Q&A: Providence in Our Times
Providence in Our Times
Question
Hello Rabbi,
I saw in several of your articles here that you maintain that nowadays there is no, or almost no, miraculous providence. And indeed, according to all our observations, we see a world that operates with general causality, and it seemingly makes no sense to insert divine providence into it [unless we say that the laws do not operate when no one is looking, which is completely unreasonable, and you also proved from the Talmud that there are no changes in nature even when nobody is watching]. And to the question why we should not say that providence operates through human choices, you answered that influencing a person’s choice is also a change in nature.
But seemingly that claim is correct only if we assume that providence intervenes to determine a person’s choice. But if providence merely exerts influence to tilt a person’s free choice in the direction it wants, then there is no change in nature here, and that would let us accept that this happens [it still does not resolve the promises of the Torah that are not dependent on human beings, but it does give the Holy One, blessed be He, some role in His world].
Answer
I didn’t understand. Any such influence is an intervention in nature, even if it only tilts the choice and does not determine it. And I have already written several times that sporadic interventions are possible, and they cannot be ruled out. I don’t think anything is gained here.
Discussion on Answer
I do have a problem with that. Any influence that is beyond the laws is against the laws. There is no influence that is beyond them and not against them. Without the influence, X would have happened, and the influence caused Y to happen. Otherwise there is no influence.
Of course, this could be a hidden miracle, but there is no intervention that is not a miracle.
Just as you accept that free will [of a human being] is possible, meaning something beyond the causality of nature, so I assume you have no problem accepting that there can be an influence beyond the laws of nature so long as it does not go against them [that is, cancel them out, which would be a miracle]. And since choice in practice is made because of external causes that draw the chooser toward choosing them [for example, advertisements that enter the subconscious, and other kinds of stimuli], so too God, who is free, can give greater weight to a certain side [for example: increasing the drive of desire in a person], and thereby influence him to choose the thing He wants, without intervening in the laws of nature, and without anything unusual or miraculous being seen.