Why Do The Wicked Get Rewarded?

0:42It was very unusual to see a Syrian Jew violating Shabbat. Very, very unusual. They were all religious. But there was one particular guy in the community who was very, very rich, very wealthy, and very successful in business, yet he kept absolutely nothing. Not Shabbat, not kosher, nothing. So one time, Rav Levaton came to him and said, "Binchi, my son, don't you understand that HaKadosh Baruch Hu wants you to do this? You have to keep Shabbat, you have to keep kosher, you have to keep this, you have to keep that." He responded, "Listen, Rabbi, I appreciate it, but I like the way I live. I'm living okay. Everything is going well for me. What do I need to keep? I never kept mitzvot. Everything is going well. Look, I have boats, I have this, I have that. What do I need to keep Torah for? For what?" He said, "Yeah, Benchi, my son, don't you understand that HaKadosh Baruch Hu wants you to do this? You have to keep Shabbat, you have to keep kosher, you have to keep this, you have to keep that." He says, "Listen, Rabbi, I appreciate it, but I like the way I live. I'm living okay. Everything is going well for me. What do I need to keep? I never kept mitzvot. Everything is going well. Look, I have boats, I have this, I have that. What do I need to keep Torah for? For what?" Because Hashem said. My son, that's what Hashem said. Hashem said, Hashem said, whatever He said, listen, He's giving me, obviously He's okay with what I'm doing. No, no. My son, you're not understanding. The fact that everything is going well for you is a bad sign because there is a verse in the Torah, Parashat Va'etchanan.

2:01One before last verse where HaKadosh Baruch Hu says, that HaKadosh Baruch Hu pays His haters in this world to destroy them. So you're getting a lot of reward for something that you did because HaKadosh Baruch Hu does not want you to even see His face or see anything. You're going straight to Gehinom. The rich guy, the arrogant guy. Sister, with a mocking tone, says, "Rabbi, thank you, but I don't think you got it right. There's nothing for Hashem to pay me for. What did He give me all this money for? I never made a single mitzvah in my life. Never kept Shabbat, never kept kosher. I never did anything. So what are you saying? He's paying me?" The Rav responds, "You're wrong. See, maybe you didn't mean it, but when you were eight days old..." Your parents circumcised you, so you have a mitzvah. Even though you didn't intend it, you have a mitzvah. And for that one mitzvah, HaKadosh Baruch Hu is giving you everything that you have. But He is going to destroy you if you don't do teshuva. This jokester says to the Rav, "How about this, Rabbi? I'll sell you my brit milah mitzvah for $50."

3:27The rabbi says to him, "Deal." They get a shtar iska, a real shtar iska, with witnesses. They write a contract: "I'm selling my brit milah mitzvah for 50 liras, 50 dollars, or whatever the currency was at the time." "Sign here." The rabbi signed. Finished. The Rabbi leaves that day, not the next day or next week. That day already, this guy understood something was not going right. All of a sudden, somebody shows up and says, "Listen, uh boss, I'm sorry to report one of your boats just sank. All the merchandise is gone." Just moments later, boss, listen, the other boat is gone at sea. Gone. Never-never land. We have no idea where it is. It's gone. Next thing you know, the building catches fire. The house catches fire. Literally, one after another, over a relatively short period of time, he starts losing every single penny that he has, to the point where the only thing that he can do is mop. Mop at a local office for somebody else just to make money to eat. He loses every single penny.

4:35Eventually, he gets back to the Rav. He realizes he's acted foolishly, and he says, "Kvoda Rav, have mercy for the honor of Hashem. Have some mercy. Give me back my Brit Milah Mitzvah." Av Levaton says to him, "The only way I'm going to give it back to you is if you keep the entire Torah. If not, go find yourself some other way." And the man says, "No problem. I'll keep the entire Torah." He did teshuva. Did teshuva. "Here's your Brit Milah Mitzvah back. Here's your Brit Milah back." A person makes fun of the Torah, mocks the Torah, thinks that Hashem is not watching. HaKadosh Baruch Hu is watching. It looks like you're winning right now. Why? You got a brand new Beamer. You got a brand new Benz. You got a new Bentley. You got a few houses. You got a company that's on the internet. You got a company that's in a building. It looks like you're winning. However, in truth, no success comes from going against the will of Hashem. The world may appear to reward those who mock what is sacred, but in the eyes of Hashem, true success is measured by one's faith and commitment to His commandments. 30, 40, 50 years old. Everything looks good. You've got bling on both arms. Your wife looks like she just came out of a magazine. Everyone admires you. Everyone likes you. It looks like you're winning, even though you're going against Hashem. Hashem sits quietly.

5:42He sits quiet. He sits quiet. He waits. He sends you a messenger here and there. Somebody maybe comes to put tefillin on you. You say no. Somebody says, give me tzedakah. You say no. Somebody says, come here, it's a shiur by Rabbi Reuven. You say no. A CD shows up anywhere. You say no. You, this, that. No, no, no. Time and time again. He gives you chances. You keep saying no. One day you're thinking, "Ah, great, I got to my 50th birthday, 55 years old. I'm going to retire early. I've got 100-200 million in the bank. I'm living large." All of a sudden, you get a phone call. What happened? One of your kids just overdosed. Shortly after, your wife tells you that she has a boyfriend on the side—it's the guy that cleans the house. Shortly later... Yes, IRS. We are looking into your books, the company that you own, and the one you run. Who invited you? No one. We invited ourselves. We're the IRS. All of a sudden, your whole life goes into a basket full of dung. In one second, life collapses. And it happens time and time again, but we don't learn from it.

7:01Why? We only learned from the first phase of the story, where it looks like the people are winning, so we want to be like them. HaKadosh Baruch Hu sits silent and He says, "My dear sons, My dear daughters, yes, there are a bunch of people that look like they're winning even though they're going against Me. And it is Me that is feeding them and is giving them the houses and the cars and the popularity and everything else. But don't think for a moment they'll continue winning permanently." At some point, I'm not going to be so quiet anymore. I'm going to give them chances in their own way, in their own time, and with different things. And it's going to look like I don't care. But don't worry. I still run the world. I still pay attention. And at some point, everybody pays the bill. Everybody. So that attribute of Hashem is simply not possible for a human being to even comprehend, let alone do. Because even if we're patient, we're not patient due to some ultimate good intention behind it. We're patient because we want to get our way and because we have to be. The perfect plan, you know, the sweetest thing in the world, is revenge.

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