Shmuli Sagel on Jeremiah (2)

Dear Daily Nach learners,
Last week we learnt the perek that is called ‘Sefer Yirmiya’ by the Nach, in which Yirmiya expresses his advice and direction for the Jews who had been exiled to Bavel. The truth is though, that this advice was not restrictive to his time only. Rather it is the eternal message of Hashem, sent through his prophet, to every Jewish community and society who lived, live and will live outside of Land of Israel until the coming of Moshiach. The Jewish people solely belong in Israel and every other place we find ourselves we are merely visitors. Of course there have been countless places and times throughout our exiles where we have been brutally oppressed and made to feel as strangers in a strange land. But we have also enjoyed times of prosperity and security in foreign lands living within tolerant and supportive countries.
For the last 60 years Jews in the western world have on the whole been fortunate to find themselves in countries of ‘ מלכות של חסד’ where the host country has not only afforded us the freedom of religion but have also actively facilitated our Jewish practices and specific requirements. This kindness shown to us by our host nations is not purely a modern phenomenon (which can be explained away as being due to the relative liberalism of the modern world) but it is a repeat of what we already experienced in our ‘Golden Age’ in Spain in the 11th and 12th centuries and in the ‘Berlin is our Jerusalem’ era when we dominated the high classes of German society for an extensive period. Many of these times when the Non-Jews treated us well, it was because they saw the value in having the Jews as active citizens in their countries. They realised that which Lavan realised many centuries earlier, when he appreciated that his blessings where due to Yaacov’s presence. In all the aforementioned societies the Jews rose to the top becoming influential government ministers, leaders of the economy and highly acclaimed philosophers. This is by no means a negative thing, but rather it allowed for Judaism to flourish although in alien surroundings and enabled for it to evolve and remain applicable to the ever developing world.
However, this success we and previous generations have enjoyed even though in Golus would never have been possible if we were not recognisably good citizens. The Jews became exemplary citizens wherever they went and were a people who respected others along with conforming to that which their hosts demanded of them. The nations who realised this tremendous citizenship utilised their ‘new friends’ to the avail of their own countries and in return let the Jews remain as practicing Jews. This requirement to conform to and respect our host countries, which in return highly increases our chances of religious survival in Golus, is what Yirmiya is telling us when he says, “דרשו את שלום העיר” – “Seek out peace in the city.” It is imperative we know our differences and appreciate that our plane of existence differs from theirs, but we must also take extreme caution that we remain exemplary citizens and valuable members of the wider society. Being Jewish does not permit us to violate the law, when it is not consistent withhalacha, because the halacha demands us to follow the law as ‘דינא דמלכותא דינא’. We cannot isolate ourselves and pretend that we live within our own dominion because we rely somewhat on our hosts. Acting in a fashion which creates a קידוש ה' is not only a ‘good thing’ to do but also actively enhances this notion of ‘seeking out peace in the city’ i.e. ensuring that the natives see us in a positive light.
Furthermore, not only must we not be provocative but we have to also be actively positive citizens as the possuk carries on, “...והתפללו בעדה אל ה' כי בשלומה יהיה לכם שלום” – “...And pray to Hashem for its peace, because its peace is your peace.” Every Shabbos morning when we make the Prayer for the Queen and her Government we are fulfilling these words. Yirmiya is saying that we must daven for security and peacefulness of our host nations because we will be affected by a lack of these just as much as they will be.
