Judaism affirms the belief in Hashgachah Pratit, Divine Providence. In fact, it counts amongst its fundamentals of faith the belief in God’s omniscience (that He knows everything) and that He rewards and punishes us based on our actions. But the Jewish concept of Hashgacha Pratit is anything but simplistic. In other words, we cannot know for certain why any particular thing happens to any particular person, but we can attempt to understand the general principles by which God runs the world. Divine Providence is one of the precepts that can help us make sense of the world, although it is not the only one.

Two Morasha shiurim address Hashgachah. This first class investigates the nature of Divine Providence and how it applies both generally to the cosmos and specifically to mankind.