Does G-d really care about every detail of our lives?
It is easy to believe, and to reason, that even if G-d created the world, He doesn’t pay much attention to our everyday lives. To say that He is constantly involved in every detail of our lives can seem like a stretch.
Yet, in our daily prayers we say that G-d, “recreates the world every moment of every day,” meaning that G-d is involved in the day-to-day of our lives.
This idea is expressed in many places of the Torah; we will explore one example that is found in this week’s Torah portion of Vayishlach.
We learn that “Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until the break of dawn. When he saw that he could not prevail against him, he touched the socket of his hip, and the socket of Jacob's hip became dislocated as he wrestled with him.” The chapter concludes with this direction: “Therefore, the children of Israel may not eat the gid hanasheh, displaced tendon, which is on the socket of the hip, until this day, for he touched the socket of Jacob's hip, in the hip sinew.”
Interesting!
The struggle had so many details; the story spans nine verses, and it just tells us the highlights of an all-night affair, yet, this is the takeaway? Why is it so important that we don’t eat the gid hanasheh, the sciatic nerve (otherwise translated as the sinew of the thigh), until today?
To take this question further, If the injury was on one hip, why do we refrain from eating from both hips?
Clearly there is a deeper message here.
The Torah is teaching us that everything that happens in life is for a reason, even Jacob’s injury. When we don’t eat the sciatic nerve, we demonstrate our acknowledgement of the Divine’s involvement in every detail of our lives as well.
This is not just symbolic; this act becomes meaningful.
The lesson for us is that yes, G-d does care about everything that happens to us. In fact, He even orchestrates it. It is our job to find the meaning and lesson from each event in our life. All that we have to do is to learn how to pay attention, and we will be able to see G-d’s hand in our day-to-day living.
This is easier said than done, but give it a try, and tune in to your life.