True Goodness

Rabbi Moshe Ben-Chaim

Length of life, children, and sustenance (wealth) do not depend on one’s merit, but rather they depend upon fate. As, Rabba and Rav Chisda were both pious Sages; one Sage would pray during a drought and rain would fall, and the other Sage would pray and rain would fall. And nevertheless, their lives were very different. Rav Chisda lived for ninety-two years, whereas Rabba lived for only forty years. The house of Rav Chisda celebrated sixty wedding feasts, whereas the house of Rabba experienced sixty calamities. In other words, many fortuitous events took place in the house of Rav Chisda and the opposite occurred in the house of Rabba. In the house of Rav Chisda there was bread from the finest flour even for the dogs, and it was not asked after, as there was so much food. In the house of Rabba, on the other hand, there was coarse barley bread even for people, and it was not found in sufficient quantities. This shows that the length of life, children, and sustenance all depend not upon one’s merit, but upon fate. (Moade Kattan 28a)

We must first define “fate.” There is no “power” of fate. Other than man’s free will, all follows God’s will. There’s no “fate power” that exists operating independent from God. We say this, as this imaginary power has never been observed, just like we do not observe truths to astrological claims, good luck charms, omens, and like. “Fate” here means God’s will. Thus, man’s merits earn his just rewards. But in matters of children, longevity and wealth, merits play no role; it is God who determines these. But as Rabba and Rav Chisda were both so righteous that rain fell for both when they prayed, why did they have such disparate lives? Bais Hillel was quite poor, while Rebbe Tarfon, Rabbi Judah the Prince, Moses and Abraham were wealthy. Why such inequality among equally great people?

If something depends on one’s merit, that means it is an objective good and one should receive it, if he is meritorious. For example, one’s merits earn him the afterlife, therefore, the afterlife is absolutely good. But as all great rabbis didn't always have children, wealth or longevity, this means none of these three matters are the true good. Children, longevity, and wealth, are not man's goal, or his perfection. Otherwise, God would equally grant Rabba with great wealth. Isaiah 56:4,5 supports this, saying that Sabbath observance by castrated men outweighs the good of having children. 

It is quite interesting that the book of Job describes how Job valued these three matters over all else, and they were taken away from him so Job would subject his mind to diligent inquiry, weighing his cherished values, and eventually abandon his false value system. The lesson was that these three matters are not the good or goal in life, and Job needed to learn this lesson. He finally arrived at the corrected appreciation that the greatest good in life is the enjoyment of studying God's wisdom. Job’s concerns about losing his health, wealth, and children were ill-conceived. When Job accepted the truth, God returned his wealth, gave him more children and gave him longevity as now he would view them in the proper context: as a means, not an ends.

Torah wisdom is the greatest mitzvah as stated by King Solomon (Prov. 8:11), and as King David said, Torah was his plaything, his ultimate enjoyment (Psalms 119:92). Thus, it could be for certain individuals that children, wealth or longevity would jeopardize Torah involvement. Genesis teaches us that God abbreviated the life of Chanoch, as he would have eventually followed the evil population during Noah's time. Therefore God took him prematurely so he should die righteous and not die as a sinner (Rashi, Gen. 5:24). Thus, in his case longevity would be evil. 

What is true goodness? It is the pursuit of God’s wisdom. And this is something based on one’s merit, and which God will always seek to offer man.

Chaim Salamon then asked a good question: 

A person’s entire livelihood is allocated to him during the period from Rosh HaShana to Yom Kippur, except for expenditures for Shabbos, festivals, and expenditures for his sons’ Torah study. In these areas, if he reduced the amount he spends for these purposes, his income is reduced, and if he increased his expenditures in these areas, his income is increased (Beitza 16a). 

This talmudic portion suggests that in fact, unlike the above, one’s finances are due to merit. Furthermore, the Unesana Tokef prayer on Yom Kippur reads, 

On Rosh Hashanah it is written and on Yom Kippur it is sealed: Who will be rich, and who will be poor, who will live and who will die…but repentance, prayer and charity avert the evil of the decree.

These are two of the three matters stated above that are not based on merit. But this seems to suggest they are based on merit.

My response is that we are not requesting life or wealth. We are merely stating that God decrees these at this time of year. We are accepting His complete control of our lives; the theme of the day is accepting God as King, not personal requests. And when we say “repentance, prayer and charity avert the evil of the decree,” we are not saying death or poverty would be harmful, only God knows who is better off with wealth, poverty, death or life. We repent, pray and give tzedaka during these 10 days to ensure whatever God decrees is for our best, be it life, death, poverty or wealth. 

Finally, when we spend more for Shabbos, festivals, and our sons’ Torah education, God’s reimbursement does not necessarily make us any richer, it merely replaces our expenditure. Therefore, again, our merits expressed with these three expenditures do not affect income, for the funds that went out, came back. Our value of the fundamentals of God being the creator celebrated on Shabbos, that God governs man celebrated on the three festivals, and our value of our sons’ Torah are all Torah matters, even though associated with finances. Therefore, merit does play a role.