This article was prepared from a number of the author's shmuessim published by his son and talmidim yblc'ta.
The following ma'amar is a combination of many different shmuessim that were said by Reb Dovid zt"l over the years as the mashgiach in Yeshivas Ner Yisroel in Baltimore. This ma'amar was edited and printed together with many other hitherto unpublished shmuessim in two volumes entitled Sichos Chochmah Umussar. This shmuess was chosen to translate and print because of its insight to our present day situation — in particular of the innumerable, seemingly difficult to understand, tragedies that have become commonplace.
The shmuess itself has quotations from seforim whose ideas are profound and consequently very difficult to understand, unless one is familiar with them. Therefore explanations and clarifications were added to the translations of the quotations themselves to explain various parts, even though those comments are not in the original Hebrew text as printed in the Sichos Chochmah Umussar.
Editor's Note: We would like to acknowledge the tremendous efforts that were invested in this important piece by so many, starting with the original translation work almost two years ago before the 25th yahrtzeit, and through the editing and review by many people since then.
Part III
III: Hakodosh Boruch Hu Does Not Forgo Our Sins So That our Reward will be Complete
The main goal behind Man's creation is for him to receive and enjoy a reward for what he has done. The reason for this — according to our understanding — is explained in the Ramchal's Da'as Tevunos (section 18):
"So that the conveying of goodness, pleasure and enjoyment [to man from Hashem] will be complete, Hashem in His sublime wisdom knew it to be proper that those who receive [goodness] should receive it through their own efforts. In that way they will deserve it and not be embarrassed by receiving it, as if they were receiving tzedokoh from another person. The Yerushalmi (Orla 1:3) wrote about this, `Someone who eats what is not his, meaning he has not earned it by his own labor, is embarrassed to look in [the giver's] face.'"
Only earned pleasure, that "belongs" to the person, will be truly part of him. Thus, only in this way is it possible to fully realize goodness and pleasure from Hashem in a person.
The Alter of Kelm, HaRav Simcha Zissel Broide zt'l, explained (Chochmah Umussar part 1, discourse 162) the following gemora (Bovo Kama 50a) which is relevant to our discussion:
"R' Chanina said: `Whoever says HaKodosh Boruch Hu forgoes punishing others, may his life be forgone too, as is written, "He is the Rock, His work is perfect, for all His ways are justice" (Devorim 32:4).'" In order that a person not arrive at the World of Truth with even a slight feeling that he is eating the bread of shame [by receiving undeserved goodness], Hashem does not forgo any sin. "All His ways are justice" — everything is done precisely according to the halocho, according to what a person merits. Any small forgoing of a sin, anything he has not earned justly, according to halocho — any amount of rachamim taken into consideration because of this forgoing — will cause him to lack complete goodness in Olom Haboh. He will be shamed in the Eternal World and will eat the bread of shame, and therefore HaKodosh Boruch Hu does not forgo any sin. It is for man's benefit, and is indeed the objective of the Creation, that man should reach the World of Truth and see his deeds weighed according to middas hadin.
Initially Hashem Intended to Create the World With Middas Hadin
In the beginning of parshas Bereishis, on the posuk, "In the beginning Elokim created," Rashi explains why the posuk does not read "Hashem created" instead of the name of Elokim (middas hadin). Rashi explains, according to Chazal, that initially Hashem considered creating man with middas hadin [sheim Elokim] but He saw that man would not survive if that was done; so He first used middas horachamim [sheim Hashem] and afterwards combined it with middas hadin. That is what the posuk means by saying, "These are the generations of the heaven and of the earth when they were created, in the day that Hashem Elokim made the earth and the heavens" (Bereishis 2:4). The depth of Chazal's teaching is revealed to us by the Shloh HaKodosh (Torah Shebichsav, parshas Bereishis), and because of the significant lessons we can infer from it I will quote, although it is somewhat lengthy, what he writes on the above Chazal quoted by Rashi:
"This is puzzling. What do we care about what happened before? Why should we have to mention what once was but later was annulled? In addition, can it be that Hashem, chas vesholom, changed His mind? `Hashem is not a man . . . that He should repent' (Bamidbar 23:19).
"The derech hapeshat — the simple way — to understand this, is to understand that the posuk does not mean that Hashem changed His mind, cholila. Hashem is the Knowledge, the Knower, and What is known (HaDaas, HaYodei'a, VeHaYodu'a). Before Him all is revealed. Not only what emerges into reality is known to Him, but both what emerges and what does not emerge. From all possible sides, all the knowledge of the universe is equally known to him. Hashem, however, decided what reality would be proper according to the benefit that can be derived. This is what is meant by `Hashem initially thought like this and afterwards did like this' . . .
