בס"ד

Rashi on Shemot 7:3: "This is the way of the Holy One Blessed be He, He brings suffering and tribulations on the idolatrous nations so that Israel will hear and be afraid as it is written: (Zefanya 3:6-7) "I have cut off nations, their towers are desolate...I said: "Surely you will fear Me, and accept correction"

Derashot ha Ran writes in Derush 6: "And sometimes events take place in far away places, in distant Islands, so that Israel will be moved to do Teshuvah, and so that Israel will be scared and fear lest the tribulations come upon them and this is what the prophet  (Zefanya 3:6-7) said:  "I have cut off nations; their towers are desolate; I made their streets waste, so that none passes by; their cities are destroyed, so that there is no man, there is no inhabitant.  I said, Surely you will fear Me, you will accept correction; then her dwelling would not have been cut off, according to all that I had threatened to bring upon her. But they were up early, and corrupted all their doings".         And when they (The Jews) do not react upon the disgrace of others, the sufferings increase and approach, and there is no doubt that someone who looks at these acts, which are indeed warnings from Hashem  Blessed be He, and still holds fast to his ways that he has chosen for himself, he is like one who commits a transgression and receives a warning for it, who becomes liable to death from now on.

“Internalize the understanding that when someone else has something, it does not detract even one iota from what you have. Everything that happens to a person is because of the great wisdom of the Creator. Knowing this, you will have no reason to experience pain over the good fortune of anyone else. Ultimately, the only way you can appreciate what the Almighty has given you is to be entirely free from all forms of envy.”

Mesilat Yesharim Chapter 11

 One of the Chofetz Chaim's famous adages was: "People worry about having with what to live, and I ask, do they have with what to die?"

Do not worry about tomorrow's trouble, for you never know what the day will bring. Maybe by the time tomorrow arrives you won't be here anymore, and you worried about a world that was not yours. (Yevamot 63b)

DID YOU NOTICE THAT THE FURTHER PEOPLE ARE FROM THE TRUTH THE MORE THEY CONSIDER SOMEONE WHO TURNS AWAY FROM EVIL TO BE A FOOL? 

REBBE NACHMAN, SEFER HA MIDDOT, EMET 

“Rabbi Yisroel Salanter would constantly say that the root of all transgressions is lack of emunah. It comes from a failure to internalize the fact that there is reward for doing good and punishment for doing wrong. It comes from a failure to visualize how an evil person suffers in Gehinom while the righteous are blessed with eternal joy.”  “It is important to mentally visualize the two paths that are before you. One path leads to Gan Eden, eternal bliss. The other path leads to tremendous suffering. When you see this clearly enough, you will have a strong inner feeling. This will become part of you reality and will have major ramifications in your way of life. Developing this awareness is a high priority. Do all you can to internalize emunah and live with it daily.”

RABBI CHAYIM MORDECHAI KATZ:Beer Mechokek

And what is emunah? The beginning of emunah is that one trust in G-d and fear nothing. He must acquiesce in G-d’s decree, and give himself and his soul to Him. All of his dealings and his words must be with emunah and uprightness. He must say of what is so, that it is so, and of what is not so, that it is not so. He must not rush to get rich, but trust in the Holy One Blessed be He in all of his affairs, as it is written (Psalms 37:3): “Trust in the L-rd and do good. Dwell in the land and ‘graze’ emunah.” And what he promises he must fulfill according to his ability....

...And know, my sons, that emunah engenders tolerance, one’s tolerating all that the Holy One Blessed be He decrees upon him, whether for good or ill, and accepting all that the Creator forbade him, trusting that the Creator will grant him recompense in time to come. As a certain sage said: “Tolerance is of two kinds: tolerating afflictions and tolerating what the Creator has forbidden.” And: “Remembrance is of two kinds: remembering tolerance in time of affliction, and remembering the Creator by what he forbade to you as separating you from Him.” My sons, if you are visited by affliction, have tolerance nearby to overcome it with. And give thanks to the Creator for what He decreed upon you. For the greatest wealth is tolerance. A certain sage said: “He who strengthens his tolerance in time of affliction will attain his ends through exaltedness of heart.” My sons, if desire grows strong within you, humble it with tolerance. For tolerance is one of the traits of the saintly. One who forbears will be a master. If he tolerates one thing in others today, in the end, they will tolerate many things in him.

