Q&A: No One Rules Over the Spirit
No One Rules Over the Spirit
Question
Hello Rabbi,
I wanted to say that I was surprised that in the second book of the trilogy, No One Rules Over the Spirit, in the chapters on providence and miracles, you brought various proofs for your approach from the medieval authorities (Rishonim), but I noticed that you did not bring some really prominent and well-known sources on this subject, which seem to me close to your approach about God’s governance of the world through the laws of nature:
1. The Talmud in Avodah Zarah 54b, which discusses the question of why the Holy One, blessed be He, does not prevent the outcome of a sinful act—for example, if a man and woman committed adultery, why is a mamzer born from it, and why does the Holy One, blessed be He, not prevent that? And they answer that “the world follows its natural course, and fools who have corrupted it will in the future be made to pay the price.”
2. Sefer HaChinukh on the commandment of putting up a guardrail—he speaks there about the fact that the Holy One, blessed be He, created a fixed order in nature according to which it operates, and only in special and rare cases does He break it and perform a miracle; see there…
I wanted to ask because I was a bit surprised that you did not bring these sources within the discussion there.
With wishes for a good and blessed week.
Answer
These sources need to be discussed, because there is no general statement there beyond the point that sins are in human hands. More than that, the assumption there is that the Holy One, blessed be He, is indeed involved, and only here does He have a consideration not to intervene.
As a rule, I did not really collect sources.
I referred to an article by Rabbi Shmuel Ariel, who collected sources from the Sages.