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Divine intervention through advance preparation

שו”תCategory: faithDivine intervention through advance preparation
asked 4 years ago

Hello Rabbi
Regarding the Rabbi’s opinion, God does not intervene in creation since nature is deterministic.
Why can’t we say that God arranges events in advance so that a certain event will occur?
Even if we accept that God only created the world in its initial state, and that all subsequent states are a necessary consequence of a previous state, it is still possible that God, in creating the first state, acted based on His knowledge of what would happen in the future.
Similarly, Esther’s reign is considered a “preventive cure for the plague.” It is possible that God knew that the people of Israel would fast and wear sackcloth, and therefore made sure in advance to make Esther queen.


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מיכי Staff answered 4 years ago
1. This can be said about deterministic events, but not about choice events. Where it is not known in advance what will be chosen. 2. Although regarding this, it can be said that he embedded options in creation: if A is chosen, then X will happen and if B is chosen, then Y will happen (for example, a sick person who prays will recover and a sick person who does not pray will not recover), and from here on out everything happens deterministically. This is Maimonides’ method regarding miracles (and its origin is in the Midrash of the Sages). 3. But I am not claiming that he cannot intervene, but that factually, the senses do not see involvement and there is no reason to assume it. So if the advance preparation that you are suggesting is the laws of nature known to us, you are repeating my words. If it is about something else – I see no indication of it. By the way, see Rambam in Shors 1, where he makes it difficult for the Haggai to include Chanukah and Purim in his list, how it is possible that the Torah commanded Chanukah and Purim before they occurred. On the surface, this proves my point. But on its face, this seems like a strange question, since it is possible that the Torah commands that if a calamity occurs and we are saved, then we must do this and that (for example, to establish a Yom Taw that depends on salvation and is left to the sages). But this is difficult in the opinion of the Haggai, because according to this, Chanukah and Purim should not have been two commandments but one. In any case, on the surface, conclusions can be drawn for our case as well. And of course, they must be rejected.

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י replied 4 years ago

1. I suggest that foreknowledge is the law of nature, but that it is affected retroactively by choice. For example, the flood that caused the flood was naturally foreknowledge because God knew that the generation of the flood would choose evil. In a universe where the generation of the flood would choose good, the flood would not have been created in advance.

I understand from the lines that it is impossible for the Rabbi to know because God does not know in advance what will be chosen. Did I understand correctly?

2. Regarding the Rambam’s evidence, it seems to me that the Rambam meant that the Torah was given in a way that was understandable to the people of the generation that received it. It is unlikely that he gave specific instructions regarding a Greek conquest, not because it is philosophically impossible, but because it is terribly strange.

מיכי Staff replied 4 years ago

1. Indeed true. I have elaborated on this in several places (see, for example, the series of columns on knowledge and choice).
2. This is what I meant when I said that the evidence should be rejected from there.

אריק1 replied 4 years ago

To complete the picture (on the face of it, not essential to any of the arguments), prior intervention within the laws of nature does not have to be by determining the laws of nature alone, but can also be by determining the initial conditions (such as where each particle/wave, etc., was located after the Big Bang).

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