Tanchumin (Vayera 19) Whoso keepeth the commandment shall know no evil thing. What is meant by this verse? Whatsoever G-d desires to do, He may do, and none may stay His hand. What then can be the meaning of And who may say unto Him: “What doest Thou?” whoso keepeth the commandment, etc.? These words whoso keepeth the commandment allude to the righteous men who perform the commandments of the G-d. And it is their decree that He fulfills, as it is written: Thou shalt also decree a thing and it shall be established unto thee, and the light shall shine upon thy ways. An example of this is what occurred after they made the golden calf. Though G-d desired to destroy them, our master, Moses, restrained G-d as though that were possible, just as a man restrains his companion. Hence G-d said to him: And now let Me be.
Bamidbar Rabbah (14:4) When the tzaddikim decree, Hashem fulfills their words.
Again, statements like this are dangerous. There were plenty of tzadikim throughout the last 1800 bitter years of exile and lots in Europe during the 1930's and 40's. If the Tanchumin is true, then do we hold them responsible for centuries of misery and death since clearly they didn't ask God to end our suffering.
ReplyDeletethey were not Tzaddikim on the level of Avraham or Moshe Rabbeinu. Even by the end of the 1st Temple period, we had a few Neviim but they had little power other than to make prophecies. 2nd Temple era was a loss of prophecy altogether.
DeleteActually. Avraham was not able to decree that sdom and amarah would be spared destruction.
ReplyDeleteNevertheless, it's always advisable to be close to a tzaddik, instead of the nobody reshaim who think they are great.