Gemara, Bava Batra (Bava Batra tractate), daf tet-vav (page sixteen) of the masechet (tractate). Refuah shelemah, Shimon ben Simchah (Shimon son of Simchah): “El na refa na lo” (Please, God, heal him, please), “betoch she’ar cholei amo Yisrael” (among the other ill of Israel). Refuah shelemah, Esther bat Sarah Simchah (Esther daughter of Sarah Simchah); zera chayah vekayamah (living and enduring offspring), hatzlachah (success) veravachah (and prosperity), beyirat Shamayim (fear of Heaven), and besekhel tov (with good judgment), for Moshe ben Sarah Simchah (Moshe son of Sarah Simchah). Yizkeh lechupato bekarov (may he merit his wedding soon), amen.
We begin thirteen lines from the wide line on daf tet-vav. We start with: “Bechol zot lo chata Iyov (Job) bisfatav” (In all this, Job did not sin with his lips). With all that Iyov went through, he never complained verbally. “Amar Rava” (Rava said): “bisfatav lo chata, belibo chata” (He did not sin with his lips, but sinned in his heart). He might not have complained verbally, but he did complain in his heart.
“Mai ka’amar?” What did he say? “Eretz nitnah beyad rasha (wicked people), penei shofteha yechaseh, im lo, efo, mi hu” (The earth is given into the hand of the wicked; he covers the faces of its judges; if not, who is it?). He was saying that God put the world in the hands of the resha’im (wicked people), that there is no judgment, and asking who is bringing all this trouble to the tzaddikim? Basically, he is questioning why tzaddikim should suffer—why righteous tzaddikim should suffer—while wicked people prosper. It must be that there is no judgment; it is just random.
“Amar Rava: bikesh Iyov lahafokh ke’arah al piha” (Job sought to turn the bowl upside down), as we learned yesterday: he wanted to turn the ke’arah, the bowl, upside down. That means he was denying hashgachah pratit. “Amar leh Abaye: lo diber Iyov ela keneged haSatan (the Satan)” (Job spoke only against the Satan). No, he was referring to when he said “the rasha”; he was saying that it was the Satan’s fault, and that the Satan brings the yisurin, the suffering, to the tzaddik. It is not Hashem—in the sense that the Satan was mekaterg (accusing).
“Ketannai” (as in a tannaitic dispute): “Eretz nitnah beyad rasha.” What did he mean? “Rabbi Eliezer omer” (Rabbi Eliezer says): “bikesh Iyov lahafokh ke’arah al piha,” which means that, bottom line, he was mecharef umegadef. “Amar lo” (He said to him), “Rabbi Yehoshua: lo diber Iyov ela kelapei Satan” (Job spoke only against Satan). No, he was just saying that the Satan was mekaterg, and that is why the yisurin come upon the tzaddikim.
“Al da’atcha” (according to your view), also a pasuk: “Ki lo ersha ve’ein miyadcha matzil” (Not wicked; no one can save me), which means, “I have no choice. You created me, and therefore, if I am a rasha, the rasha has no choice but to be a rasha.” He says nobody can be saved from their fate. So now he is kofer in bechirah chofshit.
“Amar Rava: bikesh Iyov liftor et kol ha’olam kulo min hadin” (Job sought universal exemption from judgment). He basically wanted to exonerate everybody from judgment by saying what? “Amar lefanav” (He said before Him): “Ribono shel Olam” (Master of the universe), “barata shor.” You created an ox, and it is what it is: “parosotav sedukot,” it has split hooves. “Barata chamor” (You created a donkey), “parosotav kelutot,” its hooves are closed. That means that is what it is; you cannot change that. These are certain traits or biological features. Similarly, “barata Gan Eden, barata Gehinom” (You created the two places). “Barata tzaddikim, barata resha’im” (You created righteous and wicked people), which means that if You created tzaddikim and resha’im, it is all predetermined, predestined, so You cannot blame anybody.
“Mi me’akev al yadecha?” (Who can thwart Your will?) Therefore, basically, you cannot blame sinners for sinning because they are considered anus (one compelled). It is not their fault. That was your gezerah. That is a problem: he is kofer in free will.
“Umai ahadaru leh chavrei de-Iyov?” (What did Job’s friends answer?) “Af atah tafer yir’ah” (You would undermine fear), which means that when people hear what you have to say, they will be lenient; they will not have yirat Shamayim (fear of Heaven), because what will they say? It is determined, predetermined. “Vetigra sichah lifnei El,” and you are going to cause them to stop praying, because what is there to pray for? Everything is determined already from the beginning, so there is no need to pray.
“Bara HaKadosh Baruch Hu yetzer hara (evil inclination)” (Hashem created the evil inclination). It is true, Iyov: Hashem did create the yetzer hara. “Bara lo Torah tavlin”; Hashem also created the antidote. That means, do not come along and say that you do not have free will. You definitely have free will. You have the Torah; the Torah can be the vaccine against the yetzer hara. Therefore, you cannot say that everything is predetermined. You definitely do have a way out to overcome your challenges.
“Darash Rava” (Rava expounded): “mai dechtiv” (what is written?), “birkat oved alai tavo” (May the lost one’s blessing come) “velev almanah arnin” (And may a widow’s heart rejoice). These are berachot, blessings, that Iyov was saying. What is “birkat oved alai tavo”? The blessing of the lost one will come to me. “Melamed shehayah gozel sadeh miyetomim, the orphans, umashbichah umachzirah lahen” (He stole, improved, and returned orphans’ fields). Iyov did something good. He would take the fields from the yetomim, stealing them, enhance them, and then return them to the yetomim. As a result, the yetomim blessed him. I guess the yetomim were happy, because they knew that if Iyov took the field, he was not taking it permanently; he was taking it only to enhance it, and then he would return it. So he says he has the berachot of the yetomim.
