Divine Decree
Question
I said to my father who is a devoted christian that Judaism teaches that everything is dereed except good and evil. He replied that God does not intervene in this world except for the salvation. He said that God only intervene in this world when someone who is predestined to go to heaven is in danger of not being saved. So, according to him, only good and evil is in the hand of HaShem, and all other things are up to human being. Is my father wrong? If he is wrong, where is he erred? Thank you.
Answers
Judaism teaches that there is a concept called Hashgacha Pratis – Divine Providence. That means according to Judaism God is overseeing a person’s life. However, I am not sure that it is correct to suggest that your father has erred in his belief. Your father subscribes to a belief system that is not Judaism and he is following the tenets that he has been brought up with.
In any event, there are works by both Rabbi Ezriel Tauber and Rabbi Shimshon Pinkus which deal with this concept in a very approachable way. I think that either one or both of them could be very beneficial. I do not know which particular book would be the right one for you but there are quite a few to choose from.
Best wishes from the AskTheRabbi.org Team