Divine Assistance

Divine Assistance
The viewpoint of
the Gaon’s Disciple, Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin [brought as part of an Article on
Tekhelet by Shlomo M.
Scheinman]

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In many mitzvahs, we arrived at good results specifically by means of action and effort and not by “sitting until the Messiah comes”.

To this I add that we learn from Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin [Nefesh Hachaim, shaar 1, chapter 9 ] that in accordance to the effort on behalf of a mitzvah, we merit to get assistance from heaven in that mitzvah.

        There he said “ And so too all the orders of his Divine Providence with us, Let he be Blessed, are in accordance to the amount of movement and awakening that comes to them from our actions below; and accordance with this amount does a pleasant face descend  and is pulled to us below.”…

        “And therefore at the splitting of the Red Sea, He, Let he be Blessed, said to Moshe, “Why do you scream to me, speak to the children of Israel and let them travel” (Exodus 14:15). That is to say, upon them does the matter depend. For if they will display full faith and trust and travel and go to the sea, their heart depending [on Hashem] and not afraid, from the mere fact that they strongly trust that it will definitely split before them, this will cause awakening above, that the miracle indeed shall be done for them and it shall split before them.”…

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