Why The Rebbe Said Hashem Doesn’t Punish People

TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to our weekly program, the insight story of Chabad in America through the Mindel archives.

At the end of this program today I want to share with you a discussion — or maybe call it a farbrengen — that I had with my friends[?] concerning what happened in Israel on October 7th. Something interesting that I looked up, so I'll tell you at the end of this program.

But first I want to mention — which I already mentioned a few times, months ago — that in the English Igros Kodesh, the Rebbe expresses himself much more clearly, and his principles, his guidelines, you can see very, very clearly — much more than in the Igros Kodesh in Hebrew. And I think the reason — this is my own opinion — is as the Rebbe told [Rael?] when he was still in Russia, that he wants him to come to America, and he wants him to translate the Tanya into English, because the Tanya is a closed book — that's why he used the word "closed book" — meaning that the Tanya is written in Hebrew, and most of the Yidden in the world speak English, and it's a variety of different types of Yidden. So therefore, I think, maybe that's why the English letters are more clear — the guidelines and the principles — much more than the Igros Kodesh in Hebrew.

So in the next few programs I want to share with you some of the principles of the Rebbe's letters, and this is the way the Rebbe's principles were all the time. He was very careful that a person should not make categorical statements, and we see this in the letters — words like "always," "never," "nothing," or "everyone" — these are categorical statements. He was very clear — you can say "sometimes," "many times," "most of the time," but not categorical statements. Very important — I think we should learn from the Rebbe.

Also, the Rebbe was very careful — he gave advice, he gave a suggestion, but he didn't command. You don't find him commanding, "you have to do it" — that's not found throughout the letters. If you look — most of the time — again, I couldn't say the word "never," I shouldn't say the word "never," because there is no "never" — most of the time, also, when he wrote, he wrote in the third person, as if the person himself asked him — he always uses the third person.

Also we know from the letters that throughout the years of the Rebbe there were very few completely new things that the Rebbe did. I remember when the Rebbe came out with the directive[?] that a girl should light candles from three years old. People said, "Oh, this is a new mitzvah!" He said it's not new — there was once already such a custom, and it started even from the time of — I guess — and maybe because wax was expensive, that minhag stopped, and now the Rebbe wants to renew the minhag. But there's nothing — it's not new.

There are a few things that the Rebbe made new — like this is something new the Rebbe did — the learning of the Rambam, that's the daily study of the Rambam. So there are a few things, but most of the time the Rebbe did not make anything new. Even the Baal HaTanya's Tanya is not new — he says right at the front, on the page, in the hakdamah, he says, "I took this from the Shas, from the Zohar" — but nothing new. The Alter Rebbe put it together for people to really understand — this is the Tanya — but the concept is nothing new. So it's nothing — I mean nothing — so mostly it's not new.

Also, we see that the Rebbe, most of the time — and I think he said it himself — doesn't pasken himself. He always, almost always, sends it to a rav. It happened a few times you can see in the letters that he says it himself, but most of the time the Rebbe didn't rule himself. Also, with stories, when the Rebbe said something, he said he heard it from — very few times does he say it himself; this is also because they heard it elsewhere — but nothing new.

So this is what we can learn from this. So the main thing is that the Rebbe always — and this is the way you can see in the letters — so I think that we should learn also: never say categorical statements; when we say something, we should say from whom we heard it.

So, by way of [unclear], we know that the Rebbe made certain rules — for example, if someone has a medical problem, he should speak to two doctors. If a person has a business matter he wants to discuss, the Rebbe says to consult friends who understand it, and make a mashal[?] — and when we have a mashpia, this is like the Rebbe said, because he said these few things he left us with — and the Rebbe said that you should always ask, ask a mashpia, and see what the mashpia says. So the mashpia — whatever he tells you — the Rebbe gives that this is like the Rebbe answered.

So today I want to share with you one letter — we don't have time for two letters — which illustrates a general principle, an outlook, that the Rebbe answered, and from here we learn a few things. A woman asked — she doesn't have children, she wants a child — and she wondered to the Rebbe, "Perhaps this is a punishment, that Hashem punishes, and that's why she doesn't have children."

So the Rebbe answered — this is very important, and this is the discussion, one of the things I had with some of my friends, for they called it a punishment — yes — the Rebbe said like this: that the term "punishment" does not apply to G-d. G-d does not punish. Misfortune should not be seen as punishment, but rather as a consequence — that certain actions that we do, we choose, this is how it happens — but Hashem does not punish.

