Reward and Punishment Striking a balance between this temporal world and the eternal afterlife. One of the foundations of Jewish faith is the belief that God ultimately rewards good and punishes evil. The Torah thus states, All His ways are just; He is a faithful God, never unfair; righteous and moral is He (Deut. 32:4). However, since the present world (Olam HaZeh) must serve as an environment of challenge and accomplishment, and therefore contain evil, it could not serve as the place of reward. God therefore created another dimension, the World to Come (Olam Haba), far removed from this world in essence, and completely good, as the place of reward. The present world is thus essentially a corridor or place of preparation in which man earns his reward, while the World to Come is the place of ultimate reward. Although the main reward for good is not in this world, God does give some compensation here in order to encourage the righteous by showing them that good is rewarded. The Psalmist prayed for such encouragement when he said, Show me a sign of favor so that my enemies will realize [that You are still with me] and be ashamed (Psalms 86:17). Similarly, God punishes the wicked in this world as a warning to themselves as well as to others who would be tempted to follow after them. God rewards a person by putting him in a position to do more good. Often, God rewards a person for his good deeds by putting him in a position to be able to do more good. Sometimes this is accomplished by increasing his material wellbeing. If a person then makes good use of his worldly gifts, they can be increased until he has the good fortune to attain good both in this world and the next… All the reward that the righteous receive in this world is a free gift given as interest for their deeds. It therefore does not in any way diminish from their future reward. The true reward of the righteous is in the Future World, and no power on earth can diminish it… One cannot determine whether he will receive his reward for good in this world or the next, since this decision is completely in Gods hands. Similarly, one cannot ask for his reward on the basis of justice, since God owes no debt to any man for the good he does. All of a mans good deeds are sufficiently rewarded by the mere fact that God gives him life and causes the sun to shine on him… No Cancellations The ultimate reward for good is infinite, while the punishment for evil is temporary. Because of this disparity, the good that a person does is never used to cancel out the punishment that he deserves for his evil deeds. Rather, God first punishes the individual for the evil he did, and then rewards the good. We are thus taught that God does not even accept the bribery of ones good deeds to lessen his punishment. Even if a person causes many to do good, he is still punished for his sins. Nevertheless, a persons good deeds may delay his punishment in order to give him a chance to repent, or decrease his suffering if he has already repented. Conversely, evil does not cancel out good, and though a person may be very wicked, he is still rewarded for any good he may have done. One only loses his reward for good when he regrets having done it, as we are taught, But when the righteous man turns away from his righteousness… none of his good deeds shall be remembered (Ezekiel 18:24). Consequences, Not Punishment Just as God created a self-sustaining system of physical law, so He created a self-sustaining system of spiritual law. God conceived creation so that mans good comes, not as a reward for his action, but as a direct result of his action. The same is true of the evil that overtakes a person. It is thus written, Righteousness guards the one who is upright in his ways, but wickedness overthrows the sinner (Proverbs 13:6)… God generally makes the result fit the act in an equal and opposite manner. Thus, for example, a person who seeks honor is often denied it, while one who shuns recognition is honored by his fellows. It is thus written, A mans pride shall bring him low, but the humble in spirit shall attain honor (Proverbs 29:23). Just as God punishes a person according to his sin, so does He show mercy to match His punishment, thereby setting an example of how one should make good all damage. Our sages therefore teach us that God heals with the same thing with which He strikes… ( by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan ztl)
Posted on: Mon, 26 Jan 2015 01:30:00 +0000
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