Hashem’s Fingers
The IAEA reports a significant slowdown in Iran's efforts to expand its uranium enrichment program. Who and what are behind this befitting piece of news for Adar?
The editorial page of Breslev Israel's English website (2009)
To paraphrase the Yellow Pages advertisement, “Let your fingers do the walking,” probably the clearest proof in the world of Hashem’s limitless love for his Chosen People is that His fingers do the walking in the downfall of our enemies. This is not only the theme in the miraculous turnabout of events in the Megilla of Esther, but it’s been like that since the dawn of Jewish history.
The Gemara in tractate Pesachim tells, “At the time when Nimrod the wicked had cast our Father Abraham into the fiery furnace, [the archangel] Gabriel stood forth in the presence of the Holy One, blessed be He, and said, ‘Lord of the universe, let me, I pray thee, go down and cool the furnace, and deliver that righteous one from it.’ Then the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, ‘I am One in My world and he is one in his world; it is more befitting that He Who is One should rescue him who is one.’ But as Hashem does not withhold His reward from any creature, He said to Gabriel, ‘For this your good intention, you will have the honor of rescuing three of his descendants.’ At the time when Nebuchadnezzar the wicked cast Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah into the fiery furnace, Yourkami, the prince of hail, arose before Hashem and said, ‘Lord of the universe, let me, I pray thee, go down and cool the fiery furnace, and rescue these righteous men from its fury.’ Whereupon Gabriel interposed, and said, ‘Hashem's power is not to be demonstrated thus, for you are the prince of hail, and everybody knows that water quenches fire; but I, the prince of fire, will go down and cool the flame within and intensify it without (so as to consume the executioners), and thus will I perform a miracle within a miracle.’ Then the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, ‘Go down, Gabriel.’ Upon which Gabriel exclaimed, ‘Verily the truth of the Lord endures forever!’"
In other words, let’s sit back and relax with a page of Gemara and a cup of tea, and let Hashem’s fingers do the walking.
This past week, the Israeli Government officially declared that Iran with its nuclear aspirations is the biggest existential threat to Israel’s security there is. We humbly disagree, for our sages tell us that infighting and lack of unity together with our transgressions are the biggest existential threat to our national security. Either way, Hashem’s fingerprints are once again all over the place in light of the recent International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report that noted a significant slowdown in Iran's efforts to expand its uranium enrichment program.
What’s slowing Iran down? Simple, lack of funds – they are in debt, big time.
Iran needs for the price of crude to be $90/barrel in order to balance its budget. Hashem has knocked the price of crude down to $35 before the futures market closed for the weekend of Shabbat Mevorchim Adar! With no money, elections coming up in Iran, public unrest, and disgruntlement on the rise, Achmedinejad is hurtin' for certain. Tehran’s chase for nuclear weapon capability has been seriously stalled. What’s beautiful about this entire Adar scenario is that we haven’t even fired a shot. Hashem’s fingers are doing the walking, which just goes to show us that we should all do what we're supposed to do, and just let Hashem take care of everything else.
Hashem doesn’t expect us to fight wars. Our national priorities have to be rearranged to do what we’re supposed to do – learn Torah, keep Hashem’s commandments, and to spend at least an hour a day in personal prayer – and He’ll take care of the rest. How? The way Hashem chooses to run the world is not our concern.
The main reason that people don’t accomplish what they should is that they squander time and energy in areas where they need not. There is no mitzvah in the Torah to worry. There is are tremendous mitzvahs in the Torah requiring us to be happy, to learn Torah, to do teshuva, and to teach our children Torah. You know what that means? Let's get back to basics and let Hashem’s fingers do the walking.
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