Provisional Providence

The Jews have always been a protected people. Yes, bad things tend to befall us, and we constantly have engaged in one struggle or another, but overall, we have survived. Somehow, God has allowed us to prevail and persevere, never failing to make that one last push in order to conquer or at least continue on.

This week's parsha, BeHa'alotecha, shares the beauty of how God made God's presence known to the Israelites in the desert. God would show up as a cloud during the day and then fire at night to light the way, as it is written in BaMidbar 9:16, כן יהיה תמיד הענן יכסנו ומראה-אש לילה, so it was always; the cloud covered it and there appeared fire at night When the cloud would go up from the tent of meeting-the Mishkan-that was the symbol that the people of Israel were to journey on. God provided an almost constant protection, keeping the Israelites from bad.

Even more important is the care that God gives us Israelites. God provides support, food, water, and even meat when the people beg and whine (or cry) for it. Tired of their complaining, God gives in and says the people will get meat for a month, so that they will get tired of it and not ask for it again (much like the way ice cream places let you eat all the ice cream you want when you work there, because you eventually grow tired of it and stop consuming). Yet still, God provides and protects.

The question is: does God still protect us? Is God still watching over us, even though we as Jews have the land of Israel (even if we don't necessarily live there)? Or, has God decided that we have the land of Israel, we made it, we can support ourselves. That it is now up to us to take care of ourselves and not rely on the kindness of that ethereal being.

The idea that God is responsible for the well-being of the Jewish people does not sit well with many Reform Jews. It defines a notion where God has the plan of our life, that God is in control. Many people want control of their own fate. This being the case, many discard the idea of God's hand in our lives. On the other hand, the idea that God is present is demonstrated in prayer, in how we speak to one another, in how we eat and choose to conduct our lives. Even if God is not directly providing the food we eat directly from the sky, God is responsible for making us and giving us the ability to produce the bounty we need to survive. In that regard, it is very apparent that God is still active in our lives, in protecting us. God makes the rains occur and allows the produce to grow, the animals to be prosperous. God is the impetus for all of this.

Yet, many of us stand in the middle ground. We do not believe that God holds all the control, nor do we believe that we hold all of the control. God is protecting us, maybe providing that cloud above our own personal Mishkan (whatever that might be in our own lives). Yet we are still firmly rooted in reality and we make the decisions that rule our lives. We hold destiny in our own hands.

Whatever your own beliefs, take this Shabbat to consider the ways in which God protects you, if God protects you. What does that look like? How do you open yourself up to those beliefs? What kind of relationship with God do you want to foster?

Shabbat Shalom