Editing Hashgacha Pratis - Divine Providence (section)

== The Methods of Rambam and Others ==
In Judaism, there are different approaches to the explanation of Divine Providence.

The Rambam in his well-known book "Moreh Nevuchim" (Guide for the Perplexed) holds that individual Divine Providence exists only for the human species (excluding inanimate objects, vegetation, and animals) and even within the human species itself, not for everyone, but rather for people of complete intellect who cleave to G-dliness, and the more one's attachment to G-dliness increases, the more the individual Divine Providence upon him increases.

But for the wicked, says the Rambam, individual Divine Providence does not apply - exactly like with inanimate objects, vegetation, and animals - but only general Providence over the species as a whole, which causes the nature of the world to function as usual, and seemingly by itself without specific intervention from above.

According to "Sefer HaChinuch," individual Divine Providence applies to the human species as a whole, but not to inanimate objects, vegetation, and animals.

From the language of "Sefer HaChinuch," we learn that in his time, no approach was known in the Jewish world that held that individual Divine Providence applies to each and every detail of creation.

Even according to the approaches that hold that G-d's Providence over inanimate objects-vegetation-animals is general - when it concerns a specific detail of inanimate objects-vegetation-animals that has a relationship to humans, they admit that there is individual Providence over it. For example: although G-d does not supervise which fish will live and which will die, He does supervise the person who makes a living from them, and therefore these fish will have individual Providence. The same applies to a person's possessions, which G-d supervises in every detail, whether his ox will die or his pitcher will break.