Yirmiyah 7-12
Perek Summaries:
Perek 7: HaShem tells Yirmiyah to call out to the people of Yehudah to mend their ways and repent, as well as not to believe the false prophets. A promise by HaShem to destroy His Temple and exile the people should they continue sinning.
Perek 8: A prophecy of the future destruction of Yerushalayim (and its inhabitants) due to their desecration of HaShem’s Word.
Perek 9: More promises of destruction as a result ogfthe people’s sins. A call to rely on HaShem alone. HaShem will punish the other nations too.
Perek 10: A warning for us not to follow the ways of other nations, because our lot and goal is different. A plea for HaShem to take out His anger on the other nations.
Perek 11: HaShem tells the people to follow His Torah. More destruction and how we have forsaken our relationship with HaShem (mirrors perek 7).
Perek 12: More destruction, but a bit of hope, as HaShem promises to give us another chance, when He will return us to His Land.
DVAR TORAH (comprehensive; that’s a better word than long!):
Right at the start of perek 12, Yirmiyah asks HaShem ‘why do wicked people succeed.’ As the Metzudas David explains, Yirmiyah was troubled by the famous question entitled tzaddik vera lo, rasha veto lo; I.e. why do bad things happen to good people, and why do wicked people seem to have it easy in life. Surely the Torah clearly states in several places that if we are good, we will get material comforts, and if we behave otherwise, we will have curse plonked upon us. So why do good things happen to bad people and visa versa? The discussion is a long one, with several answers being offered. To briefly quote a few: a) If good people only got good and bad people only saw bad things happen to them, there would be little freewill [it would be too obvious that HaShem runs the world], b) it is a test of one’s bitachon and emunah c) sometimes, real major tzaddikim can be punished as an atonement for the sins of his (or her) generation. And see Rav Ezriel Tauber’s pirkei machshava for an in-depth discussion of this entire subject, and his answer. But I want to tackle a different aspect, and feel free to disagree with me on this one.
The gemarra in a few places (Kiddushin, Shabbes 30b [Rashi ‘mischok’]) tells us the answer to this painful question. The answer the gemarra cites is that we have a narrow view. Really, there are two worlds – this world and the next world. In order to pay off a wicked person for any good deeds he might have done, he gets a good life in this world. That way, he loses all his reward in the next world. And the opposite is true of a tzaddik; HaShem wants him to get a large reward in the next world, and so makes sure He cleanses the tzaddik of any sin he has done in this world by bringing upsets and difficulties on him. Great. But it is not so simple. Chazal tell us in several places that we do not actually know the answer to why a tzaddik suffers but a rasha ‘lives it up’ in this world. For example, the Mishna in Avos says (4:19) ‘Rav Yannai says: ‘we cannot grasp the tranquillity of wicked people and the suffering of tzaddikim.’’ And our perek 12 tells us that Yirmiyah was bothered by this question. In fact, the gemarra (Brachos 7a) tells us that Moshe Rabbeinu himself did not know the answer to this question, and it was one of the questions he asked HaShem on Har Sinai. How did the gemarra know the answer but the great Tanna’im, the great prophet Yirmiyah, and the greatest person to have ever lived (Moshe Rabeinu) all did not know the answer?
I think that the answer to this (latter) question is the follows. [Feel free to disagree with me, and I would love to hear alternative answers]. Rav Dessler explains that there are two types of question; one which is a genuine question (‘what time are you going out?’) and the other which is a statement/veiled criticism disguised as a question (‘do you always have to go out at that time?). [He is talking about Miriam’s criticism of Moshe in parshas Beha’aloscha]. Now, perhaps one can suggest that there are also two types of answers. One answer is an answer that genuinely answers the question, whilst the other is a tolerable answer (albeit an incorrect one on the deepest level) that merely makes the question less painful. The parable is of the difference between medicine and painkillers; the latter does not really deal with the root of the problem, it just makes the pain more bearable. For a precedent for this second type of answer, see the Raivid hilchos Teshuva 5:5, who answers the question about how HaShem can know the future but we can still have freewill, but he says that this is not the 100% true answer; it only answers the question on one level. (You have to read it for yourself to understand it fully). The same goes for any suggestion as to the reason for any given mitzvah; we don’t really know the reason for any mitzvah, but we can suggest what they are – though this is not a true answer in the depth of things.[1] In the words of the Rambam:[2] ‘even though all the laws of the Torah are decrees…it is worthy to look into them and anywhere you can give a reason then give one.’
So now to return to our subject. The truth is that the gemarra’s answer is an answer on one level, and does enough to provide a possible answer to the question. But the truth is that we do not know exactly how HaShem works, as Yeshaya told us (55:8) ‘My thoughts (re HaShem) are not your thoughts.’ And thus we do not know the true answer as to why good things happen to bad people and visa versa. This is what Rav Yannai is telling us, and this is why Moshe and Yirmiyah both were stumped by this question – because they were looking at the subject in its true depth, and did not know a true answer. And we should not be bothered by this fact that we might not have a true answer to this question; it should not bother us that we cannot understand every aspect of HaShem’s behaviour, because after all, we are only human and we do not have the faculties do understand everything, especially when it comes to understanding HaShem.
[2] Rambam hilchos Temurah 4:13 (end of sefer korbanos in the Yad Hachazakah). And he says the same in hilchos Me’ilah 8:8
