Tzaddikim explain, בראשית, the first thing that one must know is ואת השמים את אלקים ברא הארץ, that Hashem created the world, and He leads it with hashgachah pratis. In particularly, we must remember this at this difficult time, when there is a war in Eretz Yisrael, and the tragedies are too numerous to count and too painful to tell, and there is fear and uncertainty everywhere. We must remember that Hashem is leading the world. We mustn't think that the war began because of a government error or due to soldiers' carelessness, or to think that it happened by nature due to the Arab's nature to be bloodthirsty. בראשית, our emunah, which we must always remember, is that everything is happening with hashgachah pratis for reasons that Hashem, alone, knows, and that is our comfort.
We must remember that (Tehillim 148:8) רוח דברו עושה סערה, when there are stormy winds outdoors, they are דברו עושה, doing Hashem's will. Everything is with Hashem's hashgachah pratis, and nothing is by chance.
A group of bachurim went with a jeep to Har HaZeisim to daven. The jeep had two sections. The back was where the passengers sat, and the driver sat in a box (called a crew cab), by himself. As the bachurim sat in the jeep, it suddenly began to roll downhill. The bachurim began to panic. One of the bachurim looked towards the driver's place, and saw that the driver was there. Everyone called down. The bachurim were calm because they knew that the driver was leading them.
Let this be our reminder that Hashem is leading us, and therefore, there is nothing to fear.
The Gemara (Succah 53.) tells that Shlomo HaMelech saw the malach hamavas, the angel of death, and Shlomo asked him why he appeared sad. The malach hamaves replied that he has to take the souls of two of King Shlomo's scribes, Elicharaf and Achiya, and he is having a hard time taking their lives.
Shlomo called sheidim (demons) and told them to carry Elicharaf and Achiya to the city Luz. He did this to protect them from the malach hamaves because the malach hamaves didn't have any power in Luz, because it was a city where no one ever told a lie. However, when the sheidim were with Elicharaf and Achiya at the front gates of Luz, the malach hamaves succeeded to take their lives.
The next day, the malach hamaves was happy. Shlomo asked him why he was so happy. He replied, "It was decreed that I should take their lives at the gates of Luz, and that is exactly where you sent them." Shlomo exclaimed, ערבין אינון איניש דבר רגלוהי יתיה מובילין תמן דמיתבעי לאתר ביה, "People's feet are their arev (guarantors). To the place that one has to go, his feet will bring him there." It was destined that they go to the gates of Luz, and their feet brought them exactly where they had to be.
Two questions:
(1) It wasn’t their feet that brought them to the gates of Luz. The sheidim (demons) brought them there.
