When the Hammer Hits the Hand and Not the Nail - What Happens in the Heavenly Court?

The writer said, there was an incident with a craftsman who worked in my house and needed to hammer a nail into one of the doorposts, and suddenly I heard the craftsman uttering some kind of curse out of anger. I asked him what happened, and he told me he hit his finger with the hammer instead of the nail...

Unintentional but It's Heresy!

I told him, listen and I will tell you, our sages said "A person does not stub his toe below unless it is announced from above." The explanation: See how many processes have passed until the decree for you to hit your hand with the hammer; first, they judged you in heaven, with advocates on Hashem's right side and accusers on His left. The accusers claimed that this person now hammering deserves to hit his hand with the hammer for a specific sin in his possession. Immediately, the advocates argued: Why should he? After all, he has merits this and that. Again the accusers argued: So what? He will be rewarded for his merits, but for that specific sin, he deserves suffering. The advocates pleaded that he should not be punished now and wait until he repents, but the accusers replied: He has had opportunities and did not repent. They brought the matters before the heavenly court, said to be either the angels or the righteous who were in that generation and had passed away (Rabbi Eliyahu Lopian), and they judged and decided he must receive his punishment immediately and hammer his own hand. They submitted their verdict before the divine throne for Hashem's approval, and He agreed with the heavenly court's ruling. Therefore, a proclamation was issued from the heavenly court: So-and-so is now decreed to hit his hand with a hammer for a specific wrongdoing done at a certain time and place, and right after the proclamation, your hand was struck by the hammer. So how can you be angry or curse your fate after this is following a proclamation and verdict from the heavenly court? This is no different than cursing a judge after his verdict, which violates "You shall not curse the judges." If our sages interpreted this verse, "judges" as earthly judges, then here you are violating its literal sense.

Certainly, and even more so when the afflictions are harsher than a blow from a hammer, it is undoubtedly all under divine providence measure for measure.

The evil inclination doesn’t tell a person to deny the providence of the God of Israel, Heaven forbid, for surely one would not listen, for Israel is a people of believers, the children of believers, who daily recite the Shema, put on tefillin, observe Shabbat, yet it leads one to deny Hashem indirectly. When asked, aren’t you angry with Hashem? He answers: Heaven forbid, I am not angry with Hashem; I am angry with myself for missing and hitting my hand with the hammer instead of the nail.

Some err in thinking they are complete in faith and reverence, and indeed it is possible for each one to examine themselves on this. Rabbeinu Yonah wrote (Sha'arei Teshuva 3:23): And behold, one who fears Hashem will take severity over minor transgressions as much as over severe ones, see there. Therefore, let us examine ourselves; do we adhere to the entire Torah equally, or are there transgressions we perceive as minor? (Rabbi Yitzchak Levenstein)

This article is taken from the book "Living with Faith". To purchase Rabbi Yaakov Israel Lugasi's book click here.