Sunday, July 10, 2005

Fallacy Fiesta

I am a long time fan of Aidel Maidel, and I wish her nothing but the best. Still, when she writes something like this I begin to worry:
The only reason why I believe I survived the World Trade Center is because it was my Hebrew birthday. I turned 28 that day. In Hebrew 28 is symbolized by the letters Ches (8) and Chof (20) together this spells the Hebrew word Koach - which means strength. Hashem gave me the strength that day to survive. And to show me that he gave me the strength to survive anything - no matter how bad it is. But I have a sadness that a day that is happy for me, brings great sadness for others - that it's the yartzheit for many, many Jews.
A malicious person might argue that here Aidel has denied the Rambam's eleventh principle, by suggesting that we're rewarded and punished through the accident of our date of birth, and not via our merits - but that's a question for a posek, not an anonymous, yet shockingly handsome blogger.