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Thought for the Day: HaShem Runs the World; No, I Mean Really

If you ever get to the bottom of one of my emails, you'll see a quote from M'silas Yesharim:
כל ענייני העולם -- בין לטוב בין למוטב -- ניסיונות הם לאדם/All worldly affairs - whether good or beneficiary - are trials for a person
It seems to me that is a crucial idea on how we look at life.  I thought I had learned that lesson and life that lesson pretty well.  Apparently HaShem felt I needed more training.

If you ask me about my recent trip to Nashville, you'll hear a few things.  I'll tell you about the great time I had spending time with my wife celebrating our 40th anniversary.  I'll tell you about the wonderful live music spilling onto the street.  I'll even tell you about the distillery tours we took.  You might be surprised that I don't talk more about the total solar eclipse -- first in 99 years in the continental US -- that provided the impetus to travel to Nashville in the first place.  I mean, you can't get much more cosmic and far out than that, right?

So I ordered the protective glasses a month ahead of time, when they were still plentiful and cheap.  Ditto on getting the hotel room.  We planned the day around being in the optimal location to view the eclipse.  There is a beautiful and expansive park in front of the capitol building -- plenty of room and no tall buildings to restrict the view of the sky.  Gorgeous weather and nary a cloud in the sky all morning.  Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy.... We got there an hour early to see the whole thing and to be sure we were not caught in traffic.  An hour or so before totality, there were some clouds... At 12:56 (31 minutes before totality), I texted a friend that the clouds had moved on and just clear sky.  At 1:20 or so I saw a small cloud moving between me and the sun.  Just at totality I saw the corona for just a brief instant... then the cloud completely blocked the view.  All that planning, all that travel, all that preparation.  To add salt to the wound a friend from work (who had gone to a site closer to home at my urging) posted beautiful pictures of the corona and the "diamond ring" that appears just at the conclusion as the sun starts to be revealed.

I am learning mishlei/proverbs with a chavrusa.  Upon my return, we learned verse 22:2:
'עָשִׁיר וָרָשׁ נִפְגָּשׁוּ; עֹשֵׂה כֻלָּם ה/The rich and poor meet; it is all done by HaShem.
The Vilna Gaon explains this precisely in accordance with that quote from M'silas Yesharim.  Whether we are rich or poor is immaterial, because the situation is tailor made for us by HaShem.  Even the disappointment and frustration we feel when are plans are thwarted are are orchestrated by HaShem; and may, in fact, actually be the main intent of the situation.  (Or at least some of the "angel's share" in which we are obligated.)  I've thought a lot about why I was prevented from seeing that incredible event.  Perhaps I am not careful with looking away from things I shouldn't see, so HaShem prevented me from seeing something I wanted to see.  Perhaps.  In any case, the event certainly got me thinking and it certainly won't hurt me to work on my efforts to look for (permissible) beauty in HaShem's world and look away from forbidden material.

There is another solar eclipse to cross the US in seven years.  Am I going to try again?  You betcha'... בעזרת השם, of course.
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