Ramchal

(We’d ordinarily offer citations from the Zohar and Ari about the subject at this point, put since we’re still researching that, we’ll now cite Ramchal’s own remarks about Theodicy in other works as well as in Klach.)

Ramchal agrees that the righteous suffer for the few sins they’d have committed and that they’ll be rewarded in the Afterlife, he nonetheless doesn’t take the suffering as instances of Divine retribution but rather as “remedies” for the harm they’d done to themselves (Derech Hashem 2:2:5). In fact, Ramchal very often avoids the whole notion of wrath or retribution, but that’s a subject unto itself.

He also offers that the righteous sometimes suffer for the sake of others of their generation and so as to bring about the ultimate Tikkun in the future, for which they are to be rewarded in the Afterlife (Ibid. 2:3:8, also see Da’at Tevunot 166 for reference to the seeming unfairness that will be proven not to be so after the great Tikkun).

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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).

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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).

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Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

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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

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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.

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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
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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

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

The point that will made over and over again later on that the righteous will get their just reward in the Afterlife is first stated in the Sifre (53) [28].

The Babylonian Talmud (Berachot 7a) argues that righteous people who suffer do so because their parents weren’t righteous, so they (the righteous children) pay that price — when the children have followed their parents’ examples to one degree or another, that is; and that the wrongful who do well do so because their parents were righteous, so they (the wrongful children) reap that benefit — when they too have followed their parents’ examples to one degree or another. As such its point is that things are not always what they appear to be, and that while some may seem to be righteous or wrongful, they aren’t often or fully so, and that there are other factors to take into account.

Elsewhere the Babylonian Talmud (Shabbat 30b) agrees with the Sifre’s reference to the reward in the Afterlife but adds that one would in fact prefer his punishment in this world to the one he’d otherwise have to suffer in the Afterlife, so one shouldn’t raise the issue of how “unfair” suffering can be.

And finally it indicates (Ta’anit 11a) that point of the matter is that the righteous suffer in the world because of the minor sins they’d have committed (though they’ll be rewarded accordingly in the Afterlife), and the wrongful are rewarded in the world because of the few good things they did (though they’ll be punished accordingly in the Afterlife). This doesn’t seem to explain exceptional “underserved” this-world reward or punishment, but perhaps the case can be made that it would seem to imply that some Afterlife reward or punishment will be exceptional too.

Footnotes:

[1]       What’s interesting there is the characterization of the people who point out that the righteous often suffer in this world as people who “fold their arms (over their chest)” in underserved satisfaction, thinking they’ve made a profound and original point, when they’ve not.

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

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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 issue was first raised in Tanach, where Kohelet said, “I have noticed everything in the days of my vanity (including the fact that) there can be a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and a wicked man who lives long in his wickedness.” (Ecclesiastes 7:15) [1],

And it’s discussed at great length and in depth in the Talmudic and the medieval literature, among the pre-modern and modern traditionalists, as well in the Zohar, the writings of the Ari, and in various places in Ramchal’s works, as we’ll see.

Note:

[1]       Also see 8:14 there and Habakkuk 1:13.

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

———————————————————-

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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”.

Not only is that so, but in fact, the whole vexing issue of why “a righteous person sometimes does well” while at other times “a righteous person suffers” derives from this, too, Ramchal points out here.

This seeming contradiction of God’s inherent goodness and justice is discussed widely and is termed “Theodicy”. We’ll present traditional Jewish responses to it, Kabbalistic, and then Ramchal’s own.

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

———————————————————-

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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”.