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IYOV 10

MAZEL TOV we have finally finished IYOV (this is one of those books very few people have done and you should all be very proud.

So let’s discuss the last perek “42”. The malbim wants to say here that IYOV never actually believed the things he said, but rather was playing “devil advocate”. He never believed what he said he just wanted to have the answers to his questions, so held a discussion and he played the role as the accuser. Hashem then tells off IYOV’s three friends for not really believing what they were saying but just arguing. Finally IYOV has his possession’s returned, according to the malbim nothing was ever lost all the messengers where only to trick him and really the Satan was just holding IYOV back from his flock and family (rashi and others disagree) now everything IYOV had is doubled and he lives out the rest of his days happily (one opinion says IYOV actually failed his test but hashem wanted to pay him all his reward in the world so not to pay him in the world to come and that’s why he had a good life)

I would like to thank Rabbi Eliezer Parkoff who is the author of the book I have been using to write most of these diveray torah on IYOV.

Ok now that the book is finished in truth it was not that conclusive G-d doesn’t really give too many concrete answers. In truth G-d couldn’t have answered IYOV, as IYOV couldn’t understand but in the end when IYOV had that connection with G-d he realised that he could never understand him but he is true and just.

There is a very intriguing section in the torah when Moshe turns to hashem and says “show me your glory” and G-d replies I shall put you in the cleft of a rock and afterwards you will see my back.

There is a beautiful story that fits perfectly into the answer of what is actually going o here, the story is about a man looking at a pair of footprints on the beach, this is the path that he took in his life, he sees at the beginning very small child footsteps and they slowly grow large as he gets older and he sees how different parts of the beach are different parts of his life. The whole way along the beach a parallel set of footprints ran next to his, this is G-d walking beside him. He comes to a section where the beach is covered in rocks and crabs and he looks down and sees only one set of footprints, he turns to G-d and says “G-d why did you leave me when times got hard” G-d smiled at him and replies “by child I was carrying you”

This is what hashem said to Moshe. I can never really show you myself, the only time you will ever get a glimpse of me is when you are in troubles and times are really hard, and when you are recover you will look back and see G-d was there all along helping you. I didn’t want to talk about the holocaust much in these letters but you do see that every single person who survived had a story, they had something, a help from above that helped them survive.

Just to connect this with what I started with I mentioned the 10 martyrs that we read about on yom kippur, and how they were brutally killed, the story goes that the angels and tzadikim all turned round to hashem and said “hashem why is this happening” and he replied “be quite or I will have to destroy the whole world” rabbi Farhi once asked, what is hashem saying is he just being a bully “if you don’t shut up I will kill you”? No of course not rabbi Farhi explained hashem’s words like this, the way G-d calculates reward and punishment is so deep and complicated, to show you he would have to destroy everything and restart the whole creation again so you can see for yourself.

But there is one more thing I want to explain to you especially as teenagers and I say this a lot. Sometimes you can just be in a down mood, there doesn’t have to be a direct cause but we have to try our best to weather the storm with minimal damage and when we have the opportunity grow to whatever we can.

I wish you all that you should grow up and be happy people, one of the biggest brochus I can give, always remember to try and stay hopeful and in the big scheme of things everything will turn out ok as long as you try your best. Any questions about anything please send me or ask me personally mazel tov again and have a great shabbos.

IYOV 9

In perek 35-37. Elihu is finishing of his speech and tying up loose ends

Previously IYOV asked why doesn’t g-d punish sinners and he was answered that would remove free will, but IYOV answered back that some sinners hurt people and they could easily be killed in ways that others would not notice and free will wouldn’t be harmed. To all of this Elihu says that there is a massive misunderstanding until now we have though hashem is like a big king who pays us when we do what we are told and tells us off we don’t. That’s not the case the good deed itself helps us we become spiritually healthier people hashem is like a doctor who told us a diet and exercise machine and if we do it we get healthy if we don’t and we eat whatever (or whoever) we want we get unhealthy.

Finally Elihu does tell IYOV it started as a test but he shouldn’t have complained so. And Elihu tells IYOV off for the way he acted.

But now g-d comes to speak to IYOV himself

Firstly hashem shows IYOV that he does take into account every person’s actions and look at everyone as an individual, by the mere fact g-d has been listening to everything he has been saying and has now come to speak to IYOV personally.

Hashem also shows IYOV that the soul is eternal (don’t fully understand this), when they spoke somehow IYOV understood he had a deeper soul that is intrinsically connected to g-d and true reward (spiritual reward) is when one day he will rejoin.

G-d explains to IYOV that everything has hashgocha by looking at the wonders of the animal kingdom.

