We are now up to the third prerequisite in our review of the seven.
The Hovot HaLevavot tells us:
והשלישי כי הבורא יתברך חזק מכל חזק ודברו נגזר מכל דבר ואין משיב דינו.
Three: Hashem is the strongest of all the strong. His decrees are the strongest of decrees and no one can overturn what He decides should be.
As usual he brings proof from pesukim:
כל אשר חפץ ה׳ עשה
"Whatever G-d wants to do, He does" (Tehilim 135:6),
Hashem is unstoppable and unbeatable.
Although we have freedom of choice, it doesn’t interfere with G-d’s Will.
That’s a fundamental-Nothing stops His will.
There’s a story told of a Rebbi of Belz. A certain poor man once came in to the rabbi, and the rabbi gave the man the utmost respect. They learned together, the rabbi walked him out, etc.
Later, the rabbi’s son asked him why he had given this pauper such honor. Who was he?
The rabbi answered that the man was one of the greatest of the generation, that he knew all the Gemara, everything. He continued, and said, if you’re questioning this, if you’re wondering that if he was so great and knowledgeable, why wasn’t he a rabbi of a great city, or at the very least the rabbi of a small yeshiva, the answer is that if Hashem doesn’t want it, it won’t happen. For some reason, Hashem doesn’t want it, he said.
When the son retold the story later on, he asked further- why hadn’t his father, the rabbi, supported the poor man? He had supported many people.
And again, the answer was that if Hashem doesn’t want it, it doesn’t happen.
Sometimes we look at people and wonder why they aren’t successful with all of their excellent credentials. And vs versa. We see seemingly talentless people who are very successful and we can’t figure out how it happened. It’s all Hashem’s gezera/decree. We have to always have that in our heads. That’s what makes thing happen.
Our bumps in the road, or the times when we try save up money for a trip and then the boiler breaks. What’s going on?
It’s a gazera. So what do we do? We pray to Hashem because we realize He’s in charge. We say, Please Hashem, I know I can’t do anything, I’m only trying. Please send the money.
If Hashem wants, it’ll happen. If he doesn’t want it, it won’t happen. We can’t get stuck or get upset at people or even at ourselves. We can only get upset if we weren’t focused properly.
That’s our fundamental: Hashem makes things happen. Hashem is all powerful.
Ramban is bothered by a question. The Torah doesn’t waste words. In the parsha of Yosef, he was sent by his father to look for his brothers. It says he was lost and a man gave him directions. Rashi says the man was an angel sent by G-d.
Ramban asks why we hear this story? What’s the relevance? It doesn’t seem important. But he says the relevance is to teach us that it was Hashem’s gezera that Yosef should end up in Mitzrayim. It had nothing to with the brothers, his father, sibling rivalry or jealousy. When Yosef got lost, an angel had to come give him directions so that he wouldn’t end up going back to his father. He needed to be Mitzrayim.
Ramban’s words are: הגזרה אמת, והחריצות שקר
G-d’s decree is the only absolute truth, and all other tactics are false.
Sometimes we try and we try, and things don’t work out; and other times things just fall into our lap.
A man recently told me he was working on his Bitachon, listening to these classes, and living it. He had started a new business, but everything in his business had gone sour. Just when he needed orders, he got none. He couldn’t even get credit. He was praying and working in his Bitachon and his friends were laughing at him. Then, out of nowhere, he got a call from Walmart. They were looking for shoe brands now that Payless had gone out of business. And just like that he got a multimillionaire order.
From where? From nothing!
It was a gezera.
We have to put this into our heads.