> Is it part of the Jewish responsibility to listen and decipher God’s messages as imparted through history itself?
In Michtav Me'Eliyahu, Rav Dessler z"l provides a partial answer to this question. When Haman issues an edict calling for the destruction of the Jews, the Jews look to the events of history and ask: "What was the 'cause' of the decree?" Was it Mordechai's refusal to bow, "[o]r was it that nine years previously some people had ruled leniently and – for the best of motives – disobeyed a rabbinical injunction forbidding them to partake of Achashverosh's banquet, their motive having been to avoid endangering the lives of Klal Yisrael?"
Rav Dessler writes that it seems obvious that Mordechai's action was the cause, "and how can anyone deny the evidence of his own eyes? But the truth was otherwise. What appeared to be the indisputable evidence of the senses was in fact an illusion created by the yezter ha'ra". The cause of the edict was actually the event of nine years previous.
I derive from this teaching that, yes, history can provide lessons on behavior and consequences, but also that we're incredibly biased by our own existence within history. If we intend to "decipher God's messages in history", we should only do so with the extraordinary skepticism of our own conclusions.
Thank you for this series! 🙏 I don't know how you find time for it with all of your many projects.
Fascinating, thanks.
> Is it part of the Jewish responsibility to listen and decipher God’s messages as imparted through history itself?
In Michtav Me'Eliyahu, Rav Dessler z"l provides a partial answer to this question. When Haman issues an edict calling for the destruction of the Jews, the Jews look to the events of history and ask: "What was the 'cause' of the decree?" Was it Mordechai's refusal to bow, "[o]r was it that nine years previously some people had ruled leniently and – for the best of motives – disobeyed a rabbinical injunction forbidding them to partake of Achashverosh's banquet, their motive having been to avoid endangering the lives of Klal Yisrael?"
Rav Dessler writes that it seems obvious that Mordechai's action was the cause, "and how can anyone deny the evidence of his own eyes? But the truth was otherwise. What appeared to be the indisputable evidence of the senses was in fact an illusion created by the yezter ha'ra". The cause of the edict was actually the event of nine years previous.
I derive from this teaching that, yes, history can provide lessons on behavior and consequences, but also that we're incredibly biased by our own existence within history. If we intend to "decipher God's messages in history", we should only do so with the extraordinary skepticism of our own conclusions.
Thank you for this series! 🙏 I don't know how you find time for it with all of your many projects.