Shabbat Shalom: Parshat Ki Tetze (Deuteronomy 21:10-25:19)

By Shlomo Riskin  

Efrat, Israel - Why do such bad things often happen to good people? This is the age-old question plaguing every religionist, and it is an especially poignant question today in Israel after we have experienced three horrific years of suicide bombings, acts of wanton terrorism which have taken the lives and limbs of well over 1,000 innocent and righteous men, women and children.

Our Torah portion teaches: "When you happen to come upon a nest of birds, .. chicks or eggs, and the mother is sitting on the chicks or eggs, you must not take the mother along with her young. You must first chase away the mother, and only then may you take the young; then it will be good for you and you will live a long life" (Deuteronomy 22:6,7).

Tragically there have been many instances during this period of bus-bombings, drive-by shootings, hotel explosion on seder night, in which it seems as though the Almighty, as it were, has not fulfilled His own commandment; mothers together with their children were exploded into their eternal resting place, even grand-parents were forced to see their beloved grandchildren cruelly murdered in front of their eyes.

The Sages of the Talmud creatively expand upon this particular command in a way which touches upon -even exacerbates - our question: "If someone says (as he is praying the Amidah before the congregation) 'even unto a nest of birds does your compassion extend', he must be silenced " (Mishnah Berachot 5,3).

The Gemara explains: "What is the reason?... one sage says, 'it makes the traits of the Divine, matters of compassion, and they are in truth merely (arbitrary) decrees'" (BT. Berakhot 33b). Let us attempt to analyze this statement. To what is this Sage referring? He cannot be saying that our Biblical commandments are merely (arbitrary) decrees, because the Torah itself iterates and reiterates that the commands are "letov lakh, for your well-being!" In this case, for example, by not taking all of the birds for our own selfish gratification, by holding back from taking the chicks before the concerned eyes of a mother creature, we are training ourselves in the art of self-discipline, we are demonstrating sensitivity to the parental feelings, we are paving the way for filial respect from generation to generation.

Indeed, this Talmudic Sage is not referring to the commandments but rather to the ways of the Almighty, the "traits of G-d" which we perceive in this world which seem to be arbitrary decrees based upon the "fate of the draw," the happenstance of genes, the coincidence of circumstance. The Biblical commandment is telling us how to act for our own good; the addition to prayer on the basis of a particular interpretation of the commandment is saying that G-d runs this world on the basis of compassion, which is not true to our human experience.

In fact the Talmud records an incident in which a father asked his young son to climb a tree and bring him down a pigeon. The child climbed the tree, sent away the pigeon, and began to carry down the pigeon - thereby fulfilling two commandments (filial devotion and sending away the mother bird) which both promise long life. The child fell from the tree and died.

The Talmud continues to tell us that Rav Elisha Ben Abuyah saw this tragic incident, cried out, "there is no Judge and no judgement," and became a heretic. His grandson, Rabbi Yaakov, explained that had the Sage only understood a fundamental axiom of Jewish theology, he would have remained a great teacher in Israel. The axiom is, "there is no reward for the commandments in this world." This world is based upon freedom of choice, the free will of individuals - partners and not puppets - to choose the blessing or the curse, to perfect the world or destroy the world. Were the Almighty to reward the righteous and punish the wicked in this world, everyone who wished long life would live in accordance with the commandments, the Torah would be reduced to a "Kaspomat" (You put in filial observance, you take out long life), and our freedom of choice would be severely compromised.

Since we believe in the eternity of the soul; a life after life in another dimension of a world of the spirit, that is the dimension in which Divine reward and punishment takes place. Perhaps the extent to which we develop the light, the good, the spiritual aspect of our personalities and diminish the dark, evil and bestial aspect of our personalities - in this world, will prepare the extent of the spiritual existence we will enjoy in the dimension -to - come. But there is no reward for commandments in this world.

Given this theological perspective, then it is clear why we must silence the hazzan (precentor) who declares that G-d's compassion in this world extends "even unto a nest of pigeons." We can even dismiss the question "Why do bad things happen to good people?, as being irrelevant in this prior, ante-world in which "children, long life and material sustenance are dependent not on merits but rather on luck (mazal)" (B.T. Yevamot 28).

Indeed the only relevant question must be, "what ought good people do when bad things happen to them?" And Toby Weisel, a most beloved resident of Efrat, answers, "They must become even better people." In the words of Rav J.B. Soloveitchik, they must turn cruel fate into redemptive destiny. When Rav Moshe Ebstein realized that his beautiful babies were born deaf, he initiated the first Hebrew Institute for the Deaf. When the thirteen year old Koby Mandel was mutilated to death by a Palestinian terrorist, his mourning parents Rabbi Seth and Sherry organized Camp Koby for survivors of terrorist attacks. Are these super-human responses? Perhaps they are, but the Bible tells us that all who are created in G-d's image are all part - Divine. Apparently it is only when we realize our super-human potential that this world of tears and travail will be redeemed.

Shabbat Shalom.