Sefer Maale ha Midot

לימוד הזהר, הלכה ומוסר מספר חק לישראל

פרשת בראשית עד פרשת וירא

Rav Huna said in the name of Rav who said in the name of Rabbi Meir, and so says Rabbi Akiva: A person should make it a habit always to say:

“Everything Hashem does, He does for good.”  (Berachot 60b)

It is written in Tanna debe Eliyahu Rabba 22:

   Father in Heaven, may Your name be blessed for all of eternity, and may You derive pleasure from Your servants Israel, wherever they may dwell. I bless You in this manner because You have said that You accept the repentance of the sinners of Israel. Even if a person commits many grave sins, when he repents You say, "I have compassion on him, and I will accept his repentance." Even if he arises and curses and blasphemes Your Exaltedness, when he returns and repents, You, O Holy One, forgive him for everything, as it says, Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. Then the lame man will leap like a gazelle and the tongue of the mute will sing (Yeshayah 35:5-6). The blind, deaf, and lame refer to those who lack Torah knowledge and good deeds, as it says, For water will break out in the wilderness and streams in the desert (ibid.). (Tanna debe Eliyahu Rabba 22)

  a great rule regarding character traits 

"The character traits of the person are not part of the 613 Mitzvot but they are the main determinants of the 613 Mitzvot, whether the person will perform them or not, …Therefore bad character traits are very much worse than sins themselves. And now you will understand what our Sages said (Zohar I 27, II 182, III 179, 234, Tikkunim 89, Zohar Chadash  Noach) “Anyone who becomes angry is as if he worships idols which is the equivalent  [Of violating] of all the 613 Mitzvot”, and our Sages also said (Sotah 4: 5) “He who has haughtiness of spirit is as if he reneges on Hashem and he should be cut down like an Ashera…” and many things similar to this. And understand this very well, for being the character traits so important and fundamental they were not counted among the 613 Mitzvot. Therefore a person needs to be more careful regarding evil character traits than in fulfilling the positive or negative Mitzvot, for if a person has good character traits he, they will lead them to observe all the Mitzvot without difficulty." Rabbi Chayim Vital Shaare Keddusha Chelek Alef, Shaar Beit

Sadness is an evil trait. When one does not visit a tzaddik it may be due to sadness, sluggishness, and laziness. Likewise, sadness and sloth may prevent one from praying and studying Torah with inspiration and intensity due to a lack of faith. Certainly, if one has perfect faith and believes that G-d is close to him and hears every single word that comes from his mouth and hearkens to the sound of his prayer, he would definitely not feel any sadness, laziness, or sluggishness in his prayers. He would certainly pray properly. Confusion of prayer, however, comes mainly from a lack of faith. As a result, sloth and sadness come upon one and muddle his prayers, for sadness and sloth primarily derive from a lack of faith.   Likkute Moharan I 155

  There is G-d’s will. And there is my will. They should coincide, but don’t always. Our choosing to accept or not to accept G-d’s will has to do with the concept of anna emloch (“I rule”). If I accept G-d’s will, then whatever happens, positive and negative, is really according to my will. By looking for the Godliness in whatever occurs, I believe everything that happens to me is G-d’s will and therefore k’seider. There is order in my life. G-d rules! This is because “His will is my will.” But if  I do not look for the Godliness in everything, there will always be things happening which are against my will. I will see things as shelo k’seider and try to change them. “I rule! I decide! It is all in my power” May G-d save us! (Likkute Moharan II, 82).

