Q:
If the world was created for chessed, why do we have sickness and germs and disease in the world?
A:
And the answer is, let’s take a mashal of forest fires. Forest fires are a great loss. They burn down sometimes millions of dollars worth of lumber. But it’s been discovered that forest fires are a very big benefit. Because in the course of time some trees become nests of pollution; various germs settle in the trees and they can be a source of infection for other trees. When a forest fire comes, it burns down all the trees and the forest starts growing all over again new healthy trees.
Now the question, why is there disease, is the same question, why is there death in the world? That’s a good question. Why is there death in the world? The answer is, if there wasn’t any death, then the young people would never get a chance. Always the old people would be in charge. Let’s say a young man wants to become a rosh yeshiva, now he’s a young fellow of 75, but his rebbe of 150 is still there. So what can the younger generations do?
So Hakodosh Boruch Hu makes place. You had your chance. You should have done the best you can in the time that was allotted to you and now go onto your reward in the next world and give somebody else a chance.
Now one of the ways of getting people out of this world are diseases. If a man was healthy to his last minute – let’s say an old rebbe, he’s 175 now. He’s perfectly healthy, he’s not lacking anything. But Hashem says, “Your time is up,” so he drops dead all of a sudden, it’s a tragedy. To drop dead all of a sudden, it’s a tragedy of tragedies. Oy vey!
So Hashem doesn’t do that. He does it little by little. First he makes him sick a little bit. Then little by little, so he eases him out. By the time he’s ready to leave the world, he’s happy to leave the world. And his relatives are also happy. He was a big burden on them. They’re happy to get rid of him. They don’t say that, but they’re happy to get rid of it.
And so Hakodosh Boruch Hu eases people out of the world. And you have to have germs. Germs do the job. Without germs, a person would be healthy and strong til his last minute and it would be a terrible tragedy. It would be the same tragedy as if a boy chalilah died. If a rebbe would die in the middle of his healthy years, it would be a tragedy. And so germs are sent to help people, little by little, gradually to leave the world.
TAPE #E-46 (January 1996)
