Tzaddik V'Ra Lo

By Rabbi Joshua Flug

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I.

Introduction- This shiur outline will present some of the basic sources regarding suffering
and evil in the world. For further reading:
a. Kol Dodi Dofek by R. Yosef D. Soloveitchik
b. Out of the Whirlwind by R. Yosef D. Soloveitchik
c. Article in Machanayim by R. Yosef Goren on the different opinions in the Rishonim
regarding schar v'onesh.
d. Article in Machanayim by Dr. Yehoshua Horowitz on schar va'onesh in rabbinic
literature.

II.

We find a number of references to the question of tzadik v'ra lo in Tanach:

a. The entire book of Iyov is dedicated to this question. The source sheet contains a
small excerpt of God's answer {} and Iyov's acceptance of his response {}.
b. In Kohelet, this question is brought up. {}
c. In Yirmiyahu, this question is also brought up. {}

III.

Do we need to look for answers?

a. After the cheit ha'egel and the giving of the luchos shniyos, Moshe Rabbeinu asks to
see God's ways and kavod. {} The Gemara states that Moshe Rabbeinu was asking
about tzaddik v'ra lo. {}
b. The Gemara records that when Moshe Rabbeinu was on Har Sinai he inquired about
R. Akiva. When he was shown R. Akiva's death, Moshe Rabbeinu asked if this is the
reward for his Torah to which he received the response . {}
c. R. Pinchas Horowitz (1731-1805) suggests, al derech hadrush, that the response to
Moshe Rabbeinu was ' to allude to the fact that certain events can be
explained after the fact when put in the proper perspective. Those events, God was
able to show Moshe, i.e. . However, certain events cannot be
understood by humans or even angels such as the suffering of R. Akiva, thus
. {}
d. Rambam (1138-1204) writes that it's a mistake to think that we can understand things
the way God understands them:
i. Rambam writes that our inability to understand the ways of God doesn't give
us a right to have a on God for the way certain things are. We are
creatures with a limited cognitive capacity to understand certain ideas. {}
ii. Rambam writes that the whole purpose of Sefer Iyov is to convey the idea that
we can't look at life's events from our perspective and expect that God has the
same perspective. {}

e. Ramban (1194-1270) takes a slightly different approach than Rambam. He suggests

that although we don't have the ultimate answer to the question of tzaddik v'ra lo, we
have a responsibility to try to find answers that we can understand. Otherwise, it will
lead people to question their faith in God. This is why we do have certain answers in
Talmudic literature. {}
f. R. Yosef D. Soloveitchik (1903-1993) writes that we don't ask "why" when we have
questions about suffering and evil. Rather we ask what we should do in response.
We have to think prospectively rather than retrospectively. {}
i. The Gemara states that when is suffering, he should examine his actions. {}
Based on R. Soloveitchik's approach, we are not trying to figure what actions
caused the tragedy but what meaningful message we can find from the tragedy
that will improve our ways moving forward.
g. The next few sections will examine some of the explanations that are presented in
Talmudic sources and their commentaries.
IV.

Justice in the Afterlife

a. The Mishna states that when one performs a single mitzvah, his life is extended. {}
i. The Gemara presents that opinion of R. Ya'akov that there is no reward in this
world and that any mention of reward in the Torah is really referring to Olam
HaBah. {}
ii. The Gemara states that sometimes righteous people will suffer in this world so
that they don't have to receive any punishment in the next world. Sometimes
evil people will be rewarded in this world to offset any reward that they might
have deserved in Olam HaBah. {}
1. The Gemara has the same of the idea as one of the responses that God
offered Moshe Rabbeinu. A will not suffer in this world
because there is no need for punishment. A requires
some punishment and this will occur in this world etc. {}
b. Rambam follows the opinion of R. Ya'akov and explains that all of the rewards
mentioned in the Torah can refer to this world in that if we keep mitzvos, we can be
given the means to continue to perform mitzvos. This should not be seen as a reward
but rather as a support system. {}
c. Ramban follows the approach of the Gemara in explaining Iyov's suffering. He was
primarily a righteous person and he suffered so that he could receive his full reward
on Olam HaBah. Ramban writes that it is better for a person to suffer greatly in this
world and not to suffer at all in the next world. {}
d. Rambam's approach that people are given an easy life in this world to perform
mitzvos seems to contradict Ramban's approach that people are punished in this
world to avoid punishment in Olam HaBah. R. Moshe Chaim Luzzatto (1707-1746)

(without referencing Rambam or Ramban) writes that the two ideas are not
contradictory. Certain people are given a life's mission that involves receiving a lot
of and certain people are given a life's mission that involves receiving little .
The purpose of giving people different missions in life is to bring diversity to the
world. {}
V.

Looking at the Totality

a. One approach to the question of tzaddik v'ra lo is that suffering and evil are only bad
from the human perspective. If we look at it from God's perspective, there is no
question of tzaddik v'ra lo.
b. The Gemara states that there is a beracha called and the Gemara ties it
together with the statement of R. Akiva that one should be accustomed to saying that
everything that God does is for the best. {}
i. R. Yehuda Loew (Maharal c. 1520-1609) writes that the beracha of
acknowledges that fact that everything that God does is for the best and really
there is no bad in this world. In reality, we should recite the beracha of
even when something does not go our way. However, since the
beracha is recited from the perspective of the human experience, we can't
recite and therefore is recited. {}

VI.

Free Will and Tzaddik V'Ra Lo

a. The Gemara records a conversation between Roman philosophers and the
Chachamim in which the philosophers asked why God allows evil to prosper. The
Chachamim responded that the world has to run in the natural order and the people
who perpetrate evil will eventually get punished. {}
b. R. Yitzchak Abohab (14th century) suggests that the reason why there is no obvious
correlation between righteousness and a good life and vice versa is that it would
affect our free will. If every time we performed a mitzvah, we were rewarded, we
wouldn't really have a choice whether to perform mitzvos or aveiros. {}

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