In the beginning of the era of flight, a Yid came to the Chazon Ish and told him earthshaking news that had been publicized in the papers. “Rebbe!” he called out worriedly. “Do you know what they wrote in the papers? A plane with seventy passengers crashed, and not one of the passengers survived. And all this happened because of one loose screw. The screw fell off in midair, and the entire plane lost its balance and plunged into the ocean.”
People wanted to know what the Chazon Ish would say about this episode, in order to hear daas Torah and to know what the proper outlook on this terrible tragedy, l”a, should be.
The Chazon Ish responded: That is not how you tell a story. What actually happened was that the Creator of the world decreed that the lives of seventy people were to end on this day, and He gathered them all together on one plane. There was one man who was not on this “black list,” so he missed the flight at the last moment. On the other hand, there was another man who did not plan on traveling, but when he heard there was an available spot, he joined the flight, not because of bad luck, but because this is what was decreed for him.
Any incident that happens or that does not happen depends on the decree of the One Above, and the deeds of mankind are only sibos — circumstances that bring about Hashem’s decree in a seemingly natural manner. There are all types of ways, processes, plans and deeds that cause people to feel as though they are deciding and creating things, but in truth, the One Who orchestrates all circumstances and processes makes them come about in order to carry out His decree. This is exactly what was meant to be, l’chatchilah. And all the reasons and errors and “bad luck,” or the opposite, all are sibos that will lead to the result that had been decreed ahead of time from Above.
In chapter 3 of Shaar Habitachon, Rabbenu Bachyai emphasizes that it is not only the final result that is the decree of the Creator, for even quantity, quality, time and place of every physical thing is decreed by Hashem yisbarach, and no creation is capable of adding or detracting from Hashem’s precise decree, nor to cause it to come about earlier or later than when Hashem decreed.
Sometimes, we see witness tremendous upheavals. It seems that the amount of food in the world is too little, and then with the invention of all sorts of heavy machinery used in the field, and other discoveries that influence the amount of produce, it seems that man has control over the quantity of food in the world. Likewise, in the past, one had to travel for many days, weeks and months to get from one place to another, and now, with the development of modern transportation – train, cars and planes – you can get anywhere much faster. We see so many transformations in the world, and one can think that it is possible to change Hashem’s decree, but in fact the opposite is true. These transformations themselves are the original decrees of the Creator.
Was there anything holding the Creator yisbarach back from allowing electricity to be discovered two thousand years ago? It would have been no problem whatsoever. But the Heavenly plan was that the power of electricity would be discovered only in recent centuries, and thus Hashem arranged for there to be people who would study the forces of nature until they would invent the electric light bulb. Thus, every technological advancement is the result of Hashem’s decree. The King of the world determined that this is what would be in the world at this time. He Alone did all of this! It could not have happened before and not afterward, but rather at the exact time that had been set at the beginning of creation.
This is, obviously, only one example.
Chana, the mother of Shmuel Hanavi, summed up this idea in three words: “V’lo niskenu alilos” – all deeds are arranged according to His will. All the people and the machinery and the thoughts and people’s plans, all of these are sibos – circumstances that are meant to complete Hashem yisbarach’s plan.
Even our tefillos, the prayers of every Jew, are counted and recorded in Shamayim, and no tefillah is lost. In Chana’s tefillah there are 113 words. The Shemoneh Esrei we say on weekdays is composed of 19 brachos, and the number of words in the conclusions of each brachah, from “Baruch Atah Hashem Magen Avraham” until “Hamevareich es amo Yisrael bashalom,” total exactly 113.
Even the tefillos that we say – for every refuah and every yeshuah, for the geulah and for the building of the Beis Hamikdash, for knowledge and for nachas — everything is calculated, in quality and in quantity. How much encouragement this concept gives every Yid, how much hope and joy! Hakadosh Baruch Hu Himself counts each tefillah, and my tefillos are part of the plan for creation to come closer to Hashem, and thus to fulfill the goal of crowning the Creator yisbarach as King of the world.
May Hashem enable us to serve him with emunah and bitachon and to see His hashgachah pratis with our own eyes, with joy and satisfaction.