"However, listen to me and your nefesh will be revived. I want you to know that what Hashem initially considered doing, still exists. I will start by citing what Chazal (Yevomos 121b) wrote: that HaKodosh Boruch Hu is scrupulous with tzaddikim more than with others. He is scrupulous with them [and punishes them] when their deeds are merely a hairsbreadth to the improper side. Whoever is closer to the King of Kings, HaKodosh Boruch Hu, needs to be more refined, holy and pure. You cannot compare someone who enters the king's palace to someone who touches the king's feet. Likewise, you cannot compare someone who touches the king's feet to someone who touches the king's body. There are many levels, one above the other, in which a person who wants to ascend higher [to the next level] must always be more careful and refined, so that he should not have any blemishes, not even the smallest . . .
"Therefore bnei aliya [those who ascend in Torah and yiras Shomayim] are judged most strictly, more than most of the world, whose level is lower than theirs . . . and this is what the Torah means by writing, `In the beginning Elokim created' — and Chazal's explanation of that posuk, that `initially Hashem considered creating the world with middas hadin,' does not mean that Hashem in the beginning thought one way and then, chas vesholom, changed His mind. `Initially' defines what `In the beginning' means . . . The Torah is [actually] saying that `in the beginning,' means `regarding those bnei aliya' . . . for them the middas hadin is scrupulous even to a hairsbreadth.
"But those who are far from this [level] . . . about them Chazal hint when they write, `He saw that the world cannot survive . . . ' For these people's sake Hashem joined the middas hadin with the middas horachamim. This is what is meant by, `He saw that the world cannot survive . . . ' Most of the world cannot survive when there is an exacting middas hadin, because their level is so remote from the Source of All Sources. For them, therefore, HaKodosh Boruch Hu combined the middas hadin with the middas horachamim . . . "
Let us add somewhat of an explanation to the holy words of the Shloh. "Initially considered" is the aim of what will be created — tachlis hama'aseh. This can be compared to a person who decided to build a house for himself. Putting up the house is the aim of what he is doing, i.e., that is what he wants to complete, his initial plan. After he decides what his final plan is, he must think about how to carry out the job of building the house, that is, in which way he can arrive at the objective: putting up the house.
This example can be used to explain Chazal's statement. "Initially Hashem considered" means that the objective of creating this world was to create it with middas hadin, to create a world conducted with extreme scrupulousness, wherein nothing would be granted to man except what he justly deserves according to din. For every aveira man committed he would be dealt with in exactly the appropriate way to compensate for what that particular aveira destroyed. However, "He saw that the world could not survive" — most people living in the world could not survive under such an exacting conduct of middas hadin, and therefore "He used middas rachamim and combined it with middas hadin" — meaning, it was done for those who could not bear being in a world of pure middas hadin; for them He joined middas horachamim and din (see Sifsei Chachomim at the beginning of Bereishis). The objective of what Hashem did, what "He initially considered," remains, and will be fulfilled for those individuals who have the strength and piety to live in a world run by a strict middas hadin, according to the awesome exactitude of justice.
The Sforno explains the posuk said by Yaakov Ovinu, "And Hashem shall be my Elokim" (Bereishis 28:21) as follows: "I hereby accept upon myself that from now on Hashem, Who has mercy, shall be my Elokim and can deal with me according to the middas hadin."
Olom Haboh For those Who Are Zoche According to Middas Hadin
We see by now that in the world of reward there are two separate systems of reward, for two types of ovdei Hashem: although someone who serves the Creator of the Universe his whole life in the olom hama'aseh through the mixture of middas horachamim with middas hadin will surely be zoche to Gan Eden and receive his full reward, the greater tzaddik who, in Olom Hazeh, could withstand an elevated avodas Hashem, an avoda meeting the criteria of "Hashem initially considered," with an exacting middas hadin without adding any middas horachamim, will be on an infinitely higher level.
We can define the reward of these two types of ovdei Hashem like this: what is considered toil and effort for the person serving Hashem through the combination of middas horachamim with middas hadin remains "bread of shame" in comparison with the reward of an oveid Hashem who receives reward only through middas hadin. (See also the discourse Li Nokom Veshileim, section 3-4.)
End of Part III
HaRav Dovid Kronglas zt'l, whose yahrtzeit is on 11 Teves, (5733), was the Rosh Mesivta and Menahel Ruchani in Yeshivas Ner Yisroel in Baltimore for twenty- five years.
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