Another brilliant perek we learn in the last week was Chapter 31 in which we had a string of famous pesukim, pertaining particularly to Rachel’sbeseeching to Hashem and His acceptance of it. These pesukim are found in a Rashi in parshas Vayechi (Chapter 48 possuk 7) where Yaacov is explaining to hi son Yosef that although it appears ‘wrong’ that he buried Rachel on the way side but in truth this was the desire of Hashem. Rashicomments by quoting from Yirmiya 31 and explains that Hashem wanted Rachel’s Tomb to be the place that her descendants could pray at as they were exiled from Israel. On this Rashi the Maharal in his commentary on Chumash, Gur Aryeh, brings out two beautiful ideas which I would like to share with you here.
The Maharal asks, why Rachel ‘cries’ more than any other of the Imahos? Answers the Maharal quoting the Midrash Eicha that Rachel says toHashem, how can you blame my children for the punishments brought upon? Since if it due to their idolatrous practices, which is called צרה, surely my husband Yaacov who loved me intensely, worked for seven years in order to marry me and in the end my father gave him my sister (which the Torahcalls צרה). Yet, says Rachel, I put my love for Yaacov to one side and gave over the signs to my sister. I who am merely flesh and blood [did this selfless act], You Hashem who is the All Merciful King how much more so you can have mercy on the Jewish people. To which Hashem replies (Yirmiya31:15), “ושבו בנים מארץ אויב יש שכר לפעולתך” – “There is reward for your actions and your sons will return from the enemy’s lands.” The Maharalexplains this Midrash as follows. Rachel knew that Yaacov was to marry two wives because this world, which is a world of division and separation, is not conducive to there being oneness and would Yaacov have only had one wife than Klal Yisrael would have been united and there would have never been Yehuda (one Kingdom) from Leah and Ephraim (another Kingdom) from Rachel. This unity is saved for the time of Moshiach but until such a time we must be fractured. Understanding this, Rachel therefore accepted her fate with love and therefore she proposes that Hashem forgive his people in a similar fashion that she was forgiving even though in her impossible situation. She was highlighting that this world is intrinsically fragmented and hence idolatry is rife and this is what caused Yisrael to serve idols.
The Maharal brings another Midrash which comments on our possuk of, “רחל מבכה על בניה”, which says that Yisrael is called after Rachel and not only after Rachel but also after the name of her son as the possuk in Amos 5:15 says, “אולי יחנן ה' צבקות שארית יוסף” and not only that but also after her grandson as the possuk later on in Yirmiya 31 says, “הבן יקיר לי אפרים”. This Midrash is telling us something extremely profound, says the Maharal, that Klal Yisrael is called after Rachel because she was the bedrock of Yaacov’s home and all else was subsidiary to her. Therefore she represents theבית יעקב, and is the source of כנסת ישראל which gives the ability for the Jewish people to once again be gathered (meaning of the word כנסת) in their Land. Even though we now find ourselves flung in all four corners of the globe, we still feel a sense of togetherness and this comes from the fact that we are all part of the בית יעקב which is rooted in Rachel. The is why Rachel is buried on the way-side rather than with the other Avos in Mo’oras Hamachpeila because she in some way remains to this day ‘with her children’ as after all it is her who represents the hope that we will all again be one nation in one land. Happy learning, Shmuli

