Pemikiran Yahudi Ayub 42:10: Kol Dodi Dofek, Netivot Olam & Duties

The well-known metaphysical query surfaces and the sufferer asks: “Why do you show me ‎iniquity ‎and cause [us] to behold mischief … for the wicked man besets the righteous, so that ‎justice goes ‎out perverted?” (Habakkuk 1:3–4). Indeed, as we emphasized above, God does not ‎address this ‎question, and it is not answered. It remains hidden, beyond the realm of logic. For ‎‎“you cannot see ‎My face, for man may not see Me and live” (Exodus 33:20). When the desire for ‎rational inquiry ‎seizes man, he can do nothing but fortify his belief in the Creator, accept God’s ‎judgment, and ‎acknowledge the perfection of His action. “He is the Rock, His works are perfect: for ‎all His ways are ‎just” (Deuteronomy 32:4). If we want to ask a penetrating question at a time beset ‎by terrifying ‎nightmares, it is incumbent upon us to do so in a halakhic mode: What obligation ‎accrues to the ‎sufferer as a result of his suffering? What commanding heavenly voice breaks ‎through from the ‎midst of suffering? As we have said, this question has a solution which is ‎expressed in a simple ‎halakhah. There is no need for metaphysical speculation in order to clarify ‎the rules of rectifying ‎evil. “For it is not in Heaven” (Deuteronomy 30:12). If we succeed in ‎formulating this doctrine ‎without dealing with questions of cause and telos, we will earn a ‎complete salvation, and the ‎scriptural promise will be fulfilled for us, as it is written: “Take counsel ‎together, and it shall come to ‎naught; speak your harshnesses and they shall not come to fruition, ‎for God is with us” (Isaiah ‎‎8:10). Then and only then shall we emerge from the depths of the ‎Holocaust with enhanced ‎spiritual stature and augmented historical splendor, as it is written, “And ‎the Lord gave Job twice as ‎much as he had before” ( Job 42:10) — double in quantity and quality.‎

And in the Midrash (Shemot Rabbah 31:3): If you lend money to My people (Exodus 22:24). That is [the understanding of] what is written: There is a grave evil that I have seen under the sun: Wealth kept for its owner to his detriment. That wealth is lost in an ill-fated matter (Ecclesiastes 5:12–13). Happy is the person who withstands his ordeal, as there is no person whom the Holy One blessed be He, does not subject to an ordeal. He tests the wealthy as to whether he will be generous to the poor. He tests the poor as to whether he is able to withstand suffering without becoming angry, as it is stated: And bring the wretched poor to your home (Isaiah 58:7). If the wealthy person withstands his ordeal and performs acts of charity, he will benefit from his wealth in this world, and the principal remains intact for him in the World to Come, and the Holy One blessed be He rescues him from the sentence of Gehenna, as it is stated: Happy is one who attends to the indigent; the Lord will deliver him in times of trouble (Psalms 41:2). If the poor person withstands his ordeal and does not rebel, he will receive a double portion in the future, as it is stated: For it is You who will deliver the poor people (Psalms 18:28). From who do you learn [this]? From Job, who was afflicted in this world, and the Holy One, blessed be He, paid him back twice, as it is stated: The Lord added to Job double of everything that he had (Job 42:10). To here [is Shemot Rabbah]. And it means to say that what the Holy One, blessed be He, gave to Job was a taste of the World to Come. And it is like they said in the first chapter of Bava Batra (15b), "The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing beside them (Job 1:14), teaches that the Holy One, Blessed be He, gave Job a taste of the World to Come. And it appears to me that its explanation is that everything was done by itself. As the oxen would plow by themselves without any [human] toil with them [in order] to plow. Rather, they would plow by themselves. And that is a taste of the World to Come since there will be no toil of work or pain [then]. Rather, everything will be done by itself. And Rashi, may his memory be blessed, explained that the oxen would plow, and [the field] would sprout that very hour, then the donkeys would graze from what sprouted. In any event, the Holy One, blessed be He, gave Job a taste of the World to Come from the beginning. And when Job accepted [his] afflictions, He then afterwards added to Job double of everything that he had before of the taste of the World to Come. And from this, we learn that if the poor person accepts the afflictions, God, may He be blessed, gives him his reward doubled in the World to Come, like He gave Job his reward of a taste in the World to Come doubled.

Come, let us pray “for our friends” (Job 42:10). Let us feel for the suffering of the Yishuv. We ‎must ‎understand that the fate of the Jews in the Land of Israel is our fate too. The Arabs have ‎declared ‎war not only on the State of Israel, but on the entire Jewish people. They are now the ‎leaders and ‎financial supporters of international antisemitism. Let us overcome the foolish fears of ‎dual-loyalty ‎that our enemies have instilled in us. To begin with, it is always impossible to satisfy ‎antisemites, ‎and they will find fault in whatever we do. Second, the matter relates not only to the ‎continued ‎existence of a state, but to the physical salvation of masses of Jews. Is it not our sacred ‎obligation ‎to come to their aid? Is it forbidden for us to seek the security of the Yishuv? We ‎are being ‎put to the test of Job. We have been given the opportunity to pray, by virtue of deeds ‎and self-‎sacrifice, for “our friends” (Job 42:10) — and our friend is the Jewish community in the ‎Land of ‎Israel. We must do but one thing: open the door to the beckoning Beloved, and ‎immediately all ‎dangers will disappear.‎