When Tragedy Strikes: A Heavenly Decree or Human Fault?

There was once a rabbi in Israel who picked up a pot full of water to move it from the kitchen counter to the table. Tragically, his young daughter, just a baby, crawled beneath him at that very moment. He tripped over her, and the entire pot spilled on her and the little girl passed away.

After the funeral and the seven days of mourning, the father didn't return to the study hall. He stopped teaching and inspiring others. He considered himself a murderer and began searching for some punishment that would atone for his physical and emotional agony.

The great Torah sage of the generation, the Chazon Ish, summoned him for a conversation. He told him that the Talmud (Chullin 7b) teaches: “A person does not so much as stub his finger below unless it has been decreed from above.” Even a minor injury does not happen unless it was already proclaimed in Heaven as G-d’s will.

“If that’s the case,” said the Chazon Ish, “then what’s the difference between stubbing your toe and spilling a pot of water on your daughter? This too, was a decree. It would have happened with or without you. You were careful and did what you could. What happened was beyond normal caution. Your daughter crawled beneath you unexpectedly. In that moment, it was a heavenly decree.

“Calm yourself. Breathe deeply. Come back to life. You are not responsible for your daughter’s death. You should view it no differently than if she had passed away in her sleep or for any other reason.

If each of us could truly internalize that everything we experience is decreed from Heaven, we would live our lives in a much calmer and peaceful way. If we could grasp just how nothing happens without being preordained above, we would understand that our job is to act to the best of our ability- but success or failure is not in our hands.

Even the worst tragedy, G-d forbid, is announced in Heaven ahead of time. We are simply the puppets on strings walking through this world, experiencing what has already been decided. May G-d help us walk through it with strength and peace.