Rabbi Yose ben Halafta Tells the Matrona God Arranges Marriages

"The Lord makes poor and makes rich, He brings low, He also lifts up" (I Samuel 2:7). A matrona asked Rabbi Yose [ben Halafta]. She said to him: In how many days did the Holy One, blessed be He, create His world? He said to her: In six days, as it is written, "For in six days the Lord made the heavens" (Exodus 31:17). She said to him: From then onward, what is He sitting and doing? He is idle. He said to her: God forbid, He is not idle; rather, He sits and pairs couples. She said to him: I too can do that. (She decreed and said: Let so-and-so marry so-and-so, and let so-and-so be married to so-and-so. She said to him:) If it is so, I have a thousand male slaves and female slaves; in a short hour I am able to pair them. She went to her house and set them up in rows upon rows, and she decreed: Let so-and-so marry so-and-so, and let so-and-so be married to so-and-so. She joined them in the morning, and found them—some of them with cracked heads, some of them blinded, some of them broken. She returned to Rabbi Yose and said to him: Everything that you said, you said well. I could not stand by my words. Your goodness! Who is your God? He said to her: Did I not already tell you—if it is light in your eyes, it is hard before the Holy One, blessed be He, as the splitting of the Sea of Reeds? This is what is written, "God settles the solitary in a home, He brings out prisoners into prosperity" (Psalms 68:7)—like one who brings out prisoners into prosperity. Rabbi Berechiah said: In this language He answered her—the Holy One, blessed be He, sits and makes ladders, raising this one and lowering that one, bringing low this one and lifting up that one, as it is written, "The Lord makes poor and makes rich, He brings low, He also lifts up."