We continue in the Bet Halevi, who's teaching us this important principle that we should always understand that the cause for everything is God's original Gezera, and the seeming cause down here comes after the fact, in order to fulfill that Gezera. Another example that Bet Halevi brings down is that we should not say, “You know why we went down to Mitzrayim? It was all because Yaakov Avinu made that extra jacket for Yosef that caused the jealousy…that's why the brothers went down to Mitzrayim.”
It can't be, he says, because we know there was a Gezera from the Brit ben HaBetarim that our forefathers would be exiled in Mitzrayim. It was just a question of how it would happen. It was because of the need for the brothers to go down to Mitzrayim. And if anything, Hashem wanted it to be that way, so that we would have a Jewish viceroy there to set things up for us. That’s why it happened that way. So Hashem's Gezera caused Yaakov Avinu to make the coat, which caused the jealousy, which caused them to go down to Mitzrayim.
Of course, this of doesn't absolve us from doing what's right. We can't mistreat people and say everything works out in the end. But the truth is, notwithstanding that Hashem will reward or punish us for what happens on the way, ultimately, what is going to happen is going to happen.
There is a cute joke about when Hashem was giving out the jobs to all the different angels. When it came time to give out the job of being the angel of death, no angel wanted that job- who wants to be the most hated angel, the angel of death?
So God said, “Don't worry, you can take the job. No one's ever going to blame you. They'll blame pneumonia, they'll blame the doctor, they'll blame everything around it, but no one's ever going to blame you.”
And that's true. We blame things, without realizing that a Gezera is a Gezera.
Again, this does not absolve us from doing everything we're supposed to do. But after we do everything we're supposed to do, we have to understand that it's God's decree that makes it happen. On this concept, Rav Yaakov Kaminetsky, in his sefer Emet L’Yaakov, explains why, in the beginning of Parashat Chaye Sara, when it says Sara lived 127 years, it ends off with, These are the years of Sara, which seems superfluous. If she lived to 127, obviously these are her years. Rav Kaminetsky answers based on the Midrash that says that Sara died because she heard about Akedat Yitzhak, when Avraham nearly slaughtered her only son. One might think that had it not been for the Akeda, she would've lived a longer life. That's why the Torah emphasizes that these are Sara’s years. It was decreed that she would live for 127 years and the news of Akeda was just the tool that Hashem used to bring about her death at that age.
(This, according to some, was one of Avraham Avinu's 10 tests- How would he react after Sara’s death, which came about because of the Akeda?)
So she was supposed to die at that time. But Hashem allows the manner in which people die to further test us on how we react and how our Emunah holds up.
That is not to say that anything that happens is not supposed to happen.
There's a tragic story that happened to the family of Rav Michel Feinstein, who was the son-in-law of the Brisker Rav, and a prominent Rav in Bnei Brak. His daughter suffered from very serious asthma. She once experienced an especially severe attack, but her parents couldn't find the medical device they used to treat her. Unfortunately, she died.
Then, immediately afterwards, the device was found. The family was plagued by guilt, thinking that had they found the device just a moment sooner, the girl's life would've been saved. But a great rabbi explained that hishtadlut works only forwards, not backwards. Once something happened, we must accept it as Hashem's will, which would've been fulfilled regardless of anything we would've done.
In the present, and looking ahead to the future, we must do everything we can to care for ourselves and our families. But after the fact, as long as one acted responsibly, we cannot feel guilty about what happened.
We must believe that the outcome was decreed by Hashem, and that there was nothing anyone could have done to prevent this outcome. This is extremely, extremely important
Because it helps stop regret. There's a
Chazal that says, The wicked are full of regret.
What does that mean? It sounds like a good thing, like they sin and they regret it.
But another explanation is that wicked people are full of regret for their lives. If I would've done this, if
I would've done that, I should've done that and I could've done that….they're always looking back. That's a wicked approach to life. Righteous people don't regret what happened. They know that what happened was supposed to happen. It's told that in the times of the Bet Halevi a certain man in Brisk became fabulously wealthy from selling lumber. He invested everything in a forest and earned a large fortune. But one day, a fire broke out and destroyed the forest and his investment. Whenever he walked near that forest, after that, he would say, “Oh, forest, I invested so much time and effort in you. That was such a mistake.”
The Bet Halevi once heard this man's complaint and said to him, “You misunderstood. It's not because you invested in the forest that you lost your fortune. Rather, Hashem decided your fortune should be lost, and He arranged that it would happen that way.”
This attitude can take away a lot of pain and a lot of guilt- if we look at things in this proper way.
Have a wonderful day.