Rabbi's Blog

Dear OZ family,

The end of this week’s Parsha points to a difference between Israel and Egypt. The stress in this difference is an agricultural one. In Egypt, there is an automatic watering of plants from the Nile, but requires human agency in diverting the water to where it is needed. Israel, in contrast, receives water from the heavens, which does not guarantee an ongoing supply, but waters the crops directly (Devarim 11:10-11). This is considered a preferable situation if we follow what appears right afterwards in the Parsha:    If you obey the commandments that I enjoin upon you this day, loving the Lord your God and serving Him with all your heart and soul, I will grant the rain for your land in season, the early rain and the late rain (Devarim 11:13-14). These are the familiar words at the beginning of the second Parsha of Kriyat Shema, and sets the foundation for the Torah’s system of reward and punishment.

The problem is that it doesn’t always work that way. The Midrash says that Achav, who turned Israel into a polytheistic country together with his Zidonite wife, Jezebel, taunted the prophets of his day with this very verse. He incorporated numerous idolatrous cults into the mainstream of observance in the Northern kingdom, yet enjoyed incredible prosperity, and extended the borders of Israel in every direction. God sent a prophet to Achav to explain how he was misreading the Torah. That prophet was Eliyahu, who explained that God does not reward and punish on the spot for our behavior. That would veritably remove our free will to act. Rather, God sometimes exhibits great patience with sinners for a reason not known to mortals (See Yirmiyahu 12:1-3). With our limited understanding, we lift up our eyes to the mountains, the clouds, or the sky from where the rains come, and we hold our hands out before God to receive Divine blessings. Herein is the real contrast with Egypt. The watering of our crops does not happen automatically on auto pilot by a great river. The heavens are the long term judges over our fulfillment of God’s word, as Achav came to learn. (See Melachim Aleph chapter 18).

Just recompense for sinners and saints poses a great problem to believers. Yirmiyahu wanted an answer to his dilemma of why sinners are so successful. Iyov’s three friends were sure that everyone receives exactly what they deserve from God. That is the moral philosophy of the lazy person, and is certainly a violation of the Torah to share with one who suffers. Iyov’s friends were taught that they did not speak well of God when they blamed all of Iyov’s suffering on his own wrongdoing (See Iyov chapter 42). The believer must grapple with evil, but the non-believer must grapple with everything else. Every believer may have some doubts at times. Doubt is a lonely word that should be bolstered by the fact that faith is its twin sibling. Poverty exists and so does charity. Suffering exists and so does chesed. The land that looks to the heavens for its rain, sometimes does not receive any, but is assured that it is a land that God looks after, and on which He always keeps His eye (Devarim 11:12). May we all keep our eyes open to the pain of others and deserve God’s good graces.

Be well. Stay healthy.  Be excellent.

Rabbi Allen Schwartz

Rabbi Allen Schwartz

Congregation Ohab Zedek

118 West 95^th Street | New York, NY  10025-6604

Phone 212.749-5150, ext 200 | Fax 212.663-3635

E-mail ras@ozny.org

Website:  www.ozny.org