When a minor miracle happened to me a few months ago, I was up in the air with excitement. A series of seemingly unrelated events had combined in the most fortuitous of ways to bring about an unexpected, but much appreciated outcome.
Obviously, when you see the hand of G‑d acting in your life in such an incredible way, you tell everyone you meet every detail of your story. I told it over and over, announced it from the pulpit on Yom Kippur and repeated it on every possible occasion.
It was interesting to watch people's responses to my tale. Some were fascinated and inspired while others were plainly uncomfortable at the thought that G‑d might be directly intervening in our daily lives. Some people chose to humor me for my gullibility, while others expressed polite skepticism about the whole issue.
But of all the people I told, the response that most fascinated me was that of a friend who owns a local familyI was up in the air with excitement business: "and I thought that only businessmen see hashgacha pratit on a daily basis."
To believe in hashgacha pratit - Divine providence - is to recognize that every happening of every moment is due to the direct intervention of G‑d. He watches, He cares and He is intimately involved in every facet of daily existence.
Not for nothing did my friend assume that businessmen would somehow be more attuned to G‑d's guiding hand in their lives. A wage earner receives a salary for his work, and the regularity of his pay-check can too easily lead to complacency, but when one’s future well-being and profit depends on the vagaries of fate, then you really learn the value of faith and prayer.
I once read a book of interviews with self-made millionaires who were asked to share the secret to their success and I was struck by the similarities of those responses. They had each come up with a new idea or invention and had worked very hard, over a long period of time, to develop it as a marketable concept. Yet each and every one of them admitted that chance and luck had played a significant role in their eventual success. "I worked hard, but others did too. I'm smart, but my competitors were often just as bright. I had a great idea, but then, so did others who ended up in the gutter" was the general run of reflection.
Ultimately, the only true driver of success is G‑d, and businessmen are perhaps best placed to recognize this truth. This may explain why of all the children of Israel, it was only the tribe of Zebulon, the seafaring merchants, who are described as "living close to G‑d”.
Most of Israel led a sedentary lifestyle, farming the land and tending the flock. They had time to sit and study, with their sole priority to become close with nature and the source of true life, while Zebulon alone ventured forth into a world wide web of commerce and confidence tricksters.
Leah, Zebulon’s mother, named him in the hope that hapa'am yizbeleini ishi, now my husband will live (exclusively) with me. (Genesis 30:20). Rashi explains that the etymological root of Zebulon’s name is a dwelling place or primary residence. Wherever Zebulon lives, that is the primary residence of G‑dliness and spirituality.
Although, on the face of it, the people of Zebulon had less time to delve into spirituality and prayer than did their more sedentary cousins, the unpredictability of their occupation, with the resulting constant awareness of the fickleness of fate and the immediacy ofWe all see the hand of G‑d in our daily lives G‑dliness, rendered them best situated to recognize G‑d and to welcome Divinity into their lives.
We all see the hand of G‑d in our daily lives and we are all thankful for His Divine intervention, but the consciousness of G‑d is most obvious to those who risks profit or loss in their daily deals and that awareness is where He chooses to dwell.
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