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Parsha Insights
By Rabbi Pesach Wolicki

"And it shall come to pass, if you listen diligently to My commandments which I command you this day, to love Hashem your G-d, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul, that I will give the rain of your land in its season, the former rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, and your wine, and your oil. And I will give grass in your fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied. Take heed to yourselves, lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them; and the anger of Hashem be kindled against you, and He shut up the heaven, so that there shall be no rain, and the ground shall not yield its fruit; and you perish quickly from off the good land which Hashem gives you." (Devarim 11:13-17)

In this passage, recited twice daily as part of the Shema, the system of reward and punishment is clearly laid out. If we obey the will of G-d, we have all manner of blessings; if we don't, we are denied those blessings.

The obvious question relates to the implementation of this system. After all, do we not see every day that there are righteous people who suffer and wicked people who prosper? It appears that the straightforward quid pro quo is unfortunately contradicted by the randomness of suffering and success in real life. This question is expressed by Moshe in a dialogue with G-d described in the Talmud.

"Master of the world, for what reason is there a righteous person who suffers and a righteous person who prospers; a wicked person who prospers and wicked person who suffers." (Berachot 7a)

The answer lies in the fact that the above quote from the Torah deals with reward and punishment on the collective national level. The question of the injustice of the suffering of the righteous relates only to the individual level. This is supported by the exact wording in the Talmud - "a righteous person - a wicked person."

If reward and punishment were meted out to individuals in a precise quid pro quo manner, a serious problem would arise. Morality itself would be destroyed. After all, if righteous people were healthy, wealthy, and happy and no tragedies ever befell them, people would be good for the wrong reasons. If all wicked people suffered and did not prosper in their endeavors, the avoidance of evil would be reduced to a form of self preservation. In effect, if all righteous people prospered and all wicked people suffered, it would be impossible to be moral. The decision to be moral would be reduced to an elaborate form of selfishness. Seen this way, it is obvious that some measure of seeming randomness is necessary to preserve the value of moral choices. People must choose good because it is right to do so. They must be attracted to evil by the apparent benefits that the choice brings.

If a pure quid pro quo system of reward and punishment for individuals would encourage selfishness, having the same system on the national level would have the exact opposite effect.

A nation does not make decisions. It does not perform mitzvot or commit sins. Rather, a nation, obviously, is a collection of individuals. Individuals perform mitzvot and commit sins. As we have stated, for a person to choose to do what is right because it benefits himself is selfishness. However, for a person to make that same choice because it benefits the People of Israel is the opposite of selfishness and the height of altruism. If reward and punishment were seemingly random on the national level as well, there would be no incentive to be good at all.

As such, the system of reward and punishment that is quid pro quo nationally and seemingly random individually is perfect. If I obey the will of G-d I may or may not be helping myself materially; but I am certainly doing my part to help the nation.

In this way, the Torah encourages us to think not selfishly but nationally, communally, and universally.