Shmuli Sagel on Jeremiah (1)

Dear All my fellow Daily Nach learners,

Now, not that we need a sign from G-d to tell us that what we are doing is the correct thing, but the way the Daily Nach calendar has worked out is nothing short of Min HaShomayim. I have mentioned this point before but once again when I turned to the Haftorah on shabbos it was nothing less than a few of the perokim which we had just learnt in the previous week!! I hope that as we continue to fly through Nach many more aspects of our learning and our lives will gain more clarity as Tanach, more so than any of our other learning, is our direct link back to Har Sinai. In the very pesukimwe learn each day are contained the eternal messages from our Creator and as the Gemoro in Chagiga 11a refers to Nach as divrei “kabbala” (not the spooky type) meaning our “heritage”.

Yesterday’s perek, Yirmiyahu 17, was of particular interest and is jam-packed with so many relevant and fundamental ideas that I would like to share with you some of these. I am sure you would have realised this when learning it, as (for the first time in Yirmiya) we had a number of very famouspesukim (which are of course only famous because someone put them to a decent tune!) which beg for a little more explanation than our usual schedule of learning allows for.

This year, 5768, being a shemitta year, much has been written about mesiras nefesh of those farmers in Israel who have left their fallow and in doing so have allowed themselves to incur huge financial losses. These farmers are the heroes of Klal Yisrael and we all know the amazing stories of how such people have actually prospered more than those who do not observe the shemitta, whose crops have been destroyed by freak locust infestations or by extraordinary weather conditions etc... In verse 4 of our perek, Yirmiya alludes to the fact that the Jewish people are being thrown off their land and will have to work the land of their enemies because they did not observe the shemita. Both Rashi and Metzudos Dovid learn from the word ‘VeShomatato’ that the Navi is hinting to the core reason for this aspect of their golus bavel. How relevant it is for us, that still two and a half thousand years later and we are back on our home land, but we continue to face the same issues and have to fight that same battle as Yirmiya found himself tackling. But digging a little deeper we have to try and understand the underpinning notion of shemitta and what aspect of our character is it coming to address? The obvious answer is BITACHON. The commandment to let ourselves become totally reliant on another Being for one year in every seven, demands for us to draw from our wellspring of Emunas Hashem and have absolute Bitachon in Him that He will provide. This leads us directly in to the following pesukim of the perek where Yirmiya homes in on this idea of bitachon.

Rabbi Yissocher Frand in his fiery Teshuva Drasha of Elul 2001, brings out a fundamental point in the hashkafa of a Jew and with this belief at hand it will totally change the way we approach our teffila. Rabbi Frand quotes a Marbitz who says so profoundly, “Ein Mi Sheyamalo Chesroneinu Elah Hu!” – “That there is no being that can provide us with that which we require, besides Him – HaKodesh Boruch Hu.” If we can internalise this fact withoutHashem sustaining us every moment that we are alive and granting us everything we have we would simply cease to exist. And therefore it follows, that davening is not merely a religious exercise which we have to carry out but rather is the key to our existence as we are absolutely dependant onHashem. Now, this feeling that we are completely insufficient when void of Hashem demands a ton of bitachon but it is pivotal to our being a trueEved Hashem. However, conversely it explains why putting faith and trust in either oneself or more specifically in another human being is so antithetical to Judaism because it displays the fact that this person doesn’t buy in to the notion that there is no being who can sustain him besidesHashem. It is this person that Yirmiya curses when he says is passuk 5, “...Cursed is the man who trusts in man...” Then in direct comparison Yirmiyapraises the one with Bitachon in the famous passuk 7 of our perek where it says, “Blessed is the man that he trusts in G-d, and G-d will be his security.” Here we find the Navi extolling the virtues of Bitachon and warning us of the pitfalls of those who put faith in others but let us explore this idea a little further.

The opening Kli Yakar on parshas Miketz addresses this idea in explaining why Yosef was decreed to stay in prison for a further two years. The Kli Yakar quotes the famous Midrash which explains that Yosef was made to serve two extra years in prison than had originally been decreed on him because he put his trust in Pharaoh’s butler as the possuk in tehillim says (40:5), “Happy is the man who places his trust in Hashem and who does not turn to Rehavim (explained to mean Egyptian).” The Kli Yakar asks a number of questions but I am going to focus on two of them. Firstly he asks why the tehillim uses the terminology of “Asher Som Hashem MivTacho” meaning that he places (Som) Hashem as his trust surely it should say, “Asher Som BAHashem MivTacho” that he places his trust in Hashem? Secondly he asks on our possuk, what does the second part of the verse mean, “....and G-d will be his security”?

Explains the Kli Yakar, that in this world when someone has a specific talent or attribute where they stand out from others, they do not lessen themselves to give any credibility or attention to those who are not as talented or successful as them, because of their haughtiness. This logic the philosophers wrongly applied to Hashem claiming that due to His sheer awesomeness and infiniteness He therefore is not interested in us lowly mortals who live on this spec within the expansive universe. But our belief tells us that is utterly false and that in reality Hashem takes an accounting of every action which we do be it big or small and even every thought he knows. So important this is that Hashem is involved with even the lowest of beings, Hashem demonstrated this fact to us in His very name itself. The three letters of Hashem’s name, Yud, Hei, Vav and another Hei, when written out fully have the three smallest gematrios of all the letters in the alphabet when written out in full.

