The Creations Rejoice, by Chassidic artist Rabbi Baruch Nachshon of Hevron
The very first tenet of the Jewish faith, the first of the Rambam's thirteen principles is:
I believe with complete faith that The Creator, blessed be His name, is The Creator and Ruler of all the creations, and He only did, does, and will do every single deed.
Rabbi Yisroel Baal Shem Tov of blessed memory, the founder of the Hassidic movement who was born exactly 307 years ago (today, 18 Elul, is his birthday), elaborated on the above principle, as follows: Not only does The Almighty decide the fate of the great nations, He also decides what a particular silk worm in Japan shall eat for supper, and the exact moment when a certain oak leaf shall fall to the ground from a particular tree in the Ukrainian forest.
Rebbe Nachman of Breslev of blessed memory, teaches that the environment is the language that Hashem uses to speak to a person. Therefore, we are all obligated to try our best to search for the Divine wisdom in every creation, and therefore understand Hashem's personal message to each of us.
Here's an example: The Talmud teaches that one who slanders a fellow human is worthy to thrown to the dogs (tractate Pesachim 118a); the Zohar goes further, and says that one who slanders shall be bitten by a dog. So, if The Almighty sends a dog to bark at us and scare us, it's most likely a message that we either spoke, read, listened to, or wrote something slanderous about another human being. The dog scare is not a punishment - it's a catalyst for Tshuva.
Breslever Chassidim spend at least 60 minutes a day in hisbodedus, personal prayer and soul-searching, while pondering the events of the last 24 hours in order to facilitate Tshuva, or repenting. Rebbe Nachman says that hisbodedus is the loftiest act of Judaism; all the prophets and the great tzaddikim, including Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and King David, achieved their supreme spiritual levels by virtue of hisbodedus. By hisbodedus, they were able to understand the causes and effects of each creation, and the Divine messages within each creation.
If someone tells you that a hurricane is just a hurricane, a random event in nature external of Hashem's Divine providence G-d forbid, that person is an epikoris, a non-believer by definition according to the above-mentioned very first tenet of our faith. Hashem creates the hurricane and its intensity, then decides when and where it will strike, according to His master plan for the world and according to His individual plans for each of His creations, whether mineral, plant, animal, or human. Hashem decides zillions and zillions of tiny details in exact Divine providence, such as whether or not the wind will blow away Mrs. Wilson's hankies that are hanging up to dry on a Mississippi clothesline.
At the time of this writing, Hurricane Rita is already a Category 4, and with winds of 150 mph, she's only 5 mph below a Category 5. Let's try to understand Hashem's message: Rita is really scary, but she's still 700 miles out at sea. All this is happening during the month of Elul, with 12 days to go until Rosh Hashonna. Since many of us don't have the sense to make Tshuva on our own, Hashem is raising His voice to grab our attention and awaken us from our spiritual slumber. As soon as we make some serious penitence for our misdeeds this past year, Hashem won't need to activate the hurricane any more. No money in the world can save any person or place from natural calamity - Tshuva can. With Tshuva, Rita will melt away like the late-morning fog. So, let's all try our best to put a stop to Rita by asking forgiveness from Hashem for our transgressions, and by asking forgiveness from all the people we did harm to this past year, whether willfully or accidentally.
Yes, I believe that we have the power to neutralize Rita.
Our High Holiday liturgy says: "Tshuva, prayer, and charity can overturn a harsh edict." Ask the people of Nineva: "And G-d saw their deeds, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented of the evil that He said He would do unto them; and He did it not (Jonah 3:10)."
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