ENVY IS THE DECAY OF THE BONES (Proverbs 14:30)

Envy, too, is nothing but want of reason and foolishness, for the one who envies gains nothing for himself and deprives the one he envies of nothing. He only loses thereby, as is indicated in the verse that I mentioned (Job 5:2), “Envy kills the fool.” There are those who are so foolish that if they perceive their neighbor to possess a certain good, they brood and worry and suffer to the point that their neighbor’s good prevents them from enjoying their own. As the Sage said (Proverbs 14:30), “Envy is the decay of the bones.” There are others who, though not caused much suffering and pain by envy, still experience some hurt. They will at least feel some sinking of spirit upon seeing one rise to a higher level if he is not one of their dearest and closest friends, more so if he is not especially loved by them, and even more so if he is a stranger from a different land. They might say things which would seem to reflect their happiness and thankfulness over his good fortune, but their hearts will be faint within them, This is a very common reaction with most people, for though they may not be characterized by envy, they are still not entirely Clean of it. They are especially affected if one who plies the same trade as they prospers in it for “Every craftsman hates his fellow” (Bereshit Rabbah 19.6), especially if the latter is more successful than he. They will not acknow­ledge and understand the fact that “A man cannot touch even a hair’s-breadth of what is set aside for his neighbor” (Yoma 38). If they recognized that everything proceeds from God in accordance with His wondrous judgment and unfathomable wisdom, they would have no reason whatso­ever to suffer over their neighbor’s good. This is what the Prophet foretells about the time to come, that the Holy One Blessed be He will eradicate this ugly trait from our hearts so that Israel’s good will be complete. At that time no one will feel pain over another’s good and he who is successful will not be compelled to conceal himself and what relates to him for fear of being envied. As it is written (Isaiah 11:13), “And the envy of Ephraim will depart and the oppressors of Judah will be cut off. Ephraim will not envy Judah

This is the kind of peace and serenity experienced by the ministering angels, who all rejoice in their service, each in his place, none envying the other; for seeing the truth to its very depths, they rejoice over the good that they possess and are happy in their portions.

 The sister of envy is desire and lust, which wearies a man’s heart until the day of his death, as stated by our Sages of blessed memory (Koheleth Rabbah 1.34), “A man does not die with half of his desire fulfilled.” There are two main branches of desire, desire for wealth and desire for honor, each as evil as the other and each bringing about many evil consequences.

It is the desire for wealth which binds a man with worldly bonds and places the thongs of labor and preoccupation upon his arms, as it is written (Ecclesiastes 5:9), “The lover of silver will not be satiated with silver.” It is this, desire which removes one from Divine service, for many prayers are lost and many mitzvoth forgotten because of excessive preoccupation and the pursuit of a wealth of stores. This is especially true in relation to Torah study, concerning which our Sages of blessed memory have said (Eruvin 55a), “ ‘It is not across the seas’ (Deuteronomy 30:13) it does not reside with those who cross the seas for business,” and (Avoth 25), “Not all who engage in business become Wise.” The quest for wealth exposes one to many dangers and weakens him with much worrying even after he has acquired a great deal. We also learned (Ibid.), “He who multiplies belongings multiplies worries.” And it is this quest which often causes one to trespass against the laws of the Torah and even against the natural laws of reason.

 The desire for honor is even greater than the desire for wealth, for it is possible for a person to overcome his inclination for wealth and the other pleasures and still be pressed by the desire for honor, being unable to tolerate being, and seeing himself beneath his friends.

