Rav Yitzchak Hutner pointed out that the Ramban and the Rambam here do not mean to say that hashgachah<\/i> has no way of dealing with one who deserves to be punished. Rather, it means that he is left to his own devices and to natural forces, and this itself is a manifestation of hashgachah<\/i>; namely, God deals with those who defy Him by taking them and throwing them into the lion\u2019s den, with the lions doing what they naturally do.<\/p>\n
Regardless of the theological construct, the advocates of this approach presume a right, out of a sense of their own virtue, as well as a duty, to help humanity mend its ways and restore contact and communication with God.<\/p>\n
For this, people like myself have no stomach. First of all, the arrogance of the assertion that one understands God\u2019s ways is frightful. But there is a second problem here, which is the assumption that one\u2019s priorities are not to mend one\u2019s own ways, but rather to put the whole world in good shape. This is a total misconception of what teshuvah<\/i> demands of a person. In this regard, we are not to draw on the model of the prophets, who were given a charge to deliver a message to the people regardless of any personal shortcomings they may have had.<\/p>\n
We live after the Shoah, and that is something that we cannot, and should not, disregard. There are people who speak of the Shoah itself in the vein of mipnei chata\u2019einu<\/i>, despite its being a phenomenon of much greater scale and significance. That kind of reaction to the Shoah has elicited terrible responses.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m a talmid of Rav Hutner\u2019s, as are some of my colleagues, yet some of my colleagues and I find it impossible to digest the kind of position which the rosh yeshivah<\/i> took, explaining, based on the parshiyot<\/i> in Vayelech and Nitzavim respectively, and with some analysis of modern European history, that it was all mipnei chata\u2019einu<\/i>. With all my respect and admiration of the rosh yeshivah<\/i>, that kind of statement is something I absolutely could not begin to fathom.<\/p>\n
In sum, while one cannot assert that the mipnei chata\u2019einu<\/i> theory is not correct objectively, one has no way of knowing that it is correct either. As such, it is worth admitting that, in an era without prophecy, you will never know. Our priority needs to be teshuvah<\/i>, which includes in it an element of hakarat hacheit<\/i>, recognizing and realizing one\u2019s sin, but that\u2019s not the only element. It is much better to admit you don\u2019t know rather than to give answers that are spiritually unsatisfactory.<\/p>\n
A religious response needs to be spiritual, submissive and not supercilious in any way. It is not for us to limit God in terms of what He can or cannot do. We live by a faith that God Himself is guided by moral principles\u2014by principles of justice\u2014as Avraham Avinu questioned: \u201cHashofet kol ha\u2019aretz lo ya\u2019aseh mishpat<\/i>, Will the Judge of the entire world not perform justice?\u201d (Genesis 18:25). We assume there is justice. Assuming that, there are questions, admittedly: could the Jews of Eastern Europe have done anything so terrible as to deserve the fate which befell them? We cannot begin to imagine that, and we should not want to imagine that. So we need to be submissive and, to some extent, hope for the better, while weeping for the worst.<\/p>\n
There is another point that comes up in this connection. Some people use such an event as a base for solidifying their religious faith, by emphasizing human frailty in contrast to Divine power. They will note how such an event shows us God\u2019s might, how He can upset the whole equilibrium of nature. It is unclear why someone who is aware of the contemporary understanding of the vastness of the universe, at the most superficial level, would make such an assertion. Einstein calculated that the diameter of the universe is billions of light years. It is a basic axiom of faith that God is sovereign over the entire universe. Given that God perpetually controls this vast universe, why would we need the waters of the Long Island Sound to run ten or fifteen feet high in order to believe that God is running the world? It makes no sense logically or psychologically, but some people use this to attack the secularists.<\/p>\n
It should be noted that Chazal instruct us, when faced with yissurin <\/i>(suffering) large or small, to introspect and take everything into consideration, leading to a spiritual response of mending your ways by reducing, massively, the possible grounds for what happened to you. That is clearly a desirable and feasible response, but it doesn\u2019t mean that you can say with certainty that you are important enough to have such a message addressed to you.<\/p>\n
The Rambam in the beginning of Hilchot Ta\u2019aniyot<\/i> addresses himself to the question of being left to our own devices. Particularly with regard to what happens to Knesset Yisrael, we are commanded not to ascribe it to accidents, but it doesn\u2019t mean that you can say with certainty what the answer is; rather, you take care of the eventualities, and raise possibilities. It behooves us to be modest, to be chozer beteshuvah<\/i>, and hope for the best.<\/p>\n