We see that the essence of Hashem’s name is a testimony to us that however unfathomable Hashem truly is he still is actively involved in every single aspect of our lowly lives. That is why the possuk in tehillim doesn’t say, “Asher Som BAHashem MivTacho” that he places his trust in Hashem because as it is written it can be read, “Asher Shem Hashem MivTacho” that the name of Hashem is his trust because the name of Hashem reassures us that even though we are nobodies Hashem still loves us and is involved in our lives. The word Som, place, is the same two letters as Shem, name. This similarly sheds new light on the second part of our passuk, “Vehaya Hashem MivTacho” meaning that he is fortunate and blessed if he places his trust in G-d because the name Hashem is his security! Knowing that this limitless Being cares about you is the greatest security there is in this world and hence is also the biggest blessing.

Perhaps the definitive work on Bitachon can be found in the renowned machshava work of Rabbaynu Bachya called Chovos Halevovos where the fifth chapter of this sefer is dedicated to this subject and is aptly named, ‘The Gate of Bitachon’. It is a must learn thing (the whole sefer really but specifically this chapter) and he spells out all the virtues of one who lives with bitachon. There he gives the litmus test to Bitachon in the first chapter of the ‘Gate’ where he says that someone who has full Bitachon has ‘menuchas HaNefesh’ - tranquillity of the soul. This concept that someone who lives with immense trust in Hashem therefore enjoys the most secure life, can only be so because he lives constantly aware with the truth of ‘Ein Od Milvado’ that there exists nothing besides for Hashem and that everything is really just a part of Him. When you reach this recognition that there is nothing besides Him than it is obvious that your entire existence is reliant upon Him and of course who is there to trust in besides Him. When you have this at heart then you are truly at ease because you know that you have a direct relationship with Him - namely our davening.

Moving on in our perek, the Rabbeinu Bachya brings in Sha’ar HaBitachon possuk 11, “...he creates wealth illegally, he will lose it prematurely and in the end it will become despised to him.” The Navi is warning us that cheating in business, cutting corners in our finances will never pay off but rather we will always lose it later down the line and in the end the effort will be for our detriment. However, the Chovos Halevovos bring it as it displays what a lack of bitachon causes. One who does not trust in Hashem feels the need to gain wealth which is not meant for him but we live in a world whereHashem runs the show and in the end each one gets what’s meant for them. We see the theme of Bitachon reoccurring in this perek and here againYirmiya is letting us know that trust in Hashem is the only real security and that there’s no way besides His Way.

The chapter closes with the interesting prophecy extolling the virtue of Shemiras Shabbos and how simply observing Shabbos will be the saving factor when it comes to exiling them. Interestingly the possuk dwells on the aspect of carrying on Shabbos as being the most severe desecration of it. Rabbi Landau suggests that carrying is the only one of the melochos of Shabbos which can only be transgressed in public and therefore it is the most blatant defiance of the Shabbos and hence encapsulates the desecration of it the most. (It is interesting and very relevant to think about this idea on the flip side......but I can’t say any more here, ask me privately if you want to know!!). The Radak asks why the sin of Shabbos is highlighted as being the cause for their exile whilst they were committing more severe sins, such as idol worship? He answers that it is because keeping Shabbos is the most profound declaration of Belief in Hashem that a Jew can make. Not keeping Shabbos is in affect declaring that ‘I have no Emuna in Hashem’. And similarly keeping Shabbos says that, ‘I believe that G-d made the world and I am a servant of His’. This is why Shabbos is the make or break factor as it truly symbolises whether we are on His side or chas ve’shalom, not. Emuna is the theory that goes behind that which Bitachon is in practice. Here again we see that the focal point comes down to Bitachon and how what He wants from us more than anything else is to Trust in Him.

“Baruch HaGever Asher YivTach BaHashem” this is the greatest blessing we can enjoy when we trust in Him and will be afforded the life of tranquillity.

