The Metaphysical Implications of Stubbing Your Toe

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text!This morning (5/20/22), in our "Machshavah Lab" series for women, I gave an experimental shiur about hashgachah. It would be great to give a shiur on how hashgachah pratis, reward and punishment, and Divine justice work. The problem is that these topics are WAY too broad and WAY too deep and WAY too beyond my knowledge level. However, there are many statements of Chazal which seem to presuppose that the average Jew WILL be able to frame the day to day events in their lives in the framework of the Torah's metaphysics. What, exactly, do Chazal expect us to do? Surely they don't expect everyone to ONLY apply these perspectives based on a full working knowledge of such lofty matters. This is the type of thinking that gave rise to this shiur. In particular, shiur focused on a single statement of Chazal about what to think when you stub (or scrape) your toe. The challenge was to explain how we're supposed to think about that statement, given our very limited knowledge of how God operates. Did we succeed? You'll be the judge of that! ----------מקורות:חולין דף ז עמוד באוהלות א:חרמב"ם – מורה הנבוכים ג:כחמאירי – בית הבחירה חולין דף ז עמוב באבות ב:זמאירי – אבות א:ידספר החינוך – מעקה (מצוה תקמו)מאירי - משלי י:גרמב"ם - מורה הנבוכים ב:מחתהלים פרק לזרש"י שםאבן עזרא שםרד"ק שםמשלי כ:כדרבינו יונה שםמאירי שםכתובות דף ל עמוד א-בריטב"א שם ד"ה דין ד' מיתות לא בטלותוספות שם ד"ה דין ד' מיתות לא בטלו מאירי – בית הבחירה בבא בתרא דף י עמוד במשלי ו:טז-יט----------The Torah content from now through Lag ba'Omer has been sponsored by Adam and Estee Goldberg in honor of Savta Shoshana Sham'eh bat Menachem. May her memory be a blessing.----------If you've gained from what you've learned here, please consider contributing to my Patreon at www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss. Alternatively, if you would like to make a direct contribution to the "Rabbi Schneeweiss Torah Content Fund," my Venmo is @Matt-Schneeweiss, and my Zelle and PayPal are mattschneeweiss at gmail.com. Even a small contribution goes a long way to covering the costs of my podcasts, and will provide me with the financial freedom to produce even more Torah content for you.If you would like to sponsor a day's or a week's worth of content, or if you are interested in enlisting my services as a teacher or tutor, you can reach me at rabbischneeweiss at gmail.com. Thank you to my listeners for listening, thank you to my readers for reading, and thank you to my supporters for supporting my efforts to make Torah ideas available and accessible to everyone.----------Patreon: patreon.com/rabbischneeweissYouTube Channel: youtube.com/rabbischneeweissBlog: kolhaseridim.blogspot.com/"The Mishlei Podcast": mishlei.buzzsprout.com"The Stoic Jew" Podcast: thestoicjew.buzzsprout.com"Rambam Bekius" Podcast: rambambekius.buzzsprout.com"Machshavah Lab" Podcast: machshavahlab.buzzsprout.com"The Tefilah Podcast": tefilah.buzzsprout.comGuide to the Torah Content of Rabbi Matt Schneeweiss: kolhaseridim.blogspot.com/2021/04/links-t