ציטירנדיקער פּירוש אויף איוב 42:10

Ad-noy remembered. Literally, “And Ad-noy remembered” — after Avraham prayed for Avimelech, Hashem remembered Sarah.

In these verses Solomon warns man to endeavor to further the interests of his fellow and not to try and cause him any harm; he should do so as he can expect to reap the fruits of his activities, i.e. if he is helpful he will succeed, whereas if he is the reverse he will inevitably fail. Solomon espouses the principle of מדה כנגד מדה, that sooner or later he will be measured by the yardstick he applied to others. He bases himself on Isaiah 3,10: “hail the just man, for he shall fare well, he shall eat the fruit of his works.” Concerning the wicked person the same prophet writes in verse 11 of the same chapter: “woe to the wicked man, for he shall fare ill; as his hands have dealt, so it shall be done to him.
The expression שוחר used by Solomon here is a reference to prayer. The word appears in a similar sense in Proverbs 8,17: ומשחרי ימצאונני, “those who seek Me out diligently (in prayer) will find Me.” In our opening verse too Solomon speaks of people who are so concerned with the well being of their fellow that they pray on his behalf. Such people are considered as if concerned with the securing of G’d’s goodwill. This is why our sages said in Baba Kama 92 that if someone prays for G’d to grant a particular request to a third party and he himself is in need of having that same request granted by G’d for his own needs, not only will his prayer concerning the third party be granted but his own unspoken prayer will also be granted. Proof is found in Job 42,10: “The Lord restored Job’s fortunes when he prayed on behalf of his friends, and the Lord gave Job twice what he had before.”
We learn from this that if someone is the leading member of the congregation and in a unique position he is obligated to offer prayers on behalf of the other members of the community who are less fortunate than he is. If he fails to do so he will punished for this omission as we know from what our sages explained in connection with someone who committed involuntary murder and who must remain in a city of refuge until the death of the High Priest (Numbers 35,25). The Talmud Makkot 11 explained why the length of time such a man has to remain in the city of refuge is tied to the death of the High Priest. The High Priest should have prayed on behalf of the people of his generation that no one should become guilty of killing anyone even unintentionally. Seeing he had failed to do so he is punished in that presumably all the people in cities of refuge will wish for his speedy death so that they may leave that city.
We find that anyone who fails to offer a prayer which he should have offered is called “a sinner,” as we know from Samuel I 12,23: “far be it from me to become guilty against the Lord by refraining from praying on your behalf.” [G’d had sent lightning, thunder, and rain in the middle of the summer to indicate that He had been displeased with the people’s request to be ruled over by a king. The people became scared at these unusual phenomena at that time of year. Ed.] We find a similar occurrence with David who prayed on behalf of others, their sicknesses, etc., when he said (Psalms 38,5,13) “yet when they were ill my dress was sackcloth, I kept a fast — may what I prayed for happen to me!” He added in Psalms 141,5: “my prayers are still against their evil deeds.” He meant: “while I am still alive I pray on their behalf as they have committed evil deeds.” At any rate from David’s statement that what he prayed for others he should also himself be granted we learn that praying for others has positive results for oneself, i.e. a form of מדה כנגד מדה, that it is appropriate to entreat G’d on behalf of others who need to be cured or otherwise helped. It stands to reason that if one prays that evil befall others that G’d will let such evil befall the petitioner. This is much worse than not praying on behalf of one’s fellow. Not only did one fail to pray on behalf of one’s fellow one even engaged in prayer to G’d to victimize him!
Most of those who wish evil on others are the ones who rely on their material wealth to protect them against harm. Wealth is the principal reason why one individual lords it over his neighbour who is less affluent. Such people arrogate to themselves the right to revenge themselves for any slight they think has been inflicted upon them. The word הוא in the line בוטח בעשרו הוא יפול, refers to the word בוטח. This is another facet of the principle of מדה כנגד מדה i.e. that the very wealth which someone put his trust in will be the cause of his fall. It is similar to Kohelet 5,12: עושר שמור בעליו לרעתו, “riches hoarded by their owner (lead) to his misfortune.”
