Even Better Than We Thought
I had a friend who used to say, “If it could be better, it would be better.” Then there was a quote I read somewhere, which said, “There’s one thing Hashem (God) doesn’t do well, and that’s second-best.” The idea, of course, is that Hashem knows what He’s doing even if we aren’t so sure, and when we think we can improve on His plans we are often spinning our wheels. This is believing in Hashgachah Pratit.
Funny story. Some time ago, I purchased an app for my phone. It is a siddur (prayer book), and my whole family uses it as well. Well, my daughter had a problem. She was trying to daven (pray) from her American phone on the second night of Shavuot, but the app wouldn’t let her because it was yom tov in the U.S.. All she got was a notice that said, “Please don’t use this siddur on Shabbos and yom tov.” Except that it wasn’t yom tov for her.
She lives in Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) and keeps one day of yom tov. So, on motzaei yom tov, i.e. a weekday, she was trying to use her phone but it didn’t work. We figured the GPS in the phone would realize she was in Eretz Yisrael (Israel) and that it wasn’t yom tov anymore, but alas, it was a flaw in the program. It couldn’t differentiate between someone in Sderot keeping one day of yom tov, and someone in South Bend, Indiana, keeping two days. Or so we thought.
Several months after Shavuot, I met the programmer of the siddur app in shul. I mentioned this “upgrade” I wished he would make and he told me, “It’s in the settings.” I looked, and sure enough he was right! There was a slide to push to tell the program you were in Israel. There was another one to say you are in Jerusalem, but I didn’t understand why. What difference does it make what city you’re in? Then it hit me – Purim! On Purim, you need different davening depending on where you are in Israel.
Wrong Assumptions
However, the point of this story was that I had thought there was something lacking in the app, when there truly wasn’t. I found something the programmer hadn’t thought of, and I suggested how he could improve it. Then, to my surprise, I found that he had thought of it, and it was just the fact that I didn’t know all the intricacies of the program which gave me trouble. The app wasn’t flawed; the shortcoming was in my lack of knowledge.
Because I doubted the programmer’s skill, I failed to get full benefit of the program. Because I didn’t think he had thought of this scenario, I failed to ask him how to use it. I simply assumed he hadn’t thought of this situation. And I think you get where I’m going with this.
When We Realize…
Yes, Hashem created an intricate world, and He thought of everything. Every situation, every circumstance, they have all been accounted for. When we think Hashem didn’t think of something, that He didn’t imagine this particular situation, we are making a mistake. We might want to offer Him suggestions on how to improve the world or our lives, but if we understood more, we would know that it’s already taken care of.
Hashem is more skilled than any programmer, and He also not only knows what’s happening in your life, but He’s a part of it. If English could be looked at like Hebrew, the word “happen,” as in, “It happened to be,” or “I happened to see/go/say/hear” would have a two-letter shoresh (root word). That would be HP, short for Hashgacha Pratit. This means more than just Divine intervention. It means detailed Divine guidance.
Divine Guidance in Every Detail
Hashem isn’t watching things happen and responding to them. He is the causality of everything that occurs in the world, and it’s going according to plan even when we don’t see it. He is making us experience the very things that we think are broken or wrong. There’s a reason for it built into the system Hashem has gifted us with and asked us to utilize. What we think we would be much happier living without could be the thing that makes our lives successful in the grand scheme of things. We think we’re living in chaos, but He prepared for those times we think are chaotic. They are, in fact, perfectly tuned to our needs. Yes, He knows the system works and hopes we figure that out.
He hopes we finally understand it’s those settings we don’t see that make things work just a little differently. It’s the little things hidden behind the user interface that take all the details into account and give us just what we need to have on any given day. It’s like the answer to our prayers.
By Rabbi Jonathan Gewirtz
2025 – All Rights Reserved
Rabbi Gewirtz (Operation Inspiration) welcomes comments and feedback. Write to him at info@JewishSpeechWriter.com to share your thoughts. You never know when you may be the lamp that enlightens someone else.
