Question

Hi Michi,
I know your view on the subject of divine providence.
I’d like to ask, if you can, to present what those who disagree with you say about it (which is 99% of the rabbis, both medieval authorities and later authorities): what is trust in God?
If we are not supposed to rely on miracles, and if we are obligated to shield and defend ourselves, then what does it mean to trust in God? To trust that what—that nothing bad will happen? But go and see: there is a lot of evil even for righteous people, and the rabbis themselves admit this and are forced to deal with the issue of “the righteous person who suffers,” offering various kinds of answers. And from all of them it sounds like, for whatever reason, it’s possible for a righteous person to have bad things happen to him. So what on earth does it mean to trust in God? Maybe what they mean is that trust means believing that everything comes from God—that God is doing it. But if so, that’s just wordplay. There’s no “trust” here that bad won’t happen; on the contrary—even if bad happens, it’s from God.
Can you explain to me what the rabbis mean by the “trait of trust in God” (again, I know you don’t agree, but what do they say)?