Ra'anana Community Kollel

                             Contemplating Providence

                                                   Rabbi Binyomin Lipson

“And he said, ‘I am Yosef your brother whom you sold down to Egypt . . . and now, do not feel guilty that you sold me, for it was Hashem who sent me here as a means to provide sustenance for us during these years of famine.’” (Bereishit, 45:4-5)

While Yosef had undoubtedly suffered greatly as a result of his brothers’ actions, he did not feel any anger or spite towards them. As the Midrash on last week’s parshah taught us, in the midst of all his life’s travails, Yosef continued to grow in his complete trust in the Almighty and his recognition of the all encompassing scope of Divine providence. Having reached this level, Yosef was completely above any desire to avenge the wrong that had been done to him or to bear a grudge against his brothers.

The Torah tells us, “And you should know today, and integrate into your hearts, that it is Hashem who possesses the only true power. In the heavens above and on the earth below there is no other.” (Devarim, 4:39) It is precisely this supreme authority that Hashem possesses over all world events that makes up the essence of the Torah’s prohibitions of bearing a grudge and seeking revenge from those who have wronged us. The more we work to internalize the fact that Hashem oversees all of the complex workings of the world’s affairs, and that nothing good or bad can happen to us without G-d’s approval, we will begin to realize that to take revenge on the person who has wronged us would be simply a case of mistaken identity.

The Chofetz Chaim (Shem Olam, p.10) drives this point home with a clear proof. In discussing a case where one person inflicted bodily damage on one’s neighbor, the Torah tells us, “and one will be healed.” (Shmot, 21:19) What is the Torah trying to teach us by adding this phrase? Do we really need to be commanded to administer medical care to an injured person?

Apparently, we do. The Gemara (Bava Kamma, 85a) tells us that were it not for fact that Hashem gives us permission to do so, it would be forbidden for us to attempt to improve the condition of any patient. Why? Well, who’s running this show anyway? If the Boss says that a certain person should get sick, who are we to interfere?! Therefore, it is only by the authority granted to us by the Torah which allows us to do so.
However, says the Chofetz Chaim, it goes deeper than that. While the reason the Gemara gives for requiring permission to heal seems to make good sense in the case of a person who became ill on his own, the case which the Torah presents is clearly one in which a person damaged his fellow deliberately. Nevertheless, even in such a case, the Gemara tells us that without the specific permission to do so, we would not have been permitted to interfere. After all, ultimately, it was Hashem who brought this misfortune upon the person, so what right do we have to get involved? This Gemara teaches us an invaluable lesson. Even when we have become the victims of damage at the hand of another person, we have no right to place the ultimate blame on his shoulders. In truth, this person was only serving as a sort of Divine delivery person who merely handed over what we had coming to us. Obviously, this outlook is only relevant from the perspective of the victim. It would be ridiculous for the assailant to claim that since he was only acting as a Divine intermediary, he or she therefore bears no responsibility for his actions. We all possess free will which enables us to determine the actions which we wish to pursue.

Why does Hashem see fit to sometimes bring suffering and misfortune into our lives? Is it possible for us the know the reason behind it? Obviously, we all have aspects of our behavior which are in need of improvement. Therefore, the first things that misfortune should motivate us to do are to begin a process of introspection and to identify the areas of our lives which require some additional fine-tuning.

In addition to this, the Chofetz Chaim gives us yet another point to contemplate. When a person eventually passes from the world, his or her life’s deeds will be evaluated in the heavenly court. First, all of the mitzvot that one performed will be set upon one side of a great scale, and then, all of the person’s transgressions will take their place on the other. However, many of the mitzvot that we have performed will “weigh in” at a much lower level than they should have, as they were performed out of habit and with little concentration. On the other hand, most of our transgressions will be real “heavyweights”, since they were done with a greater level of enthusiasm.

Then, just at the moment when all seems hopeless, the heavenly bailiff will call out, “Now, let the suffering that this person endured during his or her lifetime come and testify!” At that moment, all the pain that a person experienced in life will arrive on the scene and be added to the person’s merits. With all of these additional merits to one’s credit, it is much more likely that a person will emerge meritorious from this awesome heavenly trial. This fact can serve as a great comfort for us when we remember that even the most minute discomforts that we experience during our lives are never forgotten in heaven, and are waiting to come to our aid by affording us numerous merits in our final judgment that we otherwise would not have possessed. While the suffering which Yosef experienced in his lifetime was far beyond anything than we can imagine, through his internalization of this principle he was able to come to a point were he was able to rise above all feelings of animosity towards the worldly causes of his travails and to focus his attention on the ultimate cause of all causes.

Although Yosef’s lofty level is far from us, on our own level we can certainly adopt at least a fraction of his attributes. By increasing our bitachon and integrating this trust into our daily lives, we can save ourselves from the endless grief and aggravation that we can often experience at the hands of others. Although not an excuse for their behavior, the knowledge that Hashem is giving us precisely those experiences which we need to grow and become more complete individuals can serve as a reassurance that we are never alone, and that even in our times of greatest travail, we have not been abandoned.