The Rebbe did not give the example himself, but I think this is what the Rebbe meant here: for example, somebody knocks his head on the wall and he gets a bump — can you say, "Why did Hashem make me have a bump?" If you don't knock your head on the wall, you won't have a bump. So we caused this to happen — it's not that Hashem punishes.

I put my finger in hot water, or I burn my finger on fire, and I lose the use of a finger — are you going to say that Hashem made me lose it? Who told you to put your finger there? I drink mashke and I go and drive a car, and I have an accident and I get hurt — are you going to say, "Who told you to drink mashke"? The rule is: if you drink mashke, you get hurt if you drive. So it's not — the word "punish" is not correct — it's a consequence through doing this; this is what happens.

You walked, and you closed your eyes, and you fell in a pit — who told you to close your eyes? You can't blame Hashem and say it's a punishment. Or even a doctor — a doctor gives a person medicine and says, "Take this medicine and you'll be cured," and the person says, "The medicine is bitter, I don't like to take it," and he gets sick — are you going to say, "Why did they make him sick? Why didn't he take the medicine?" So the word "punishment" does not exist by G-d.

And I think — I remember I mentioned it once — somebody wrote to the Rebbe, he's a [unclear], and he said to the Rebbe, "What happened? Why am I punished?" So it's not that — because the parents did not act the way they were supposed to, this is what came out — not that Hashem wants to punish you. There are certain rules that the Torah says — this is the way it is; if it doesn't happen accordingly, it comes out like that — but it's not Hashem. In other words, there is no desire by Hashem to punish a person.

And as the Gemara brings down, it says, when a person suffers pain you shouldn't say it was bad — there's no bad, nothing bad comes from Hashem — that's what the Gemara says: "It's bitter, but it heals." But to say that it's a punishment — this is something that should not be said. That's a result — because this and this happened, this is what came about — this is the rule, and Hashem does not punish.

Now, since there is no wrath[?] from Hashem, and we are faced with challenges, we are certain that we have the capacity to carry and endure — with the greatest challenge comes the greatest strength. If Hashem gave you this challenge, Hashem gave you the strength to overcome this challenge; otherwise Hashem would not give you this challenge. Also, the Rebbe says that a challenge is often a test — every test comes to an end, it's all temporary. If we hold strong and we don't give up, we will overcome this challenge.

Now let's go to the discussion that I mentioned before, that I had, and this is probably the answer for some people about what happened in Eretz Yisroel on October 7th. According to what the Rebbe said here — G-d doesn't punish; a misfortune should not be seen as a punishment but as a consequence — the Rebbe writes this, and this is what I told them at the farbrengen that we had. Eretz Yisroel is a sensitive land. According to the Torah — it says, if certain things are done in Eretz Yisroel which are not proper — the Torah says the land will spit you out; it's like a person vomits, he can't take it — the holiness of the land cannot absorb it. The land is too holy, it just cannot absorb. Maybe the same thing in another place is different, but — so it's not to say that this was a punishment — just that the land does not absorb things that are not supposed to happen there. Hashem does not punish — this is what the Torah says — it's a result, that's a consequence, as we said before.

The same thing also regarding Golus — the Exile that we are in — does Hashem, the One that people think punishes us, want to punish us? Because if we're in Golus, the Shechinah is also in Golus, and Hashem suffers much more than we do; He doesn't want us in Golus. We're in Golus as a consequence — the Torah says it's because of our actions — but not that Hashem wants to punish you.

Now, here I have — some say that the Rebbe said, and it's written down — this is part of the letters that the Rebbe dictated: "The central point of this tragic war — this was in Israel — then could have been avoided. Eretz Yisroel is the King's Palace, the Holy Land. People complain to me, why do I demand so much from our brethren in Eretz Yisroel — Jews living in Eretz Yisroel have a greater responsibility. It's not enough that a Jew should live in the Jewish land — the land should also be made Jewish." Eretz Yisroel is beautiful, but you can't compare it to the spiritual beauty. And the Rebbe says, living in Eretz Yisroel you have to be on a higher standard in terms of holiness, in observance of Torah — otherwise the land will spit you out. This is what the Rebbe says here.

Here's another point the Rebbe says: "I state that life in Eretz Yisroel must be conducted in accordance with the Torah." And you wonder — is there an inconsistency? Somebody was saying the Rebbe was inconsistent. So this is something that I had — if I bring it up with some people, and people say that this is a punishment — it's not a punishment, it's only a consequence. It's a very important difference. We still have to probably speak about it, but we have no time today.

But, im yirtzeh Hashem, next week I will share with you a letter about how the Rebbe says that Golus is not a punishment. Next week we'll continue our weekly program. Thank you.