Justice + Truth = Emunah

The Deep Purpose for Suffering

Why is it that when someone begins to do teshuvah and starts walking in Hashem’s ways, he frequently encounters difficulties and experiences suffering? If the purpose of suffering is to motivate a person to do teshuvah, why should he have to suffer at all? After all, he’s already doing teshuvah.

One answer is that suffering serves two purposes. Yes, its purpose is to motivate a person to do teshuvah, but it has another purpose. It atones for sins. Therefore, by allowing a person to suffer, Hashem is showing him mercy. How so? By letting him face the punishments for his transgressions in this world, he is able to clean himself up now. Therefore, he won’t have to suffer the punishments of the soul in the future world (which are, apparently, much more severe than their physical counterparts), but rather will be free to receive only the rewards for his good deeds.

Very well, but what about someone who actually merits to make complete teshuvah? He doesn’t need suffering, neither to cleanse himself nor to receive atonement. Yet we still see that even he will experience suffering. How come?

There are two kinds of yirah [fear, awe], one more elevated than the other (Likutei Moharan 185): וְיֵשׁ שְׁנֵי מִינֵי יְרָאוֹת: יֵשׁ מִי שֶׁהוּא יָרֵא מֵהַשֵּׁם מִגְּדֻלָּתוֹ וְרוֹמְמוּתוֹ בְּגִין דְּאִיהוּ רַב וְשַׁלִּיט, וְיֵשׁ יִרְאָה לְמַטָּה מִמֶּנָּה, הַיְנוּ שֶׁבָּא לְיִרְאָה עַל־יְדֵי יִרְאוֹת תַּחְתּוֹנוֹת, עַל־יְדֵי שֶׁיָּרֵא מֵחַיָּה אוֹ מִשַּׂר אוֹ מִפַּחַד אַחֵר, עַל־יְדֵי־זֶה הוּא נִזְכָּר וּבָא לְיִרְאַת הַשֵּׁם (There are two kinds of yirah. There is one who fears Hashem because of His greatness and His exaltedness, because He is the Master and the Ruler. And there is a yirah below this, i.e. that one comes to yirah through ‘lower fears’, by fearing wild animals or government officials or some other fear, and through this, he remembers and comes to have yirah toward Hashem).

A second way of defining these two kinds of yirah is that the lower one is יִרְאַת הָעֹנֶשׁ [yirat ha-onesh, the fear of punishment] and the higher one is יִרְאַת הָרוֹמְמוּת [yirat ha-Romemut, the fear of Majesty]. When we fear being attacked by a wild animal in the middle of the night, or being assaulted by a criminal in a dark alleyway, or hearing the sound of police pounding on our door at 3:00 o’clock in the morning, or receiving a phone call from the tax office, we are experiencing yirat ha-onesh. We fear being ‘punished’, i.e. suffering the consequences of our transgressions (whatever they are) through one of Hashem’s many messengers. On the other hand, when we fear violating any of Hashem’s mitzvot, even when no one is looking, solely out of one’s respect and awe for Hashem and His greatness and kingship, we are experiencing yirat ha-Romemut. Both kinds of fear are real and both are important.

A third way of understanding these two kinds of yirah is that the lower one is referred to as צֶדֶק [Tzedek, justice] and the higher one is referred to as אֱמוּנָה [Emunah, faith]. As we may not be so familiar with these ideas, let’s explain further. It is brought down in the Zohar ha-Kadosh (Balak 198b): רִבִּי חִזְקִיָּה פָּתַח: (ישעיהו י״א:ה׳) “וְהָיָה צֶדֶק אֵזוֹר מָתְנָיו וְהָאֱמוּנָה אֵזוֹר חֲלָצָיו.” הַאי קְרָא כֹּלָּא אִיהוּ חַד. מַאי חִדּוּשָׁא אָתָא לְאַשְׁמוֹעִינָן, דְּהָא צֶדֶק הַיְינוּ אֱמוּנָה, וְאֱמוּנָה הַיְינוּ צֶדֶק, אֵזוֹר מָתְנָיו, הַיְינוּ אֵזוֹר חֲלָצָיו. לָא אַשְׁכְּחָן קְרָא כְּהַאי גַּוְונָא (R’ Chizkiyah opened [the discussion by quoting Yeshayahu 11:5]: ‘Tzedek shall be the girdle of his [Mashiach’s] hips and emunah the girdle of his [Mashiach’s] loins’. This entire pasuk [the first part and the second part] is saying one thing. What novelty is it coming to teach us, that tzedek is emunah, and that emunah is tzedek, [and] girdle of his hips is the same as girdle of his loins? We don’t find [another] pasuk like this). This is a very good question. Why have doubled language in a pasuk if each part is just restating what is stated in the other part? What is the novelty in the second part compared to the first part? R’ Chizkiyah then provides the answer: אֶלָּא לָאו צֶדֶק כֶּאֱמוּנָה (Rather, tzedek is not the same as emunah).