Now hashem answers the final question why evil people are allowed to be so powerful. G-d tells IYOV to look at some of the giants of the animal kingdom would it have been better for g-d to only make tiny insects and have no animal greater than any other, no and from the fact that these giants exists and the smaller animals manage to survive brings out g-d’s greatness even more. So to with people hashem has given some people great power and often they can use it for evil but hashem also looks after the people they oppress and he makes sure to look over them

IYOV 8

And now a new contestant enters the ring... He’s a lightweight rising star... all the way from Buz... put your hand together for... EEELLLIIIIIHHUUUU!!!!!!!!!

Ok so IYOV’s three friends have all been knocked out and now there is new blood in the game, his name is Elihu, and he is angry. Until now he has been holding back hopping his older partners will do the job, but now he has realised if he wants something to happen, it’s gonna have to be him doing it.

Elihu tells off the three friends saying, they should have answered IYOV better, and shouldn’t have just blamed him.

He starts with a very basic logic to IYOV, g-d CAN’T be wrong. By the same true logic that Hashem exists and is perfect, it must be that (whatever the explanation is) g-d is “just” as he is the definition of right and wrong.

Elihu explains why he hasn’t spoke until now originally he thought that the men before him had more experience with life and were wiser. Now he realises that the deepest truths are not gained by experience or wisdom but given by a higher source, knowledge that; g-d exists, we have free choice and even that I myself exist is a knowledge given to you by a higher source, a spiritual knowledge.

IYOV seemed to be saying that g-d is out there to accuse and catch you out and demands everything perfect. Elihu explains Hashem knows what he is doing he gives every man a test he can handle, no more. G-d’s only request is that we try to use the little we can do to serve him.

Elihu also takes care of another point, IYOV said g-d is hiding his knowledge from us and doesn’t tell us anything. Well Elihu says sometimes g-d communicates through dreams and other methods.

Now IYOV’s point that g-d passed order over to another power called nature and if someone has to suffer it’s just the course of nature. To this Elihu gives a moshul there is a king and a loyal subject comes to him and says “my lord why have you been so harsh to me” and the king replies “don’t worry I’m mean to everyone the same” so because hashem has created nature which is equally mean to everyone just trying to get to one goal therefore it’s ok.

Now Elihu talks to IYOV about the fact that g-d doesn’t punish the wicked. He says who are you to judge g-d, firstly he needs there to be a certain amount of doubt in the world for bechirah, and secondly often these even men act as the beating stick of the lord and he even makes them powerful so they complete the job, and when it’s all over he will snap the stick and throw it away.

IYOV 7

Ok lads so Elifaz just said the reason some tzadikim suffer and some reshoim benefit is in order to have free will.

Now in perek 23,24 IYOV is having none of that lets split it up into two arguments

-1) Tzadikim suffer so that they have free will and don’t just serve hashem for the reward because then everyone would serve hashem for the wrong reasons ¦→ so IYOV has two problems with this, firstly doing mitzvos not leshmoh is not a reason to suffer the tzadikim did nothing wrong, and secondly if g-d wants to know if someone is serving him leshmoh he should ASK, g-d is all knowing instead of regourously testing him just look inside him.

-2) Reshoim benefit because otherwise we would all just serve g-d knowing if we don’t we die¦→ IYOV asks a strong question back, I realise that the reshoim need to be able to sin without fear but why does g-d let some reshoim kill whole nations, just so he could have bechiram, g-d could kill these reshoim in a quiet way so the rest of mankind has bechira but kill him.

Ok so now Bildad comes with his hypothesis. G-d makes it rain for plants to grow, if a tzadik happens to be walking around should g-d stop the rain for him, no g-d needs to keep to nature and sometimes the bigger picture is more important. G-d makes it light during the day so people can see should it be dark for the rosha. If you think about it makes sense if a man robs a bank he will get money his sin directly caused his gain. But all of this will get paid back at the end of each mans days.

But IYOV answers simply that Bildad is only a step away from his original logic that everything is predestined and has to happen, also i would argue that bildad’s argument is not true, when a tzadik walks in the rain why can’t g-d stop it raining, so if you want to say its a small punishment for something he did fine but to say it just had to happen and g-d will pay him back later doesn’t sound right.

From 27-28 we have some Paean’s and soliloguys (whatever they are) where he says a lot of things here are some of them. IYOV believes it is better to say how you feel even if it is heresy better than to just keep it inside (an arguable point), he then tells of his three friends for hiding what they really believe. He then says how g-d has infinite wisdom he whatever he is doing he understands it and it is unfair that he holds it back from us.

Looking ahead this is what is up in 29-31

®IYOV talks of the glory and greatness of his previously lifestyle

®He contrasts it to his horrible portion now

®IYOV says how he didn’t sin and by no means deserves the suffering he has received

I wish you all a lovely shabbous and please ask me any questions you have.

