Part VII
The first parts showed how covert miracles reveal the foundations of emunah and that through these miracles Hashem allocates reward and punishment for our deeds. In addition there is a Divine hanhogo called mazel which, the Ramchal explains, is the handing out of different duties to each person according to his neshomoh's root without connection to the reward and punishment that he deserves or that he gets in this world.
The first parts of this important essay also quoted the Ramban who said that the performance of miracles establishes basic principles of the Torah. However, covert miracles, which are performed by Hashem all the time in arranging the world in an appropriate way in response to the way people act in doing mitzvos, praying and so on, are also a basic foundation of Torah. Nonetheless, the justice in the way the world is run is not always apparent.
There are also sources in Chazal that say that important parts of life are dependent on mazel and not on zchus. One point is that Hashem does not forgo sins so that our reward will be complete. To ignore any sin would cast a severe pall over one's reward in the World of Truth. Also, Hashem established two ways of conducting the world: for those who can meet the high standard He employs the middas hadin as He "originally" thought in making the world, and for those who cannot meet this standard he uses a middas horachamim that is more lenient.
In this part the Mashgiach zt'l discusses at length the situation of R' Chanina ben Dosa.
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VI: A Kav of Carob Was Sufficient For R' Chanina ben Dosa
"Rav Yehuda said in the name of Rav: `A bas kol emerges every day and announces, "The whole world is sustained by the merit of My son Chanina, and for My son Chanina a kav of carob is sufficient from erev Shabbos to erev Shabbos"'" (Taanis 24b).
What could be the reason for Hashem's not giving R' Chanina at least bread to eat? If you will answer that when he was born this was decreed upon him, this was his mazel, nonetheless Hashem should have helped such a tzaddik and made the yoke of his decreed fate easier. This should not have been done as a reward for him, but in order to extend his possibilities of Divine service and to supply him with the means to serve Hashem better, with simcha.
The explanation is that R' Chanina could undoubtedly do his particular avodas Hashem with simcha even if he only had a kav of carob to eat. Since that was enough for him, his avoda while eating only a bit of carob was much more elevated than it would be when he had bread to eat. It was not worthwhile for him to lose such a great reward in return for mere food.
It is now necessary to cite what the Toras Chaim writes (Chulin 86a), albeit somewhat at length:
"This is apparently amazing. Granted that R' Chanina ben Dosa's zchus was stored up for his Olom Haboh. All the same, if he was able to help the world by sustaining it, surely he could have also helped himself, and he could have been sustained, too, as one of those living in this world.
"It seems to me that we can explain this according to the Midrash Shir HaShirim Rabbah (parsha 2:14:3) on the posuk, "My beloved is to me a cluster of henna in the vineyards of Ein Gedi" (1:14): "`After these things the word of Hashem came to Avrom in a vision, saying' (Bereishis 15:1). R' Levi in the name of R' Chama said, There is [an indication of] pondering here. Who pondered? Avrohom pondered, and said before HaKodosh Boruch Hu: Ruler of the World! You made a covenant with Noach that You would not erase his descendants from the world. Then I came and my good deeds secured my own covenant, and then later my covenant superseded his descendants [when Avrohom killed the four kings, who were bnei Noach — Matnos Kehuna]. Perhaps another person will later come and do mitzvos and good deeds better than I have, and his covenant will defer mine? HaKodosh Boruch Hu said to him: `Fear not, Avrom, I am your shield' (Bereishis 15:1). I did not raise up guardians and tzaddikim from [among the children of] Noach, but I will raise up guardians and tzaddikim from [your children]. And not only that, but when your descendants sin and do bad deeds I will see who is important among them — the one who can say `Enough' to the middas hadin. I will take him as security for them, as is written, `a cluster' (eshkol) — a man (ish) that has everything (shehakol bo): Mikro, Mishnah, Talmud, Tosefta, and Aggodos. `Of henna' (hakofer) — who atones (mechapeir) for the sins of Yisroel. `In the vineyards of Ein Gedi' — I take him as security instead of them . . . "
A Tzaddik Dies Because of the Generation's Sins
"It needs to be explained why, if the whole congregation sinned, Hashem punishes the most important person among them, who did not sin at all. In addition, why does the Midrash write, "When your descendants sin and do bad deeds I will see who is important among them — the one who can say `Enough' to the middas hadin"? What does "saying Enough to the middas hadin" mean?