“Velev almanah arnin” (And may widows’ hearts rejoice). He caused the hearts of the widows to rejoice. “Dechol heicha dehavah almanah dela havu nasvei lah” (Whenever a widow had no suitors). The almanot, the widows, were having a hard time getting remarried. So what did he do? “Hava azil shadei shemeih alah” (He placed his name beside her). He would put his name next to the almanah to make it seem as if he was related to her. That would give her status, and people would say, “Oh, she is related to Iyov, a chashuv family,” and they would marry her. So he would make the almanot happy. “Vehavu atu nasvu lah” (And they came to marry her), “nasvei lah” (they would marry her).
Then he says, “Lu shakol yishakel ka’asi vehayiti bemoznayim yis’u yachad” (Weigh my suffering against my sins). What is he saying here? If they took my suffering, my yisurin, and put it on a scale, with the avonot (sins) on the other side, you would see that I really do not deserve this.
“Amar Rava: afra lefumeih de-Iyov.” Let Iyov’s mouth be filled with dirt! The way he talks like this! “Chavruta kelapei shemaya?” What, is HaKadosh Baruch Hu your friend? That is how you talk to your business partner when you are trying to divide the profits: “Okay, let’s measure and see how much you take and how much I take.” He is talking to HaKadosh Baruch Hu as if to say, “Let’s see who is right! Put my aveirot (transgressions) on one side of the scale, put my yisurin on the other, and we’ll see!” So they say, “That is how you are talking to HaKadosh Baruch Hu, as if he is your friend? You are giving him an ultimatum?”
“Lu yesh beineinu mochi’ach yashet yado al sheneinu” (If an arbiter stood between us). That means, how are we going to find somebody who could prove who is right—me or God? “Amar Rava: afra lefumeih de-Iyov.” “Kelum yesh eved shemochi’ach et rabbo?” Do you have a servant who comes along and takes his master to judgment? It is as if he is saying to God, “Let’s see who can judge us, who is right in this equation!”
“Berit karati le’einai umah etbonen al betulah” (I covenanted not to gaze). He says, “I was careful with shemirat einayim, and I never looked at a betulah (virgin),” which means he did not look at an eshet ish (married woman); he did not even look at a betulah. “Amar Rava,” you think you are so great? “Afra lefumeih de-Iyov.” It sounds like a good thing! But he said, “No. Ihu be’achranyata” (in other respects). It is true, he did not look at other women. “Avraham (Abraham) afilu bedideih lo istakel.” Avraham did not even look at his own wife! “Dechtiv” (as it is written): “Hineh na yadati ki ishah yefat mareh at.” And when he came down to Egypt, he says, “Now I realize that you’re a very pretty lady. Now I realize.” “Mikhlal dime’ikara lo havah yada lah” (He had not known her before). Right? The fact that he had seen that—“Hineh na yadati.” So you see, what do you think, you are so great, Iyov? Avraham is even better! You did not look at others; he did not even look at his own wife.
“I don’t know why that makes him bad. He took it out just because he didn’t make it to Avraham’s level?” “Yeah, I mean...” “How come it leads to ‘afra lefumeih de-Iyov’?” “Yeah, I don’t, right! I would think, ‘afra lefumeih,’ why ‘afra lefumeih’? What, it’s not that bad a thing he said! It’s not on the level of Avraham!” Maharsha says about this... Not a bad thing! If a guy can say he did not look at an eshet ish, he did not look at a betulah, it is “berit karati le’einai”—it is a big item! Maharsha says they were... And we said recently on the Vayema’en recording, we quoted this pasuk, “Berit karati le’einai.” So we said, who has really mekayeim (fulfilled) this? Avraham has mekayeim this even more than Iyov, as we just saw in the Gemara. That is why HaRav Chida (Rabbi Chida) writes, it says, “VaHashem berach et Avraham bakol” (And God blessed Abraham with everything). Why did Hashem berach et Avraham bakol? “Bakol” (with everything), rashei tevot (initial letters), “berit karati le’einai” (I covenanted with my eyes). Hashem blessed him with everything because “berit karati le’einai”: he had shemirat einayim.
The question, of course, they ask is: How did Avraham marry Sarah without seeing her? The Gemara in Kiddushin (Kiddushin tractate), on daf mem alef (page forty-one): “Ad sheyir’ennah” (until he sees her). “Assur lekadesh ishah ad sheyir’ennah” (One may not betroth a woman until he sees her). Avraham followed the whole Torah before it was given, and all of a sudden he says, “Hineh na yadati.” So how do we square that off? One of the answers I saw was: What is the reason you have to see your wife before you marry her? Maybe after you get married, you will see her and she will be uncomely, and you will want to get rid of her, and you will be over on “ve’ahavta lere’acha kamocha” (Love your fellow as yourself). But that is only because someone is intending to look later on. Avraham never intended to look. So what is the difference? Therefore, you never had this problem in the first place. He was never going to look, so he would never come to this problem. Only when it came to piku’ach nefesh (saving a life) did he have no choice. Because they were going down to Egypt, he saw that his wife’s beauty could be a liability. The Gemara even says—or the meforshim (commentators) say—that he did not look at her directly; he saw the image in the water.