IYOV 6

Good morning boys and girls!!!! So when I left you: IYOV had just brought forward the new question of why evil people gain. So Elifaz was the first to answer that evil people don’t really enjoy the things they get from their evil because of their constant evil.

Now in perek 16 & 17 is very uncharacteristic he doesn’t actually answer elifaz’s point, he is saving it in order to answer all three at the same time, he does talk about one or two minor points like the eternity of the soul, gods interaction with the world, the meaning of life and the secret to immortality but I don’t reckon you guys are interested so I left it out.

Now along comes Bildad, Firstly Bildad tries to argue the eternity of the soul saying, If not what is the difference between man and the animals, why did god make us in his image with the ability to think and understand if not for a purpose above the simple animal world.

With this he leads on to apply the same logic to the rosha he says true success is spiritual success as that is the main thing, so you see a rosha gain property in the world all that physical success means nothing, as spiritually he will be punished, he will not get the eternal bliss of the next world, his children will be cut off and he will leave no legacy in this world.

Now Tzofar would like to give the same argument as before about never know if someone is a true tzadik or rosha but last time IYOV made a joke out of it. So instead he holds back a bit but does mention that just because you see a man suffer in this lifetime doesn’t mean in other lifetimes he had a good life.

Now IYOV comes back to answer them all in one swoop. First he answers that you do see many reshoim who live perfectly happy lives, die a fast painless death (What iyov wishes for), and then their children are successful in continuing their estate. And so what if they get punished after death that is something we can’t see to judge and shouldn’t g-d show us what he sees as bad, and even if g-d does punish their children so what if a man does evil he should get the punishment. All these point are good points I would even add one myself, even if spirituality is the main thing, no matter how small it is physicality is something and if a man is a rosha why should g-d give him even the smallest physical pleasures.

Finally in today’s perek Elifaz stands up to give one answer for all these questions. Bechirah, this is something we have all heard many times, if g-d punished you the second you sinned and rewarded you the second you did a good deed, we would have no choice everyone would serve g-d out of purely selfish reasons and there would be no test (the point of the world). This is a comen idea many of you have heard of.

Ok i wish you all a lovely shabbous, and just to compare to this weeks sedra how Avroham is given many hardships and doesn’t complain and always has faith even when things are tuff.

IYOV 5

Ok so now its Tzofar’s turn to answer the question

He says a lot of complicated things about perception, but I will just explain a few things, this is the idea that someone you see as a tzadik, could be being punished. What is a tzadik someone who is fulfilling his potential, and a rosha is the opposite. So someone you see as a complete tzadik could be a rosha compared to his potential.

Another problem with our perception is we can’t see the real reward, i.e. Spiritual reward of the neshama we don’t really understand who is doing well and who is suffering.

Also we can never compare to g-d’s knowledge to ours, as it is complete and whole. So how can we know who he sees as a tzadik and a rosha. Rambam brings five differences between our knowledge and g-d’s. 1) One idea encompassing other ideas, 2) understands things which don’t exist yet 3) infinity 4) his knowledge of future doesn’t mean it will happen 5) g-d’s knowledge doesn’t increase or change as events take place.

Iyov answers saying, a few things again about how perception works that I don’t really want to go into and probably don’t understand. He also mentions the cruel idea of one person who thinks he is a tzadik and find out he is not, it is possible with Tzofar’s idea that someone can be good his whole life think he is doing well and get a very nasty shock when he dies. He then brings another proof about how bechirah doesn’t exist from kings. Saying kings are clearly controlled by g-d as they sometimes take foolish decisions for no reason playing into the plan of g-d. This is not such a weird idea we in mishlie and from stories with Dovid hamelech kings hearts are in g-d’s hand, and somehow kings have a different form of bechirah to us. IYOV also says a lot that the three comforters haven’t done a very good job cheering him up calling him a rosha and an idiot.

Now we go onto the second round and we have a new question previously we have discussed, why do tzadikim suffer now IYOV asks why do roshoim prosper?

OK SO IT’S ROUND TWO OF THIS EXCITING GAME, THE BOWLER IS..... IYOV!!!!

FIRST UP TO THE PLATE IS ......ELIFAZ!!!! LET’S SEE IF HE CAN DO BETTER THAN LAST TIME?

This is what he argues, does a beef burger taste good if you have to eat it while running away from the guy you just stole it from. When people get things in this world from shady means they are constantly scared of losing it all so much so they can’t enjoy it. He can’t trust anyone.

When someone sees wicked people prosper in this world, even though they may smile they are not happy, but they live in constant fear of losing everything.

On that note i wish everyone a good shabbous. (>_<)