grained in the soul, and reasoning alone will not suffice to attain it.
Therefore even such great thinkers as Maimonides and Gersonides go astray
as religious teachers when they follow Aristotelian principles in this
very intimate matter. They assume a general Providence aiming for the
preservation of the species, but include a special Providence only so far
as the recipient of it is endowed with reason and has thus approached the
divine Intellect. A Providence of this type, the result of human
reasoning, is a mere illusion, as the pious thinker, Hasdai Crescas,
clearly shows.(513) For the man who prays to God in anxiety or distress
this bears nothing but disappointment.

The Aristotelian conception of the world has this great truth, that there
is no such thing as chance, that everything is foreseen and provided by
the divine wisdom. But religion must hold that the individual is an object
of care by God, that "not a sparrow falls into the net without God's
will,"(514) that "every hair on the head of man is counted and cared for
in the heavenly order,"(515) and that the most insignificant thing serves
its purpose under the guidance of an all-wise God. We use figurative
expressions for the divine care, because we cannot grasp it entirely or
literally.

8. The Bible in the Song of Moses compares divine Providence to the eagle
spreading her protecting wings over her young and bearing them aloft, or
urging them to soar along.(516) The rabbis elaborate this by referring to
the twofold care which the eagle thus bestows, as she watches over those
who are still tender and helpless, shielding them from the arrows below by
bearing them on her wings, but inspiring the maturer and stronger ones to
fly by her side.(517) In the same way Providence trains both individuals
and generations for their allotted task. A little child requires incessant
care on the part of its mother, until it has learned how to eat, walk,
speak, and to decide for itself, but the wise parent gradually withdraws
his guiding hand so that the growing child may learn self-reliance and
self-respect. The divine Father trains man thus through the childhood of
humanity. But no sooner does the divine spirit in man awaken to
self-consciousness than he is thrown on his own resources to become the
master of his own destiny. The divine power which, in the earlier stages,
had worked _for_ man, now works _with_ him and _within_ him. In the
rabbinic phrase, he is now ready to