 Many were caught and destroyed by the desire for honor. Jeroboam ben Nevat was barred from the World to Come only as a result of his desire for honor. As was stated by our Sages of blessed memory (Sanhedrin 102a), “The Holy One Blessed be He seized his garment and said to him, ‘Repent, and you and I and the son of Jesse will promenade in the Garden of Eden.’ Jeroboam asked, ‘Who will go first?’ The Holy One Blessed be He answered, ‘The son of Jesse:’ and Jeroboam said, ‘If so, I refuse.’ “ What, if not the desire for honor, brought about the destruction of Korach and his entire congregation? As Scripture explicitly states (Numbers 16:10), “And would you also seek the priesthood?” Our Sages of blessed memory have told us (Bamidbar Rabbah 18.1) that his entire rebellion stemmed from his seeing Elizaphan ben Uziel as prince and desiring to he prince in his place. This same desire, according to our Sages of blessed memory (Zohar to Numbers 13:3), was responsible for the spies’ speaking ill of the land, thus bringing about their death and the death of the entire generation. They feared a diminution of their honor in the possibility that after entry into the land they would no longer be princes of Israel and others would be appointed in their place. What, if not a concern for his honor caused Saul to begin to seek an opportunity to kill David? As it is written (I Samuel l8:7ff), “And the exultant women answered and said, ‘Saul has slain ...‘ and Saul eyed David from that day forward.” What, if not concern for his honor, caused Joab to kill Amasa? (For David had said to Amasa (II Samuel 19:14), “... if you will not always be my general...”)

In fine, the desire for honor tugs at a person’s heart more than any of the other longings and desires in the world. If not for concern over his honor, a person would be content to eat whatever was at hand, to clothe himself with whatever would cover his nakedness, and to dwell in a house which would afford him protection from the elements. He would obtain his livelihood with little effort and would feel no need to exert himself to become rich. But so as not to see himself as tower and lesser than his friends, he places a yoke upon his neck, and there is no end to all his labors. It is with this in mind that our Teachers of blessed memory said (Avoth 4.20), “Envy, lust and honor-seeking remove a person from the world,” and warned us (Ibid. 6.4), “Do not seek greatness or desire honor” How many starve themselves and stoop to feeding themselves from charity so as not to engage in an occupation which they feel is lacking in respectability, for fear of a diminution of their honor? Is there anything sillier? They prefer to dwell in idleness, which leads to stagnation, lewdness and theft, and to all of the major sins in order not to lower themselves and detract from the honor which they imagine themselves to possess. Our Sages of blessed memory, who constantly exhorted us to follow the path of truth and conducted us upon it, said (Avoth 1.9), “Love work and hate position,” and (Pesachim 113a), “Flay a carcass in the marketplace and do not say, ‘I am an important person; I am a priest,’” and (Bava Batra 110a), “A man should rather do work that is strange to him than have need of others.”

In time, the desire for honor is one of man’s greatest stumbling blocks. He cannot be a faithful servant to his Master as long as he is concerned with his own honor; for whatever the case, his foolishness will lead him to detract from the honor of Heaven. As King David, may Peace be upon him, said (II Samuel 6:22), “I will become even lesser than this; I will become low in my eyes.” The only true honor is true knowledge of the Torah. In the words of our Sages of blessed memory (Avoth 6.3), “There is no honor but Torah, as it is said (Proverbs 3:35), ‘The wise will inherit honor.’ “Anything else is seeming, delusive honor, completely meaningless and worthless. One who would be Clean should cleanse himself of the desire for honor and purify himself of it; he will then be successful.

Rabbi Moshe Chayim Luzzato  Mesillat Yesharim, Prate Nekiut

Let us contemplate, deliberate, and investigate: Perhaps all of the hardships, evil afflictions, and misfortunes that befall us bang like a hammer on the doors of our hearts to arouse and awaken us from our indolent sleep. They replace the prophets' utterances in days of old, as Chazal state in the holy books: Today, afflictions and evil diseases fulfill the mission of rebuke that the prophets used to fulfill (when prophecy was prevalent in Israel). This is stated in the Zohar (Keddoshim).  Ezrat Kohanim on Tractate Middot

Even Shlemah 11:3, by the Vilna Gaon, "The Redemption will not come except through the learning of Torah, and the main Redemption depends on the learning of Kabbalah."

