Hashgachah Pratis in the Sefarim Hakedoshim
Excerpts from the popular shiur by Harav Yehuda Mandel shlit”a from Lakewood
The Power of an Ayin Tovah
After Krias Yam Suf, Miriam Haneviah stood up with a drum in her hand and said the shirah: “And Miriam Haneviah, the sister of Aharon, took the drum in her hand.”
The fact that the Torah identifies Miriam’s yichus as a sister of Aharon begs explanation. (See explanations about this in the mefarshim.) It can be explained that Aharon is mentioned here in order to praise him. Aharon sees the greatness of his brother Moshe and his sister Miriam, and he accepts this wholeheartedly, without jealousy, as the passuk praises him, “And he shall see you and be happy in his heart.”
Having an ayin tovah is a noble and exalted middah. Its height is revealed specifically when good things come to those who are closest to us, to those people who might arouse our jealousy. It was specifically toward these people that Aharon had no jealousy at all. Rather, he was happy about their success, praising them and doing good to them.
A person with an ayin tovah understands that the greatness of his relatives does not take away from his own importance. He knows that he is in the best possible situation that can be for him and that he is armed with all the tools he requires in order to reach his own shleimus.
The opposite of an ayin tovah is tzarus ayin. The word Mitzrayim symbolizes tzarus ayin. A person who lives with tzarus ayin is always feels stressed (“b’meitzar”), since he cannot bear that other people are successful. Bnei Yisrael left Mitzrayim specifically in the zechus of the two brothers, Moshe and Aharon, who were blessed with an ayin tovah and who always respected each other. As it says in Rashi on the passuk, “Speak to the whole congregation of Yisrael” – “that they displayed respect for one another.”
Adopt for yourself the middah of ayin tovah, and thus you’ll be zocheh to leave all your meitzarim behind.
Good Reward Only to Those Who Place Their Hope in Him
Rabi Elazar asks about two pesukim that seem to contradict each other: The first passuk is “Hashem is good to all” (Tehillim 145:9), and the second passuk is “Hashem is good to those who place their hope in Him,” (Eichah 3:25), which implies that He is only good to those who trust in Him.
This can be explained through a parable: If a person waters his field, he waters everything, including the weeds, because it is all included in that one act of watering, but when he hoes and digs, each bit of the field is dug individually, so he works on only the good plants.
Likewise, Hashem sustains both good and bad people, because with one Word he fills the earth with all the food that everyone needs; but when it comes to protecting them from harm or paying their reward, He does so only for those who trust in Him.
(Based on Maseches Sanhedrin 39b)
