Last Friday, we quoted a principle based on pasuk from the Torah, that tells about a false prophet, a Navi Sheker. G-d says the reason for the false prophet is to test us.
This is an important principle in our religion. G-d tells us that one third of our religion is tests. We are here in this world to learn Torah, to do mitzvot and to be tested.
That is why there must always be a balance.
When we had prophets, we had false prophets as well. In the times when we had miracles, we also had black magic and witchcraft. The principle is זה לעמת זה עשה אלקים- G-d always makes “this” opposite “this”. There must always be a balance. We always must be able to choose. Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky explains that when Rambam says that black magic is nonsense, it means that today black magic is nonsense, because as the powers of holiness have become weaker, the powers of contamination have become weaker as well.
That is why in the times of the second Bet Hamikdash, when we no longer had prophecy, there was no longer a Yetzer Hara for Avodah Zara- idolatry.
That whole force was gone. It was there only to counterbalance the holiness. During the era of the second Bet HaMikdash, the were great Tanaim- great rabbis, with great, divine wisdom, so they a choice on the other side. They had philosophy- another kind of wisdom, and the people had to choose between the two. As the generations go down, there will always be a balance
The Bet Halevi asks why we do not see open miracles today. His answer is that if we were to see open miracles, our freedom of choice would be shattered.
In the past, open miracles didn’t shatter their freedom of choice.
G-d always wants us to have freedom of choice.
That is how the world is set up. That is the opening of Parashat Re’eh
God says Behold, I’m placing in front of you blessings and curses…
It is up to you to decide if you want to be blessed or cursed. It is a fundamental principle of our religion- freedom of choice. We can always choose. Rabbi Moshe Feinstein mentions this principle as well, in his sefer Kol Ram on Parashat Veyera (22:20). After the miracle of Sarah having a child in old age, it says
וַיְהִ֗י אַחֲרֵי֙ הַדְּבָרִ֣ים הָאֵ֔לֶּה וַיֻּגַּ֥ד לְאַבְרָהָ֖ם לֵאמֹ֑ר הִ֠נֵּה יָלְדָ֨ה מִלְכָּ֥ה גַם־הִ֛וא בָּנִ֖ים לְנָח֥וֹר אָחִֽיךָ׃
Milkah also had children, to your brother Nahor
Milkah was Sara’s sister, and she was also very old, as was Nahor.
What’s going on here?
Why did this miracle happen?
Rav Moshe says that Hashem wants us to have Emunah that we have worked on our own. Not because of miracles. If a person only does things because of miracles, then when the miracles cease, he becomes a heretic.
It is like we said from the Bet HaLevi, when they saw miracles back then, their Emunah wast due to the miracles. Their Emunah stood on its own. The miracles did not impact them. But because miracles would certainly impact us, we don’t get to see them.
The Bet HaLevi (and the Nefesh Haim) expresses this beautifully when discussing Rav Hanina ben Dosa, who said, after his daughter accidentally lit the wicks in vinegar, “the One who that said oil will light , will say that vinegar will light” and it did.
He was unfazed by the vinegar lighting. To him, vinegar was the same as oil. It is all Hashem. En Od Milevado. That is why he was able to perform miracles.
G-d doesn’t perform these miracles for us because it would be like showing a student the answers to the test. It is cheating. The proctor cannot give you the answers when you take the regents. But what if the proctor saw that the student had all the answers already, why not just give him the answer key to fill in? He already had the answers.
So, if after Avraham and Sara has a child, people started to believe in Hashem solely because of the miracle, they would not have freedom of choice. Therefore, Milkah had a child too. This way, it would seem less like a miracle, and thus level the playing field.
We are here to be tested. It is very important point.
When things happen that people don’t understand, they think G-d’s punishing them, but that’s not necessarily the case. G-d just might be testing them.
Many years ago, I recall someone speaking with Hacham Yosef Harary- Raful, Shlita, the Rosh Yeshiva of Ateret Torah, about an issue. The person thought he was being punished.
This is not a punishment, the Rabbi replied, It is a test.
If you want to get great things, for example, if you want to become a doctor, or a lawyer, you have to pass your tests. Even if you want a driver’s license, you have to pass your test.
Life has tests. Our biggest tests are the tests of Emunah. And they occur not once, or twice or even three times. Avraham Avinu was tested ten times. It is throughout the Torah. G-d tests people.
In Moreh Nevuchim, Rambam says after G-d gave the first two commandments to the Jewish people, they got so scared that they died and had to be revived. They told Moshe that they were too afraid to hear from G-d. Moshe told them that G-s did this to “lift you up,” according to Rashi.
But Rambam has a different explanation: G-d did this at Har Sinai because G-d would test us in the future, and without have strong Emunah we could not pass our tests. That is why we had to hear G-d’s voice.
We still have G-d’s words, Anochi Hashem Elokecha, in us. That is what protects us through the tests of life.
This concept works the opposite way as well. G-d has to equalize things. There is so much heresy and atheism today, that there is now suddenly a burst of Emunah out there.
The Bet HaLevi wrote an essay on Bitachon, which was hidden for 100 years! There is a whole story of how it finally got to America. The Bet HaLevi lived in Brisk, in Europe. His youngest son moved to America and he brought the manuscript with him, but it stayed in manuscript form until only in the late 1980s, was it finally printed in Hebrew. Baruch HaShem, it is now available for the English-speaking public, published by Artscroll
This is Hashem’s way of leveling the playing field. There is a lot of heresy out there, and G-d has to balance it out. That is why there is a surge of Emunah. Life is a test, and G-d does not put us in a test without given us the proper ammunition.
Therefore, I suggest that you go out and buy the book, either in a store by clicking on the link below.
https://www.artscroll.com/Books/9781422627211.html
Have a wonderful day.