Shmuli Sagal

shmulisagal@gmail.com

hey guys anyone who is interested in rabbi ruddins shiur from last tuesday you can download it from here
Rabbi_ruddins_shiur_on_shir_hashirim_2008-12-02.wav
enjoy if it doesn't work please tell me

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. (>_<)

IYOV 4

Previously on IYOV: Bildad just explained to IYOV that for g-d to let “fate” or “nature” or whatever he is calling it do harm to people this would make g-d evil, and IYOV is probably being pained for his own good like a rose being replanted.

So this is how IYOV argues back, when g-d made the world (last week) he made it so that everything physical in this world naturally deteriorates, nothing lasts forever and everything ages, he did this for some very good reasons like maintaining bechira and stuff like that but that is how he designed nature. So if in a few years time, all the stars in the universe run out of hydrogen forming millions of black holes, red dwarves and fat monkey, leading to the destruction and implosion of the entire universe (thus creating the ultimate philosophical question if the whole universe explodes and no one was there to hear it would it make a sound, yes it would sound like this cabbbooooghghgmm!) would anyone call that evil on g-d’s part, well not really that’s just the nature he put into the world that nothing lasts forever. So it if by the same principle a earthquake hits a mountain killing thousands is that evil on g-d’s part or is it nature, and even more so if one guy (miniscule in perspective to the universe) was given many pains not from the hand of g-d but just because that’s the way nature works that wouldn’t make g-d evil. As you can see IYOV is struggling with two contradictions as I said earlier. He is being punished and g-d can’t be evil.

Now IYOV answers Bildad’d idea of how a tzadik can be hurt for his own good, he shows there are five possibilities for this and none of them fit IYOV (a lot of this logic has questions one could ask, some given in the book I have but IYOV’s logic still has validity)

1) The suffering was needed for a good outcome, which will give the tzadik a reward – this is like working hard in a field and you get pain but the end of the year you get food, but IYOV’s suffering was not natural and could have no natural connection to reward.

2) The reward is given for the suffering and is directly proportionate to it – if so why are so many people telling IYOV to strengthen his heart and take the suffering with joy, he should let the suffering truly effect him so that he should get more reward and the pain can be over sooner.

3) The pain is to make the person pray and do teshuvah getting him more reward – first he argues how do you expect an innocent man to beg like a villain, and then he says if g-d didn’t listen to my good deeds why would he listen to my prays, and how can pray CHANGE the mind of g-d and infinite being (an age old question there are a few good answers).

4) It is a test that you will be rewarded for passing through- but if you die, where is the redemption? The test was to trust in g-d and he didn’t actual help in the end.

5) Being punished now so that one doesn’t sin later – not vary fair, to get punished for a sin one may do later. (Interestingly this idea does come up in Judaism in concept like bes sora umora the rebellious son and in chagiga 5a, and we see the opposite by Yishmoel and the well. if you want me to talk more about it, or any other subject that I have just touched upon please email me, and I would be more than happy to write something about it)

IYOV finishes off with the age old paradox of how can we have free will if g-d knows what we are going to do, please no one tell me the analogy of the guy watching a replay on television because it doesn’t answer the question and embarrasses the question, of course the guy on television has no free will and you are not watching free will take place again, in truth freewill is one of the hardest concepts to understand for a few reason. Daniel Rowe calls it one of the few things impossible to prove that everyone just has to know for themselves, that it exists. (Again if anyone wants me to explain the problems with free will and some of the thoughts I have come up with please email me)

Hope you are enjoying IYOV please email me with any questions.

IYOV 3

Hey guys here is another Divar Torah on IYOV

So when we left of we had IYOV denying freewill, saying we all get a fixed path at birth and we can’t change what happens so we have no free will then along came Elifaz.

Elifaz mentions how he saw a prophecy “a spirit brushed my face” he talks about how all punishment comes into this world due to sin, and IYOV is probably having a very intense fast punishment to atone for all his sins that will be over soon, and one day he will have nothing left to fear as all his sins will be absolved, and he will walk with no fear of man or beast.