R. Levi says in the name of R. Shimon b. Lakish: A person should always incite (yargiz) his good inclination to fight against his evil inclination. For it says, "Incite [your inner powers] and don't sin" (Psalms 4:5). If he overcomes his evil inclination, fine. But if he cannot, he should engage in Torah study, for it says, "Ponder it in your hearts" [get your heart involved in Torah study]. If that helps to subdue his evil inclination, fine. If not, he should recite the Shema, for it says, "on your beds" [this alludes to the Shema, because it says beshochbecha, "you should recite it when you retire"]. If this works, fine. If not, he should remind himself of the day of death, for it says, "and be utterly silent. Selah."

R. Yochanan said:......If a person has the opportunity to study Torah and does not study it, then the Holy One, blessed be He, will bring on him ugly and painful sufferings that will stir him up. For it says, "I was dumb, silent; I kept quiet from the good thing, and my pain was stirred up" (Psalms 39:3). "I kept quiet from a good thing" can refer only to the Torah, about which it says, "For I have given you a good teaching, do not forsake My Torah" (Proverbs 4:2). [In other words, I did not study Torah, therefore I was stricken with pain.]

Talmud Massechet Berachot 5a

CHAPTER II

CONCERNING THE TRAIT OF WATCHFULNESS

THE IDEA OF WATCHFULNESS is for a man to exercise caution in his actions and his undertakings: that is, to deliberate and watch over his actions and his accustomed ways to determine whether or not they are good, so as not to abandon his soul to the danger of destruction, God forbid. and not to walk according to the promptings of habit as a blind man in pitch darkness. This is demanded by one’s intelligence. For considering the fact that a man possesses the knowledge and the reasoning ability to save himself and to flee from the destruction of his soul, is it conceivable that he would willingly blind himself to his own salvation? There is certainly no degradation and foolishness worse than this. One who does this is lower than beasts and wild animals, whose nature it is to protect themselves, to flee and to run away from anything that seems to endanger them. One who walks this world without considering whether his way of life is good or bad is like a blind man walking along the seashore, who is in very great danger, and whose chances of being lost are far greater than those of his being saved. For there is no difference between natural blindness and self-inflicted blindness, the shutting of one’s eyes as an act of will and desire.

Jeremiah complains about the evil of the men of his genera­tion, about their being affected with this affliction, the blinding of their eyes to their actions, their failure to analyze them in order to determine whether they should be engaged in or abandoned. He says about these men (Jeremiah 8:6), “No one regrets his wrongdoing, saying... They all turn away in their course as a hone rushing headlong into battle.” He alludes here to their running on the impetus of their habits and their ways without leaving themselves time to evaluate their actions and ways, and, as a result, falling into evil without noticing it. In reality, this is one of the clever devices of the evil inclination — to mount pressure unrelentingly against the hearts of men so as to leave them no leisure to consider and observe the type of life they are leading. For it realizes that if they were to devote even a slight degree of attention to their ways, there is no question but that they would immediately begin to repent of their deeds and that regret would wax in them until they would leave off sinning altogether ft is this consideration which underlay the counsel of the wicked Pharaoh in his statement (Exodus 5:9), “Intensify the men’s labors. His intention was not merely to deprive them at all leisure so that they would not come to oppose him or plot against him, but he strove to strip their hearts of all thought by means of the enduring, interminable nature of their labor.

This is precisely the device that the evil inclination employs against man; for it is a warrior and well versed in deception. One cannot escape it without great wisdom and a broad outlook. As we are exhorted by the Prophet (Haggai 1:7), “Give heed to your ways.” And as Solomon in his wisdom said (Proverbs 6:4), “Give neither sleep to your eyes nor slumber to your eyelids. Rescue yourself as a deer from the hand   And as our Sages of blessed memory said (Sotah 5b), “All who deliberate upon their paths in this world will be worthy to witness the salvation wrought by the Holy One Blessed be He.” Clearly even if one superintends himself, it is not within his power to save himself without the help of the Holy One Blessed be He.   Mesillat Yesharim Midat ha Zehirut

