The Hovot HaLevavot continues to review with us the important mindsets we need in order to view life with Bitachon.
The next principle is one that the Hovot HaLevavot has reiterated many times. He discusses the proper way to view
סיבות – Sibbot, or causes-as in cause/effect.
His fundamental here is that causes aren’t really causes. They’re just intermediaries for G-d’s gezerot/decrees.
Therefore, we have to go through life understanding that what we view as the causes of events are actually just pieces of G-d’s large puzzle.
Ultimately it’s all Hashem’s gezerot.
All the causes we see are just a smoke screen.
Chana used this term when she prayed, "וְלוֹ נִתְכְּנוּ עֲלִלוֹת",
G-d sets up causes.
That’s how G-d works. We have to understand this.
We should not get confused by the fact that we aren’t seeing G-d directly.
Don’t get misled by the intermediaries.
The Ibn Ezra says
ומחשבות השם עמקו ומי יוכל לעמוד בסודו ולו לבדו נתכנו עלילות
G-d’s thoughts are very deep. Who can understand His secret ways? Only G-d sets up causes.
Ibn Ezra uses Moshe Rabbenu as an example. Moshe was raised in Pharaoh’s palace. How’d he get there?
As we know, Pharaoh made a decree that all baby boys should be thrown in the Nile, because he saw that the future leader of the Jews would eventually destroy him and the Egyptians.
So Pharaoh tried to outsmart G-d, and implements his tactics. But as we mentioned in the past, when you try to outsmart G-d, it backfires. He actually ended up raising the leader in his very own palace, which was important for two reasons: One was that this way, Moshe was raised with leadership qualities. Had he been raised in the house of slaves, he would not have become a leader. That quality of leadership was what enabled him to kill the Egyptian on his first day out, and also to save the daughters of Yitro. And this was because he was raised by Pharaoh.
So he was placed in the Nile and was saved by Pharoah’s daughter. Later on, he was tested with the coals and the jewels because he was suspected of being a threat. He went for the jewels and the angels pushed his hand to the coals... There were many steps involved that G-d arranged, to bring about what He wanted.
The second reason Moshe had to grow up in the palace was because of the tendency of people to have more respect for strangers than those they are familiar with. Therefore he had to come from the outside and be reintroduced to the Jewish people at age 80, so he could have the proper impact on the people.
And all of this was a Sibbah from G-d, as the Ibn Ezra explains in this example.
Our rabbis say that we should appreciate how, in a sense, G-d is greater when He does things indirectly.
Had the sky opened and hands come down it might seems greater but that’s not always the case.
The game of pool is a good mashal:
When playing pool, it’s much easier to take a direct shot where you hit the cue ball and it sinks the object ball directly into the pocket.
Sometimes, though, a skilled player can use his cue-stick to hit ball one, which hits ball two, which then banks off the bumper, and then hits and sinks ball three.
Which shot is more complex? Who’s the greater player? The one that can make the direct shot or the one who can do it in five or six steps? The answer is obvious.
G-d is playing pool. It’s not always just going to happen that you get a product, sell it and succeed. Sometimes you have to wait 75 steps until you get the money.
But don’t worry. It may be many steps but it’ll go in the hole eventually. G-d’s playing pool. That’s the concept of sibbot. We have to appreciate the concept of a great pool player. And we can’t give up mid- shot.
These are all sibbot, and Hashem plays pool with the world.