Elifaz hints to an interesting idea that again I saw in my book about how much control we have over our own lives. He says it is impossible man has no control over his life and impossible that everything is dependent on the free-will of man. We see people who tried so hard to do something and then ended up doing the opposite like Yosef’s brothers who tried to kill him and made him a king, and we see people shoved into positions like shual hamelech who was made a king with little of his own effort, and we see people who tried really hard for something and then achieved it like rabbi Akiva, all three levels of the spectrum. In truth most of our lives will be a bit of both like the man who digs and finds treasure he can never argue it was his digging that made him rich because hashem put the treasure there for him and put the idea in his head to dig there, but no one can say he did nothing to get what he has. Elifaz tells IYOV of many cases of the strong rising against the weak and rain and things like that to show hashgacha in the world.

IYOV answers this in a few ways he says:

Iif you could feel my pain you would know that no sin could cause this.

If hashem wanted to send a prophecy should he not have given it to me?

What is the point of g-d punishing me for sinning? Why is sinning bad because it means I’m not completing my purpose on this earth, but I can’t complete my purpose on this world if I’m suffering all day long and can’t get anything done. It’s like a king who throws his workers in jail for not building a bridge in time, at the end of the day the bridge won’t be finished better to just let them finish it late.

Finally IYOV argues it is too late in his life for things to get better as he is old and will die soon. Here he seems to be arguing the soul is not eternal and there is no world to come.

IYOV finishes his speech saying how can g-d really be looking at every single person to the detail that you describe? Man is but nothing, g-d doesn’t take that much interest in us.

Now Bildad answers IYOV, I must be honest with you I’m doing this with the Malbim explanation in my book and I don’t really see how it fits in the text so much, but it’s very clever and the Malbim says it so its defiantly true. To explain this to you lets first go back to one of IYOV’s argument:

-Bad things are happening to me

-G-d is good and does only justice

-Must be another system in this world which isn’t just but is random, fate.

So Bilad argues as follows IYOV you agree that g-d is good, so it would also be an injustice for him to hand over power to an unjust system. IYOV has two possible answers either g-d isn’t good which he can’t say because of a more fundamental logic, or g-d didn’t create fate but it was there already, but that would mean g-d is no longer all powerful which also can’t be true. So Bildad has disproved IYOV’s idea but now he has to answer his question why do bad things happen to good people. Bildad explains like this, imagine a gardener who sees a rose (represents a tzadik) growing among some rocks so what does he do, he pulls it out and replants it in a better area where he can look after it. This would be very painful for the rose and other flowers (represents a rosha) around it would feel lucky as they survived, but in the end of the day the other flowers don’t make real roots as it’s too rocky and they die young. The rose however is taken to a personal garden where his roots grow strong and after a long healthy life his seedlings (represents tzadik’s children) are planted in the garden and looked after as well. You see here sometimes when a tzadik is put through traumas it is not always for a punishment sometimes it’s to help him, often this can be seen in a physical sense that someone loses out somewhere but really gains in the long run, but sometimes it is in the spiritual sense, e.g someone is to connected to a physical thing so Hashem him by shaking him off it or something similar. The idea here is to trust that all g-d does is good as he is perfect and does no evil.

Hope you all have a lovely shabbous and please email me back with any questions (and even if you don’t have questions if you just want to say hi or talk about the weather or something)

IYOV 2

Earlier tonight I was complaining to one of the people doing daily nach that I have so much to write I can’t fit it all in, so he told me to just write more often. So I will but if it’s too much for you guys feel free to ignore me. Again I would like to say, a lot of this is from the book by Rabbi Eliezer Parkoff.

Ok so yesterday the Saton got to IYOV’s body and this time it really got to him, this time he didn’t bless hashem like he did the first time. His wife voiced her opinion which wasn’t very supportive for him and now his friends arrive to comfort or debate with him.

With perek three IYOV shows his philosophy I hope to show it to you in logical steps for you to truly appreciate it. And maybe even understand it.

