Q&A: Trust in God and Human Effort
Trust in God and Human Effort
Question
According to the thesis of trust in God and human effort (I know you don’t subscribe to it, but I’d still appreciate it if you could answer according to their approach),
segulot, a blessing from a righteous person, and all the other things of that kind—
do they fall into the category of human effort or of trust in God?
(On the one hand, it isn’t completely trust in God, because there’s a factor involved here other than the Holy One, blessed be He; and on the other hand, it also isn’t human effort, because in a certain sense I am relying here on Kabbalah.)
Answer
Check the dictionary.
There is no meaning at all to this question. It’s semantics and nothing more. Why does it matter what you call it? Call it whatever you like.
Discussion on Answer
This isn’t conceptual analysis but just definition. This question has no meaning at all. If you define trust in God this way, then it will be trust in God, and if you define trust in God differently, then it will be human effort. Why is that interesting?
Notice that the analysis was already done in the question. He suggested two definitions there, and the result changes depending on each one. So what exactly am I supposed to add? To say which of the two definitions is the correct one? That’s what a dictionary is for.
I actually think the question does have meaning regarding the way segulot work (and a few practical ramifications come out of this regarding the obligation of human effort).
For example, it’s exactly like when people make a conceptual inquiry into what creates the obligation in the law of invasion of privacy by visual intrusion—there too there are two possible ways to define it, and the result differs depending on each one. In that case I wouldn’t go to the dictionary; I’d examine, based on reasoning, what makes more sense, and maybe also try to compare it to various other cases.
But in any case, since I’m asking according to an approach that does define trust in God and human effort precisely, the Rabbi really isn’t the right address for this question.
Thanks anyway.
You’re not asking about the definition of the concepts but about what is permitted and what is forbidden. For that, you need to ask someone who thinks there is such a thing as permitted and forbidden when it comes to trust in God and human effort.
I don’t understand why this is just semantics. We’re talking about the concepts of trust in God and human effort; whether a segulah is human effort or trust in God is a full-fledged conceptual analysis, isn’t it?