Monthly Archives: January 2015

Rambam, who addressed the issue in light of the righteous Job’s suffering, asserts that we’re never to forget that God’s ways are essentially unfathomable, but he adds that not only will the wrongful who did well in this world suffer in the afterlife, but their descendants will suffer as well (though it’s not clear whether those descendants will suffer in this life or the afterlife). And he agrees that the righteous person’s few sins would cause his suffering (Moreh Nevuchim 3:23). But he maintains that whatever bad happens to the righteous only happens to them when they’re not dwelling on God’s presence, for no harm could come to them when they do (Moreh Nevuchim 3:51).

(c) 2014 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman
Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

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AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman’s translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here at a discount.

You can still purchase a copy of Rabbi Feldman’s translation of “The Gates of Repentance” here at a discount as well.

Rabbi Yaakov Feldman has also translated and commented upon “The Path of the Just” and “The Duties of the Heart” (Jason Aronson Publishers).

Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal”.

For all intents and purposes, R’ Yehudah HaLevi pooh-poohed the issue and offered that one should learn to accept the bad (i.e., the fact that he’s suffering despite his righteousness while someone who’s quite wrongful is doing well) — though he does indeed tell him to rest assured that his reward will come in the afterlife — and to chalk such unfairness and travail up to the extent of the Exile and the dispersion of our people (Kuzari 3:11).

(c) 2014 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

———————————————————-

AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman’s translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here at a discount.

You can still purchase a copy of Rabbi Feldman’s translation of “The Gates of Repentance” here at a discount as well.

Rabbi Yaakov Feldman has also translated and commented upon “The Path of the Just” and “The Duties of the Heart” (Jason Aronson Publishers).

Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal”.

Ramban wrote a lot about Theodicy. He agrees that the whole issue comes under the rubric of God’s own plans and agenda, but he likewise offers that the wrongful are rewarded in life for their few good deeds and the righteous are punished for their few sins and that both will get their just rewards and punishments in the Afterlife (Drasha al Divrei Kohelet and Hakdamah to Peirush l’Sefer Iyov). Elsewhere he ties one’s realities in life to his actions in a previous incarnation, and he cites Rambam’s opinion in Moreh Nevuchim to the affect that we really don’t realize how fortunate we are in life, despite tribulations and calamities in the face of our righteousness, and the fact that most of our troubles are brought to us by human beings (Torat HaAdam).

(c) 2014 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman
Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

———————————————————-

AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman’s translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here at a discount.

You can still purchase a copy of Rabbi Feldman’s translation of “The Gates of Repentance” here at a discount as well.

Rabbi Yaakov Feldman has also translated and commented upon “The Path of the Just” and “The Duties of the Heart” (Jason Aronson Publishers).

Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal”.

Bachya Ibn Pakudah says in Chovot HaLevovot (4:3) that there indeed often seems to be no justice in the world along these lines. but he adds that the issue is rooted in God’s ‘secret things” and plans (which compares with Ramchal’s perspective, as we’ll see). He agrees, though, with Sa’adia Gaon that sometimes the righteous suffer in return for the small number of wrongful things they’ve done or for them to serve as exemplars of faith, and like the Sifre he too underscores the idea that they’ll be rewarded in the Afterlife.  But he makes the point that sometimes the righteous suffer because they weren’t zealous enough to ask God to judge the wrongful of their own generation.

He then says that the wrongful often do well as a reward for the few good things they did in the world, because they will have righteous descendants or had had righteous ancestors, or so that they could repent and become righteous after all. And he offers the original insights that what appears to be good fortune for the wrongful may actually prove to be harmful for them down the line,  and that their succeeding would test others to see if those others would fall into the trap of trusting in undue reward.

(c) 2014 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

———————————————————-

AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman’s translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here at a discount.

You can still purchase a copy of Rabbi Feldman’s translation of “The Gates of Repentance” here at a discount as well.

Rabbi Yaakov Feldman has also translated and commented upon “The Path of the Just” and “The Duties of the Heart” (Jason Aronson Publishers).

Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal”.

Sa’adia Gaon offers in his Emunot V’De’ot (5:3) that some righteous people suffer in this life as a consequence of those few sins they had committed — thus underscoring the idea that there’s justice indeed and that no one can avoid it. And he says that sometimes the fully righteous suffer too, to be sure. But that’s only so that their faith might be tested and that their passing that test and affirming their faith would serve as a shining example to others. And also so that we’d come to know just why they were chosen by God (to serve Him especially closely and to lead the people).

(c) 2014 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman
Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

———————————————————-

AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman’s translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here at a discount.

You can still purchase a copy of Rabbi Feldman’s translation of “The Gates of Repentance” here at a discount as well.

Rabbi Yaakov Feldman has also translated and commented upon “The Path of the Just” and “The Duties of the Heart” (Jason Aronson Publishers).

Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal”.

The Yalkut Shimoni (Kohelet h. 9, 989) takes a rather singular (so-very-human) and shockingly mordant and unorthodox view of this and says that everything happens by chance, and that there’s no reason to say that the righteous should necessarily do well any more than there’s reason to say that the wrongful should necessarily do badly!

We’re sure the Midrash is only expressing (and lamenting) an often-felt but ill-advised perspective on things, but it’s still an astoundingly unexpected statement.

(c) 2014 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman
Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

———————————————————-

AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman’s translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here at a discount.

You can still purchase a copy of Rabbi Feldman’s translation of “The Gates of Repentance” here at a discount as well.

Rabbi Yaakov Feldman has also translated and commented upon “The Path of the Just” and “The Duties of the Heart” (Jason Aronson Publishers).

Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal”.