"HaKodosh Boruch Hu created His world with both middas hadin and middas horachamim, as is written, "in the day that Hashem Elokim made the earth and the heavens." (Bereishis 2:4). If the world had been created entirely through din, then when Yisroel sinned they would not continue to exist for even a short time. On the other hand, if Hashem created the world only through rachamim no one would ever have been punished. Hashem therefore combined them, so that if the whole world sinned each one of the middos would have its own part: half the world would belong to middas horachamim and half to middas hadin.
"Since the godol in his generation is above all of Yisroel in chassidus and wisdom, he is equivalent to the whole generation . . . therefore when `the enemies of Yisroel' [actually meaning the Jews themselves] have been condemned to be destroyed because Hashem is angry with them, it is necessary to give both the middas hadin and middas horachamim their respective, equal parts: the godol hador is one part, while the whole rest of Yisroel is the second . . . Actually it would have been proper for the middas hadin to take all of Yisroel as its part and to punish them. This indeed is justified, since they are the ones who sinned . . . but since at the time of Creation when Hashem combined din and rachamim, Hashem preceded middas horachamim to middas hadin . . . therefore middas horachamim is first to choose for itself the best part, and each time it takes all of Yisroel, which is the better and bigger part, so that the whole world can continue existing. [This conduct is part of the middas horachamim.]
"It seems that even in the generation of R' Chanina ben Dosa this was true. His generation should have been punished with hunger. However, Hashem divided that generation into two parts: R' Chanina, who was equal to the whole generation on one side, and on the second side the entire congregation of Yisroel. R' Chanina was chosen by middas hadin and was condemned to suffer hunger and be sustained meagerly, with a kav of carob from erev Shabbos to erev Shabbos, and all of Yisroel were chosen by middas horachamim . . . "
A Golden Leg that Descended to R' Chanina ben Dosa from Shomayim
The gemora later (Taanis, ibid.) relates that because of R' Chanina's tefillas to alleviate his family's suffering, an outstretched hand emerged from Shomayim and presented him with a golden table leg. His wife then saw in a dream that all the tzaddikim were eating from tables with three legs but her husband only had a table with two legs. The Maharsha writes (ibid.), "It seems this is alluding to what Chazal say . . . `The world stands on Torah, avoda, and gemilus chassodim' . . . and they gave her one leg, which is the reward for the tefillah — the avoda he was doing by always davening [to better the world's lot] and his accustomed davening that no misfortunes would come [in the future] . . . "
However, according to the Toras Chaim's lesson, it illuminates what HaRav Chaim of Volozhin (Ruach Chaim 1:2) explained:
" . . .`The whole world is sustained for the sake of My son Chanina [and the Shloh explained that "for the sake of" (bishul) means "through a way or conduit," as in shiv horabim, shiv hayochid] and for My son Chanina a kav of carob is enough' . . . It is gemilus chassodim to the world that by taking the tzaddik's portion, the whole world is fed. When R' Chanina later took the golden table leg, [Shomayim] hinted to him that he will later eat on a table with [only] two legs — Torah and avoda, which are two legs . . . but he will lack [the leg of] gemilus chassodim, since by already taking his part he will deduct from the abundance the masses receive to sustain themselves, since they were until now eating by means of his part and now by his eating regularly they would not have the means to receive anything for themselves . . . "
HaRav Dovid Kronglas zt'l, was the Rosh Mesivta and Menahel Ruchani in Yeshivas Ner Yisroel in Baltimore.