Without getting into the subject too deeply, Tzedek and Emunah are two terms for the sefirah of Malchut (after all, the pasuk is speaking about the reign, i.e. the malchut, of Mashiach). That being the case, why have two different names for the same thing? What’s the point? Is it just to create confusion? Obviously not. The answer is that even though Tzedek and Emunah are two terms describing the sefirah of Malchut, each of them is describing Malchut in a different state. At a time of harsh decrees, i.e. when Malchut is receiving judgments and decrees from the sefirah of Gevurah on the left side, Malchut is called Tzedek, for this is the very meaning of tzedek. Tzedek literally means ‘justice’, i.e. you get what you deserve. However, when truth [emet] combines with Tzedek, then Malchut becomes known as Emunah. When this happens, the harsh judgments are sweetened and the Jewish People, individually and collectively, are more easily able to bear those judgments.

In other words, Yeshayahu 11:5 is not saying the same thing twice. Rather, it is teaching an important truth that we need to understand and internalize. When we begin serving Hashem – initially or at any new level – we serve Him out of yirat ha-onesh, the fear of punishment. This type of yirah is also called Tzedek because it is typified by harsh decrees and judgments from the side of Gevurah. If we have sinned, which we have, then there is no escaping this reality. We’ll need to accept what we deserve. However, it’s not so black and white. There is actually something we can do about it, to make things a little easier to bear. What is that something? If we develop emunah – which is something we can choose to do – then we can mitigate, i.e. ‘sweeten’, the harsh decrees. This is the aspect of serving Hashem in yirat ha-Romemut, the fear of Majesty, and this is why it’s also called Emunah. It is called Emunah because it is arrived at only when we know that everything that happens to us is orchestrated by Hashem, by that Supreme Majesty, for our ultimate good. If we can reach this level, we are no longer serving Hashem because we are afraid of being punished, but rather because we don’t want to violate any of His precepts. But to arrive at this level, we need emet. As the Zohar ha-Kadosh states there: לֵית אֱמוּנָה בְּלָא אֱמֶת (there is no emunah without emet).

What does that mean? On a Kabbalistic level, it means that in order to sweeten the judgments that are against us, Ze’ir Anpin (which is also called Emet) and Malchut (which is also called Tzedek) need to be in a state of yichud [intimacy, unity]. When yichud happens, i.e. when Emet is united with Tzedek, then Malchut is no longer called Tzedek, but rather Emunah. Very nice, but what does it mean on a practical level? On a practical basis, it means that it is within our power to determine the state of Malchut in the upper worlds. If we develop complete emunah and really believe the truth, i.e. the emet, that everything that happens to us is orchestrated by Hashem only for our good – even things that seem terrible – then we actually cause yichud in the upper worlds. When this happens, the harsh decrees that have been, until now, flowing down into Malchut and from there down to our lower world making life miserable for us or at least very difficult for us, are sweetened.

If you think about it for a few moments, you will realize that this means that it is impossible to develop emunah without yirat ha-onesh, the fear of punishment. You may be surprised by this, but it is true. We can’t skip steps. Since yirat ha-onesh is ‘step one’ and yirat ha-Romemut, which is also called emunah, is ‘step two’, then it follows that we must first have yirat ha-onesh. This is not bad. There is nothing wrong with fear of punishment. It’s just that we’re not supposed to stay at that level. In the words of R’ Nachman (Likutei Moharan 87): וְיָדוּעַ הוּא, כִּי אִי אֶפְשָׁר לָבוֹא לֶאֱמוּנָה רַק עַל יְדֵי יִרְאַת הָעֹנֶשׁ. כִּי מֵחֲמַת שֶׁהוּא יָרֵא מֵהָעֹנֶשׁ, מַאֲמִין שֶׁהַשֵּׁם יִתְבָּרַךְ הוּא תַּקִּיף וּבַעַל הַיְכֹלֶת וּבַעַל הַכֹּחוֹת כֻּלָּם, וּמִזֶּה בָּא לֶאֱמוּנָה יוֹתֵר גְּדוֹלָה (It is known that it is impossible to achieve emunah except by way of yirat ha-onesh, for because he fears punishment, he believes that Hashem, may He be blessed, is Mighty and All-capable, the Master of all powers, and from this, he is able to attain a higher level of emunah). It’s very clear, isn’t it? The fear of punishment is supposed to lead us to emunah. And for us to develop emunah, we need to face the truth – the truth about ourselves, the truth about things that happen to us and to those around us, and perhaps most importantly, the truth about Hashem. The flip side is that if we make a habit of running away from the truth, i.e. blaming everybody and everything else while declaring ourselves innocent, then we will never be able to develop emunah. It’s as simple as that.