COMPASSION TOWARDS OTHER JEWS       

R. Shmuel b. Nachmani said in the name of R. Yonatan: What is meant by the verse, "Surely You are our Father; Abraham did not know us, and Israel did not recognize us. You, O G-d, are our Father, our Redeemer. Your name is everlasting" (Isaiah 63:16). In time to come, the Holy One, blessed be He, will say to Abraham, "Your children have sinned against Me." Abraham answered Him, "Master of the universe! Let them be wiped out to sanctify Your name!" Then Hashem said, "I will tell this to Jacob who has experienced so much pain raising his children; maybe he will plead for mercy for them." So He said to Jacob, "Your children have sinned." But he too, answered Him, "Master of the universe! Let them be wiped out for the sanctification of Your name!" [G-d] replied, "The grandfathers do not make sense, and there is no counsel to be gained from the children." But when He said to Isaac, "Your children have sinned," he answered, "Master of the universe! Are they my children and not Your children too? When they said 'We will do' before saying 'We will hear,' [in accepting the Torah], You called them, 'Israel, My son, My firstborn' (Exodus 4:22); and now they are my sons and not Your sons!? Besides, how much have they actually sinned? [Let's see.] How long does a person live? An average of seventy years. Take off twenty years, because [for sins committed during the first twenty years, the heavenly Court] does not punish. So there are only fifty years left. Take off twenty-five for the nights [when they were sleeping and did not sin]. Now we are left with only twenty-five. Subtract twelve-and-a-half that they were praying, eating, and answering the call of nature, and there are twelve-and-a-half years left [for which You can hold them responsible]. If You are willing to bear the whole burden, fine; if not, I'll take half, and You'll take half. And if You are going to say that I should bear the whole burden, [I did that already once before]. Look, I offered myself as a sacrifice for you." Immediately, the Jewish people will say, "You [Isaac] are our father!" Isaac will then say to them, "Instead of praising me, praise the Holy One, blessed be He," and Isaac will point upward toward G-d. Immediately they will lift their eyes toward heaven and exclaim, "You, O G-d, are our Father, our Redeemer. Your name is everlasting" (Isaiah 63:16).

ראיתי להעתיק פה את עשרת הכללים ללימוד המוסר, ככתוב בספר, "שערי אור", ע"פ אדמו"ר הגאון החסיד אור ישראל וקדושו, מרנא ורבנא ישראל מסלנט זצוק"ל.

א - חובת לימוד היראה והמוסר בקביעות ובעיון.

ב - לימוד המוסר בהתפעלות הנפש, בלב נכון, בקול עצב, שפתים דולקים ובחכמת הציור.

ג - לחזור על מאמר אחד מיראה ומוסר כמה פעמים, עד אשר יתרגש נפשו להתפעל ממנו.

ד - שימת עין ולב ללמוד במיוחד מאמרים על עניינים אשר הוא מושחת ביותר.

ה - הלימוד בלי הפסק זמן גדול בין הלימודים.

ו - הלימוד לא בגדולות ונפלאות כי אם באופן פשוט ביראת העונש, ושכר מצוה ושכר עבירה.

ז - ללמוד בחוזק אמונה, כי ברבות הימים הדברים יעשו עליו רושם, אם אף לא מרגיש זה תכף.

ח - אף רגע קטנה בקביעות הלימוד בכל יום ויום לא יהיה קל בעיניו, כי הפרי רב.

ט - בית מיוחד ללימוד המוסר, מופרש ומובדל רק לשם לימוד הלזה.

י - לזכות את הרבים בלימוד המוסר, והבא ללמד נמצא למד.

