How to Escape Harsh Decrees: The Spiritual Path Beyond Nature

There are instances in life when a harsh decree has been issued upon a person based on divine calculations, or alternatively, due to a natural reality, a person is is expected to undergo a difficult experience. And yet, a person can break free from a reality governed by logic and nature, and enter a new reality in which salvation and miraculous outcomes are visible and tangible, beyond natural expectation.

In this elevated reality, one is no longer subject to the systems of logic, statistics, or natural law, but is guided by a higher, divine system of personal providence in which anything can happen. How can we merit to enter this higher level of Divine supervision, above the laws of nature?

In order to be governed above nature, we must act above our own nature. When we go beyond our natural tendencies, God, measure for measure, elevates us to be led by a higher supernatural system. All the commandments of the Torah are, in essence, spiritual actions that transcend human nature: observing Shabbat, maintaining modesty, acts of selflessness, charity, character refinement, keeping kosher, all go against our human tendency to follow our own will. When a person rises above their nature, they are elevated into a spiritual system above nature.

When a person strengthens themselves and rises in their spiritual level, such as by taking on Shabbat observance, they become governed by a Divine system that operates beyond the natural order.

Rabbeinu Bachya ben Asher, a Biblical commentator, explains the verse, “He has not seen iniquity in Jacob, and has not beheld perverseness in Israel; the Lord his God is with him, and the trumpet-blast of a King is in him” (Numbers 23:21), as follows:
“When is God with him? When the trumpet-blast of the King is in him — meaning when there is deep attachment to the King. The word teru’ah (blast) is related to re’ut (friendship), symbolizing connection. At that point, the person is above the influence of the stars.”

When we create a deep bond with God, through prayer, mitzvot, and spiritual striving, we activate a relationship that places us under God's personal providence that is beyond the control of fate or natural cause-and-effect.

Spiritual actions such as repentance, prayer, mitzvot, and good deeds lift us out of the track of nature and astrology, and shift us into a plane of Divine conduct that transcends the natural order. When a Jew strengthens their spiritual commitment and overcomes their human habits and desires, they are elevated to a level of Divine supervision beyond the stars. On that level, it is possible to overturn decrees and merit great salvations.

A person may go through hardships, or our nation as a whole may face collective challenges. These are not random, but are intended to awaken us, to help us grow, and to urge us toward spiritual progress. We must therefore respond with spiritual actions that can awaken Divine mercy and change our reality.

In fact, we often see that when people make genuine spiritual changes — when they strengthen their observance or perform a mitzvah with great self-sacrifice, difficulties that once seemed insurmountable suddenly disappear. This is because they have served their purpose, and after a sincere act of spiritual growth, one may be blessed to see great and miraculous salvation.