Reply To: Are You An Apikores?

gavriel613, I don’t think things are quite as clear-cut as you are attempting to portray them as being. If somebody ch”v believes that Hashem *cannot* give somebody health/wealth/etc unless they do theirs, and Hashem is just “helping” them be successful, they are indeed an apiokores. Ditto if somebody believes that their hishtadlus is what is creating their success, and Hashem is just a part of the process, not the be-all and end-all. The technical term for this belief system is shituf- I believe Hashem plays a part in my ultimate success, but not the only part. If I’m not mistaken, R’ Dessler goes through this as well.

A great example of this – my brother once had a substitute teacher that claimed that Hashem needed our help to stop global warming. Is that not apikorsus?

Now BH, I don’t think too many people here in the CR or in any frum circles believe in this kind of thing. But we may live our lives in accordance to this ideal to a greater or lesser degree – and at a certain extreme degree, it does indeed become possible apikorsus.