Q&A: On the Change in Providence in Our Time
On the Change in Providence in Our Time
Question
Hello Rabbi,
I am familiar with your view regarding divine providence, and recently some thoughts of heresy about your position have come up in me, Heaven forbid.
I am not sure about the difference you point to between our period and the period of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh), when even you agree there was providence.
Their day-to-day life was probably very similar to ours (and if anything, even worse than ours). The sea did not split every other day, nor were there revelations of God to the Jewish people on a regular basis. The open miracles were very sporadic.
Of course, I am not speaking only about the period of the Israelites in Egypt and in the wilderness, but about the whole Hebrew Bible (Tanakh). The days of Ezra and Nehemiah, for example, do not sound to me full of open miracles, and overall seem quite ordinary. I would even say fairly similar to the period 80-90 years ago.
The difference you like to point out, and in my view the only one that is relevant (and not the open miracles, which as noted were exceptional even relative to that period), is prophecy, which existed then and does not exist today. True, that is correct, but I am not convinced that this is an essential difference. That is, there really is no prophecy today, and the connection with God has declined in degree. But from there to say that the statements about providence in the Written Torah are no longer valid—that is a very major leap. I do not see less plausibility in the position that says there is no prophecy, but those statements are still valid.
It is important to note that I absolutely agree with the statement that we do not see this providence today. The world follows its natural course, and the laws of nature give a very good picture, so there is no reason to say from observing the world that God intervenes. The reason to say so is the verses in the Torah that speak about intervention in the world. Likewise, I agree with you that every intervention is in the category of a miracle and a deviation from the laws of nature. (By the way, do you think that if today’s science had existed then, they would have found more unusual unexplained phenomena?)
In short, if there is no significant difference between the periods in terms of daily life and national life, then why say there is a difference in providence?
Would it not be more correct to say that even in the past there was not really providence? And if so, what are those verses meant to express?
Thank you,
Nathan
Answer
Since a person does not render himself wicked, you are not believed to say that you are denying my religion, God forbid. But we can discuss the question itself as an innocent aside.
The reasoning for my position stems from two claims: 1. Today it is fairly clear that there is no divine involvement. You claim that this is also how it would have appeared then. Maybe; I am not sure. 2. In the past there were open miracles and prophecy, and today there are not. On that you agree (obviously open miracles were exceptional, otherwise they would not have been miracles. So what? Today there is not even that).
Your argument relates to point 1 but ignores point 2. The combination of the two leads to the solution I proposed. In my view it is the most plausible. The alternative requires us to live in a fantasy and not accept what we see with our own eyes, or alternatively not to accept the Torah’s descriptions. See also column 243 on this.
Discussion on Answer
That is, beyond the open miracles. For the ordinary person, in day-to-day life
I have no idea. Testimony from people of those periods on such a matter is irrelevant, because they did not have the relevant scientific information.
Maimonides indeed writes that, but it does not affect us, because from the standpoint of what we see with our own eyes it would still look like miracles (deviations from the regular course of events), and it makes no difference whether they are the result of present involvement or were embedded in creation from the outset.
Do you think that in the past there were more deviations from the laws of nature (= providence)?
(I vaguely remember that you quote Maimonides saying that the miracles were “embedded” in the creation of the world. Do you hold like him, and therefore there are never any deviations from nature?)