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All For The Best
By: Rabbi Mendel Weinbach
Jerusalem, Israel
“Whatever the Merciful One does is for the best.” This is the life motto of the Jew. A Jew who has a firm belief not only in the fact that everything that happens to him from heaven, but also that despite present appearances, it is ultimately for the best.
There are two classic Talmudic tales that stand out as examples of this perspective, one in the Babylonian Talmud and the other in the Jerusalem Talmud. The first deals with Rabbi Akiva. Once, in the course of his travels, he failed to find lodgings in a town and was forced to camp in its outskirts for the night. With him was a donkey to ride on, a rooster to wake him, and a candle to provide him with some light. When the donkey suddenly died, Rabbi Akiva’s reaction was, “Whatever the Merciful One does is for the best.” He had the same reaction when the rooster died and again when the candle became extinguished.
It was only the next morning when he entered the town that he discovered how right he had been. A band of armed robbers had invaded the town and had looted its homes. Had his donkey been alive, it would have brayed. Had his rooster been alive it would have crowed. Had his candle been lit, it would’ve illuminated him. All of which would have undoubtedly called Rabbi Akiva to the attention of the bandits, and he too would have been a victim.
A generous Jew by the name of Abba Yuhuda is the hero of the story in the Jerusalem Talmud. He would always generously contribute whenever the sages Rabbi Eliezer, Rabbi Yehoshua, and Rabbi Akiva raised funds to support Torah study. But when his economic situation took a serious downturn, he hid from then because he had nothing to give. His very righteous wife observed the depressed look on his face and asked him for an explanation. When she heard his answer she suggested that he give the Sages half the one and only field that they still owned. This he did and was rewarded with a blessing that he should enjoy a financial recovery.
Reduced to one cow and half a field Abba Yuden began to plow. His animal suddenly sunk into a pit and broke her leg. Just as when it seemed that everything had come to an end he descended into the pit to retrieve his cow and discovered a gold mine. “It was for my benefit that my cow broke its leg”, was Abba Yehuda summation of the Hashgacha Pratis that returned him to his former ability to support Torah abundantly.
While these stories deal with spiritual giants of the past, all of us are faced almost daily with situations such as these. You miss a train you were running for and later learn of the problems you avoided in the delay that train suffered while you reached your destination in time through alternative transportation.
This attitude of “Whatever the Merciful One does is for the best” and “It was for my benefit that my cow broke her leg” make it possible for us to view every occurrence in life not as a setback but as a blessing in disguise.

Hashgacha Pratis
By: The Editors
Jerusalem, Israel
We live in quite a challenging era. A passing glance in a newspaper reveals numerous tragedies on any given day. We are faced with suicide bombers and random shootings that spill innocent Jewish blood, ripping families apart. Government policies are changing daily. Children are starving. With such tragedy in the world it is sometimes very easy to lose sight of the fact that Hashem is orchestrating each and every event that occurs.
Yet even without these major incidents, our regular day-to-day routines can often present plenty of distractions, causing us to lose this vital focus. It is our responsibility to create constant reminders for ourselves, maintaining the idea in our minds, that there is a higher power governing our every move.
The Torah gives a few guidelines to assist in our ability to actualize this concept. There are the mitzvos of wearing tzitzis and a kippa the entire day. We take notice of the mezuzos on our doorposts immediately upon walking into a room. We say brachos regularly, along with davening three times a day. These are all geared to direct our concentration towards the awareness of Hashem. Our hope is to integrate this key idea into our consciousness, creating a constant knowledge of the role that Hashgacha Pratis plays in our lives.
What exactly is Hashgacha Pratis? It is often defined as "Divine Providence". Yet literally it means, "individualized supervision" from G-d. One can understand this on a deeper level. G-d has a master plan for every minute aspect of our universe. A grand scheme that us mortals can never even hope to comprehend. Everything that has happened and will ever happen, is supposed to happen. There is no such thing as coincidence.
We generally attribute the term ‘Hashgacha Pratis’ only when hearing of blatant and extraordinary happenings. The goal of this project however, is to inspire us to perceive the hand of G-d in simple daily occurrences. And especially those that seem inconsequential to our narrow and distorted perspectives. By first realizing the Hashgacha that is present in the life and death stories, we can train ourselves to deal with the seemingly meaningless ordeals as well.
With effort, this approach can even be elevated to a higher pedestal. Human nature tends to react negatively when things don’t go as planned. We never fail to express the frustration and fury we feel during difficult times. By incorporating a positive attitude in every situation, the involvement of Hashem’s hand in our everyday lives and actions, becomes apparent. Our ultimate goal should be to maintain this perpetual awareness that nothing is by chance. It will be clear to us that even the most horrific scenario, is in sync with the blueprint of our existence. For we truly know, that He is running the show.