Alternatively, the word הוא in the verse quoted at the opening refers to the word עושר, wealth, meaning that as a result of the fact that the wealthy made his wealth the source of his faith he is punished by losing it. Concerning wealth Solomon also said (Proverbs 23,5) “you see it then it is gone, it grows wings and flies away like an eagle, heavenward.” We also have a verse in Psalms 92,13: “the righteous bloom like a date-palm; they thrive like a cedar in Lebanon.” The speed with which the righteous may be rescued is compared to the blossoming of a development of a leaf, making way for the development of the fruit. What happens to the righteous is the exact reverse of what happens to the wealthy who makes his wealth the object he puts his trust in instead of putting his trust in the Lord. This is the plain meaning of the verses quoted.

Return rebellious children: In the Yerushalmi (Jerusalem Talmud Chagigah 2:1:10), it explains why this happened to him, and there are more verses that he expounds: He killed those that spoke words of Torah. They said, if he saw a student excelling in Torah, he killed him. Not only that, but he went to the school house and saw children in front of their Torah teacher. He said, what are those sitting doing here? [The profession of this one is builder,] etc. When they heard this, they left us (the rabbis) and went away. And Rabbi Meir told him, that which it is written (Job 42:10), "(And the Lord blessed) Job twice all that he had" - he [explained it to mean] that He doubled his money. But [Acher] answered him that Rabbi Akiva expounded it, that He blessed him by the merit of commandments and good deeds which were from his beginning. He brought him (Ecclesiastes 7:8), "The end of a matter is better than the beginning of it." Rabbi Meir expounded it about a man who had children in his youth but they died, and had children in his old age and they lived. He said, your teacher, Rabbi Akiva, did not expound it so; rather, the end of a matter is good in the case that it is good from the beginning, and this applies to me. My father Abuya was one of the leading Jerusalemites. On the day he came to circumcise me, he invited all the leading Jerusalemites and sat them in one room, and sat Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua in another place. After they ate and drank, they started to clap and dance. Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua said, "While they are occupied in theirs let us be occupied with ours." They sat occupied with words of the Torah. Fire descended from Heaven and surrounded them. [Abuya] said to us, "My teachers! Why do you come to burn down my house?" They said to him, "Heaven forbid! But we were sitting reviewing the words of the Torah, from the Torah to the Prophets, from the Prophets to the Writings, and the words were joyful as at their giving on Sinai. And were they not [then originally] given in fire?" [So Abuya] said, "If that is the power of Torah, if this son of mine survives, I dedicate him to Torah." Since his intent was not for Heaven, it did not succeed with him. And in place of that which in our Gemara (Bavli) is, "behind the curtain," there it is, "behind the holy of holies." And also found there is that once he rode [on an animal] on Yom Kippur which fell out on a Shabbat and he heard, etc. And it brings that [passage] from Kiddushin (39b), such that he saw a man taking the chicks and sending away the mother. And when approaching, [that man] fell and he died. But [Acher] did not know to expound the [relevant verse] like Rabbi Yaakov - as it is brought there. And also found [there] is that he saw the tongue of Rabbi Yehudah the baker in the mouth of a dog, and he was the great man from Kiddushin. But Rabbi Natan says, "When his mother was pregnant with him, she passed by idolatry, smelled of that kind and ate it. And that kind was bubbling in her body like the poison of a viper." Later [Elisha] fell sick. They told Rabbi Meir, "Your teacher is sick." He went to visit him. He said, "Are you repenting?" He said, "If I repent, will they accept [me]?" He said to him, "Is it not written (Psalms 90:3), 'You bring back a man up to extinction, saying, "Repent, sons of man!"'" Elisha cried and passed away. Rabbi Meir said, "It seems that he passed away repentant." After they buried him, fire descended from Heaven and burned [his grave]. They told Rabbi Meir, "Your teacher’s grave is on fire." He went and spread his garment over it. He said, "'Stay for the night, etc.' (Ruth 3:13) - stay here in this world, which compares to the night; 'and it will be in the morning,' for the world to come. 'If he will act as a redeemer, good' - the redeemer, this is the Holy One, blessed be He, as it is written (Psalms 145:9), 'The Lord is good to all.' 'Let him redeem. But if he does not want to act as redeemer for you, I will do so myself.'" They said to [Rabbi Meir], "[What would you say] if they say to you in that world, 'Whom do you want to bring close first, your father or your teacher?'" He said to us, "I would bring my teacher close first and afterwards my father." They said to him, "Will they listen to you?" He said to them, "Did we not teach, 'One saves the case of a scroll with the scroll?' One saves Elisha with the merit of his Torah."