בספר השל"ה הקדוש - הקדמה - (ג): אמר אחר כך, ודרך חיים תוכחת מוסר. מתחילה דיבר משלימות עצמו, יהיה שלם בנר מצוה ותורה אור, אח"כ ישלים את זולתו גם כן, וזהו דרך לחיים הנצחיים להיות זוכה ומזכה ללמוד וללמד *לשמור* *ולעשות* כו'. ותמיד לא ימנע מלהוכיח אחרים וילמדם חכמה ומוסר להבין אמרי בינה. ועל כן אמר לשון ודרך, כמו שאמר יתרו למשה רבינו ע"ה, והזהרת אתהם את החקים ואת התורות והודעת להם את הדרך ילכו בה ואת המעשה אשר יעשון. ואמר תוכחות מוסר שהוא כפל לשון, תוכחה רצה לומר על העבר הוכח יוכיח אם סרו מן הדרך הטוב והישר, ומוסר הוא יורה דרך שילכו להבא, כמו שנאמר (משלי ח, לג), שמעו מוסר וחכמו ואל תפרעו.

 THE RAMCHAL IN DAAT TEVUNOT SAYS:

However, it is dictated by the nature of the Supreme Oneness, in order to manifest the might of its complete sovereign sway, that, as long as He desires, the earth is to be left to the vicissitudes of time, while evil holds sway in the world. And, what is more, He does not constrain this evil from doing all that is in its power to do, even if His creations thereby descend to the nethermost level. In spite of this, however, His world will not go lost; for His alone is the reign. It is He who does and bears and strikes and heals, and there is none beside Him. And this is a strong bolster to the faith of the Jews, that their hearts not weaken, neither from the length of the exile nor from its severe bitterness. For, indeed, the Holy One, Blessed be He, has allowed evil to do all that is in its power to do, as we have explained. And in the end, the more forcefully evil brings itself to bear against men; the more manifest will be the strength of G-d’s oneness and the omnipotent sway of His reign. And from the very depths of our many sore trials, the salvation will most assuredly spring, in the greatness of His might.

AN ADDITIONAL FACTOR IS THE TEST OF THE RIGHTEOUS PROVIDED BY THE EVIL — NOT IN THE SENSE OF TEMPTATION TO SIN, WHICH WE HAVE ALREADY SPOKEN OF, BUT THE TEST ITSELF WHICH ARISES FROM THE CREATOR’S CONCEALING HIS COUNTENANCE. FOR DID NOT G-D DECLARE THROUGH ALL OF HIS PROPHETS THAT IT IS HE WHO SUPERINTENDS ALL OF HIS CREATURES AND THAT HIS EYES ARE ON ALL THE WAYS OF MAN, TO REQUITE EACH MAN ACCORDING TO HIS WAYS AND IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE FRUITS OF HIS ACTIONS, A G-D OF FAITH, WITHOUT WRONG? AND, AFTER HAVING TOLD US ALL THIS, HE CONDUCTS HIS WORLD THROUGH DEEP MANIPULATION AND “COUNSEL FROM AFAR,” WHICH BETOKEN, OSTENSIBLY, THE OPPOSITE OF ALL THIS, G-D FORBID.

For at certain times it seems as if all is in the hands of a completely gratuitous chance, and at others, as if the workers of evil have been upraised, and the men of valor, the servants of G-d, have not received the rewards of their efforts and labors. How many cry out and are not heard! And consider all of the other situations created by G-d with which to try the hearts of men. This is what is alluded to by King David in (Psalms 73:2-Th “And, as for me, my feet almost slipped. - for I envied the revelers...” And this is precisely the test — to see if men will remain strong in their faith and not deviate from the firm conviction in their heart, which will enable them to say: “He is certainly a G-d of faith, without wrong, even though we do not understand His ways.” And it is in this respect that it is written (Habakkuk2:4): “And the righteous one will live in his faith,” as we have already explained above.

There is great gain to be derived, then, from the concealment of the Supreme perfection, and G-d has left room for evil to darken the face of the world for a test as great as this. Consider, in light of this, how beloved by the Blessed One will be those righteous men who withstand such a trial, and how great will be the reward for their Divine service in time to come. And it is in the realm of the Blessed One’s honor that even the great darkness of the concealment of the countenance of His goodness redounds to His glory and results in many-fold reward to the righteous.