Firstly he comes to the conclusion ones lifetime has more pain in it than happiness this idea has sources in Muslim philosophy and has its hints in the gemora in some ways. The gemora brings down this:

There was a copher (heretic) called Elisha ben Avura or as he was later known acher. He wasn’t ever really the best pupil in the yeshivah, but one day he saw a father tell his son to shoo away a mother bird and take the eggs. The boy did fell of the ladder and died acher said this, here are two mitzvos both of which hashem said lengthens ones days (nonering parents and shluch hakan sending away the mother bird), and this child dies young. With that he said zu torah zu zchora? (This is torah and this is its reward?) And he gave up Judaism years later his grandson answer this question saying: if ones life is 70 or 80 years at the end it feels like a second so what difference the extra ten years and most of ones life is hard and painful anyway so this can’t be what the torah meant when it said lengthen your days, it must mean something else i.e. olam habo.

This is a clear source of a jewish idea of overall suffering in this world and it has a kind of logic to it, everything you get in this world you loss as eventually you will die so if not before then you will loss everything, the logic of joy and sadness in this world is only with improvement and deterioration as things we already have we don’t appreciate and pains we already have we are used to. As a lot of the things we get in this world we don’t realise at the time in order to appreciate them (our bodies are health two massive things both given to us at a point in our life we can’t remember) so since we start off above zero and we go down to zero and joy and sadness is only movement therefore total joy must be negative. Also since “time flies when your having fun the positive seem much smaller than the negatives which seem drawn out so over all it seems all bad. Did you follow that? It has a few logical flaws, you can talk to me about it or email me but a lot of people see the world that way and it’s not too foreign to Jewish thought we believe happiness is in the world to come so this is not such a crazy thing to say. (perkai avos perek beis last mishna) This is the opposite of rabbi Akiva who used to say everything hashem does is good.

Now even if you don’t agree with the previous bit the next bit stands look at IYOV he is having a lot of pain:- WHY?

PUNISHMENT – but IYOV is righteous

G-D is a big BULLY – g-d is ultimately good (another topic to prove but even so IYOV believed it)

IT’S LOGIC ACTION REACTION – now we don’t believe in this too much, we believe things are controlled by g-d but this does have some effect on the world it’s the idea that because of other events it lead to IYOVS pain by no evil or good simple cause and effect, but it’s not possible here as some of IYOV’s downfalls where quite spectacular like fire coming down from heaven.

SOME ONE ELSE’S BECHIRO IS CAUSEING YOU PAIN – again not such an easy topic happy to discuss it if people want but again couldn’t be here due to the fire from heaven stuff

Finally we reach IYOV’s final logic PREDETERMINATION. IYOV curses the day, this means he curses the day he was born, he curses the stars and the destiny he was born into, he comes to the conclusion there is a predetermined life for all of us irrespective of our bechera (free will), therefore it doesn’t matter if he was good or bad but stuff happens (as they don’t say because they use a ruder word) now this has to be incorrect and Iyov’s friends will answer him back soon but until now this is where we stand It’s how IYOV faced the contradicting logic’s of g-d

IYOV has a simple claim if I was born to suffer I would be better off having died in the womb.

We see somewhere else a similar dilemma Avroham was told to sacrifice his son, and a few years ago hashem told him that his son would be a great nation, seemingly a contradiction Avroham has to deal with. Now Avroham didn’t ask or probe or query he did it and he is massively rewarded for it. None of us can imagine either of IYOV’s of Avroham’s position but we can compare them.

I hope you all have a great Yom Tov if any of you have any question on any of the ides here, any of the theories of pain I didn’t go into them much and I didn’t have a long time to think up too many others so please put forward your own, and please email me with any questions or ask me to clarify something clearer. The thing earlier about how most of ones life being bad shouldn’t get you down I have whole other things about happiness but al lot of people argue for many other reasons and people support it for other reasons but you can appreciate why IYOV thought so. And even people who do believe it can still be solid Jews with the idea that the next world is where we reap the benefit.