Noah, Daniel, and Job Because each of these three saw three worlds: Noah saw the world built up, destroyed, and rebuilt; and Danielthe Temple. Or himself: first a prince over all the princes, eventually cast into a lions’ den, and [ultimately] restored to his greatness. Likewise, Job saw himself well-established, destroyed, and [again] well-established. Therefore, they were brought as a parallel to the generation of Jeconiah, which saw the Temple while it was built and while it was destroyed, and the [Temple’s] second building. And the Holy One, blessed be He, said the following to them: “I am showing you great affectionyou, Jeconiah and [those of] his exile. Should one of the lands of the nations sin against Me and had I decreed upon it one of these four punishmentseither “famine” (verse 13), “wild beast” (verse 15), “the sword” (verse 17), “or pestilence” (verse 19) as they appear in this chapter, consecutively, and these three righteous men were in its midst, they would save neither son nor daughter. Yet I will bring [all] four of them on [your brethren in] Jerusalem, and [still] leave over for you some of your sons who are there although you are not in its midst. And not because they are worthy of being saved, but to console you when they are exiled [to an area] near you and you will see their evil deeds and be consoled about the evil that I brought upon them. For you will see that it could no longer be tolerated. [The annotator of our ms. remarks:] (This is the theme of this entire chapter. This [following] explanation cannot be made fit, and it appears that it is not the wording of the rabbi [viz. Rashi]. It appears further that this edition [of Rashi in which this comment was found] is missing one of the four punishments, from אוֹ, or, until כִּי or.) Another explanation: If a land sins against Me, etc. and had these three men been in its midst [namely] Noah, Daniel, and Job because the Holy One, blessed be He, saved these three men from these three [four] judgments, Scripture mentioned these. Noah was saved from the three of them. How do we know [that he was saved] from wild beasts? When he entered the ark, all the beasts attempted to enter, but the Holy One, blessed be He, did not allow them, as it is written (Gen. 7:16): “and the Lord shut around him.” Now the word “shut” refers only to protection from beasts, as Scripture states (Dan. 6:23): “and he shut the lions’ mouths, and they did not hurt me.”A lion came to enter [the ark] and its teeth were set on edge; a bear came to enter, and its feet would totter, etc. (see Gen. Rabbah 31:12). How do we know [that he was saved] from famine?For it is said (Gen. 5:29): “from the soil, which the Lord has cursed.” Go out and learn Genesis Rabbah (25:3) where it enumerates the ten famines that descended upon the world, and you will find that one of them was in the time of Noah, and it brings proof from “from the soil, which... [He] cursed.” From the swordthis is the Flood, and moreover, the people of his generation sought to attack him, saying, “We will not allow him to enter,” but the Holy One, blessed be He, saved him: said the Holy One, blessed be He, “I will not allow him to enter except at midday [in broad daylight], and whomever it hurtslet him protest.” That is what is written (Gen. 7:13): “In this very (עֶצֶם) day Noah came [into the ark]” at the strong point (עֱצוּמוֹ) of the day. Danielwhen Nebuchadnezzar entered the Temple in the days of Jehoiakim, he slew Jehoiakim and spared Daniel. He expelled Daniel [into] a peaceful exile because he found him to be full of a spirit of wisdom. From faminefor until Jerusalem was conquered in the days of Zedekiah, Nebuchadnezzar besieged it for three years [during which it suffered a famine], as is said (II Kings 25:3): “the famine became severe in the city,” and also (in Jer. 52:6): “and the famine became severe.” How do we know [that he was saved] from beasts?”and shut the lions’ mouths (Dan. ibid.), and they did not hurt me.” Likewise, you find that Job was saved from the three of them. How do we know [that he was saved] from famine?According to the one who says (Baba Bathra 15b) that Job lived in the time of Jacob, we find that there was a famine in his days. How do we know [that he was protected] from beasts?For it is written (Job 1:10): “and his cattle has broken out into the land.” It has breached the [natural] limitations of the world. [Usually wolves kill goats, but Job’s goats killed wolves; B. B. 15b.] How do we know [that he survived] the sword?(ibid. 16:13) “He splits my kidneys and does not have compassion.”