This evil, however, is destined to result in good only through these mechanisms that we mentioned, the wheel of cause and effect that turn everything towards the good. We have already mentioned that this evil, in isolation from these mechanisms, is, indeed, evil and bitter, destruction and loss. However, within the framework of these mechanisms, it, too, may be regarded as one of man’s needs and as one of the essential complements of his being. For though in terms of its essential nature it is, indeed, exclusively a force for the working of evil, yet, in combination with all of the mechanisms established by the Creator for the attainment of perfection, it exists only to be vanquished, as we explained. Man must be invested with the evil inclination and with all of the evil lusts, not to be swayed by them, but to subdue them and rid himself of them. With all this, it does not lose its evil nature, but this, too, is a good — that evil form part of a man’s being, as we explained. And this evil does not, in itself, effect loss and defectiveness in a man — this by virtue of the positive components of man’s nature, as we explained. Ultimately, however, when the true fruit of these mechanisms, for which they were originally established, will eventually emerge, it will reveal itself as the eradication of evil itself from existence and the perfection of all imperfection.

We find, then, that when the Creator established His world, as we explained, He invested in it all that was necessary for this first stage of man, the time of Divine service. He then originated evil in the fullness of its nature and its powers, in isolation, possessing as many powers and parts as those of Divine service and perfection relating to man, Afterwards, He completed His work by creating all of the mechanisms that we mentioned, designed to do all that is necessary for the removal of this evil, to lift man through his ascents, and to fill all of the other needs of his perfection and. good. Within this framework, evil is not given free vent to exercise all its powers, but, on the contrary, is vulnerable to all the forces that the Blessed One created for the eradication of evil. And it is within this context that this lowly world and humanity were subsequently created. The result is that the entire quality of good (the generality of all of these heavenly mechanisms that we mentioned) as well as the quality of evil itself, both are instruments for good in the construct of man. The end result of the whole is the emergence of the fruit of the entire process the universal perfection. But as long as this process has not been completed, although evil, too, is intended for man’s good — to be vanquished by him it can also he to his detriment, G-d forbid, if he does not vanquish it. For then, evil and not perfection will gain the ascendancy. But at the end of the process, when evil will have been eradicated, the tranquility of the creation will be eternal, never ceasing.

When their intellect was stimulated by an abundance of illumination, they found pleasure in wisdom alone and in what was truly good; but when their intellect is not so stimulated, they recognize nothing as good but these earthly vanities. And this is the evil that resulted from Adam’s sin — the removal of providence and radiance from the human species, so that they remained steeped in gross, material elements alone. The Holy One, Blessed be He, indeed, corrected this state at the giving of the Law, but they reverted to it through the sin of the golden calf and through others, so that the world remained in the darkness of illusory natural processes.

“Everything Hashem does, He does for good.”  (Berachot 60b)

 Our sages said (Chulin 7b), "A person does not bruise his finger unless it was decreed in Heaven,"

“And the Tzaddik will live through his EMUNA” (Chabakuk)

 “And Tzeddaka saves from death” (Mishle)

‘A door that does not open to charity will open to the doctor’ (Bemidbar Rabbah 9:3)

 The RaMBaN (Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman of Girondi, 1194-1270), who was himself a physician, states in his classic Commentary on the Torah:

“In the era of prophecy the tzaddikim consulted not doctors but prophets. For what place do doctors have in the house of those who carry out the will of Hashem, after He promised that ‘He will bless their bread. and their water, and remove illness from their midst’? (Exodus 23:25) Although the Rabbis said that the physician has been given sanction to heal, this does not mean that license has been given to the sick to resort to medicine! What the Rabbis meant is that if a patient has already come to the doctor, the doctor should not refrain from treating him. But when a person’s ways find favor in G-d’s eyes, he has no business with doctors”  (Ramban on  Leviticus 26:11).

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