5 Responses to

1. emunaman says:

   April 6, 2011 at 9:48 am

   not sure i get this one….

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   • Jeremy says:

     April 6, 2011 at 1:05 pm

     Emunaman, what a beautiful name!

     I think he means as follows: We each have a mission in life. When Hashem sees that we are falling off course, He gives us a nudge to help us get back on course. When things don’t seem to be going our way, perhaps it is because we aren’t supposed to be doing what we are doing. Only Hashem knows what is best for us. Maybe by putting obstacles in your path, He is telling you that this is not the path that you should take.

     In the coming weeks, my plan is to take everyone through The Garden of Emuna which discusses this all at length.

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2. Yoni Kahan says:

   April 7, 2011 at 7:39 am

   Too simplistic. The honest answer is that things happen. Some may be directed by God and others by humankind (free will). Our job is to do the best we can.

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3. Jeremy says:

   April 7, 2011 at 10:00 am

   I am not so sure about that. This is a deep concept, and I may be wrong, but my understanding is that everything comes from Hashem. Not almost everything; Everything! Of course people have free will, but that doesn’t mean that Hashem doesn’t know what that person is going to do. For instance, if someone is going to kill someone else, he has free will, but decided he is going to go through with it. Additionally, Hashem already decided that the victim deserves to die and orchestrated the whole thing. Hashem doesn’t make the person sin, but once the person decides to do so, He uses him to punish someone else that deserves punishment.

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4. Yoni Kahan says:

   April 7, 2011 at 11:09 am

   Jeremy,

   I don’t know why evil happens in the world, just taking it as God’s will is unconscionable to me. Our job is do what’s right – and our tradition helps us to determine that. Sometimes, we should reevaluate our priorities, other times, we need to persevere.

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