All of this is alluded to in Michah 7:20: תִּתֵּן אֱמֶת לְיַעֲקֹב חֶסֶד לְאַבְרָהָם (Give emet to Ya’akov, chesed to Avraham). How so? Normally, we explain this pasuk as two separate ideas. On the one hand, Hashem gave emet, i.e. the Torah (or Kabbalistically-speaking, the sefirah of Tiferet) to Ya’akov. And on the other hand, He gave the gift of chesed (or Kabbalistically-speaking, the sefirah of Chesed) to Avraham. Although this explanation is true, it cannot adequately explain why the pasuk is presented in reverse chronological order. Avraham came first, so why doesn’t the pasuk mention the chesed to Avraham first?

We might be able to provide an answer to this question if we view the two parts of the pasuk, not as two separate and independent ideas, but as two ideas connected together in a ’cause and effect’ relationship. In other words, when emet is given to Ya’akov, then chesed is given to Avraham. If this is how we are to understand the pasuk, what does it even mean? For this to make any sense, we must see ‘Ya’akov’ not as referring to the man Ya’akov, but rather to something else, and ‘Avraham’ can’t be a reference to the man Avraham, but rather to something or someone else.

R’ Nachman explains the insight (L.M. 87): תִּתֵּן אֱמֶת לְיַעֲקֹב – הַיְנוּ לְהַיִּרְאָה, כִּי יַעֲקֹב הוּא יִרְאָה, מִלְּשׁוֹן (משלי כ״ב:ד׳): עֵקֶב עֲנָוָה יִרְאַת הַשֵּׁם (‘Give emet to Ya’akov’, i.e. to yirah, for Ya’akov represents yirah, from the language [in Mishlei 22:4]: ‘The consequence of humility is the fear of Hashem’). How does this pasuk support the idea that Ya’akov represents yirah, that he exemplified the middah of yirah? The word translated as ‘consequence’ is עֵקֶב [eikev], alluding to יַעֲקֹב [Ya’akov] whose name is related to עָקֵב [akeiv, heel] as stated in Bereshit 25:26: וְאַחֲרֵי־כֵן יָצָא אָחִיו וְיָדוֹ אֹחֶזֶת בַּעֲקֵב עֵשָׂו וַיִּקְרָא שְׁמוֹ יַעֲקֹב (And afterward, his brother came out and his hand was holding on to the heel [akeiv] of Esav, and he [or ‘He’] called his name ‘Ya’akov’). In other words, ‘Give emet to Ya’akov’ is alluding to what happens when emet is given to yirat ha-onesh, the fear of punishment. As we have seen, the state of Malchut changes from being the aspect of Tzedek – justice, harsh decrees – to being elevated in the aspect of Emunah – sweetened decrees. And this itself is alluded to in the second half of the pasuk: חֶסֶד לְאַבְרָהָם (chesed to Avraham). How so? In the words of R’ Nachman: כִּי אַבְרָהָם נִקְרָא מִי שֶׁבָּא לְדַבֵּק אֶת עַצְמוֹ לְהַשֵּׁם יִתְבָּרַךְ, מִלְּשׁוֹן אָבוֹא רָם (Anyone who comes to attach himself to Hashem, may He be blessed, is called ‘Avraham’, from the language ‘I will come to the Exalted One’) – where the words, ‘I will come to the Exalted One’ [Avo Ram] hint at the name ‘Avraham’. As we have seen, when we merit to binding emet to yirat ha-onesh, we reach the level of yirat ha-Romemut, the fear of Majesty, which is the same as ‘I will come to the Exalted One’, i.e. to the One who is Ram [Exalted, Majestic]. And what happens when one reaches that level? As we have already explained, the harsh decrees are sweetened. This is the chesed shown to ‘Avraham’ – to each one of us, individually and/or collectively.

Therefore, there is no reason to get down if you’re ‘only’ serving Hashem out of fear. Thank G-d that you’re serving Hashem! And not just that, but yirah ha-onesh is exactly where we all must begin. There is no other way. Even the biggest tzaddikim start by serving Hashem out of fear, as stated explicitly in Sichot ha-Ran 5: כִּי עִקַּר הָעֲבוֹדָה בִּתְחִלָּה הִיא רַק מֵחֲמַת יִרְאַת הָעֹנֶשׁ, וּבְלִי יִרְאַת הָעֹנֶשׁ אִי אֶפְשָׁר לְהַתְחִיל כְּלָל בַּעֲבוֹדַת הַשֵּׁם. וַאֲפִלּוּ צַדִּיקִים צְרִיכִים גַּם כֵּן יִרְאָה. כִּי עוֹבְדֵי מֵאַהֲבָה הֵם מוּעָטִים מְאֹד מְאֹד וְעִקָּר הוּא יִרְאַת הָעֹנֶשׁ (For the only way to begin serving [Hashem] is through yirat ha-onesh, and without yirat ha-onesh, it is impossible to begin serving Hashem. And even tzaddikim need such yirah, for those who serve out of love are very, very few in number; therefore, the main point is yirat ha-onesh).

One last point in case you missed it. We began this study by saying that there are two common reasons for suffering: to motivate us to do teshuvah and to atone for our sins. Now we’ve learned that there’s a third purpose: to help us develop emunah.