It gives me immense pleasure to present to our esteemed audience another way to reconcile the difficulty raised by the Yismach Moshe. If “everything HKB”H created in His world was created solely for His glory,” how is this principle fulfilled by the enemies of Yisrael, the seventy nations of the world, even before we witness their downfall? Let us refer to the Gemara (A.Z. 2a):
"לעתיד לבוא מביא הקב"ה ספר תורה ומניחו בחיקו, ואומר כל מי שעסק בה יבוא ויטול שכרו. מיד מתקבצין ובאין עובדי כוכבים בערבוביא... אמר להם הקב"ה במה עסקתם, אומרים לפניו, רבונו של עולם, הרבה שווקים תקנינו, הרבה מרחצאות עשינו, הרבה כסף וזהב הרבינו, וכולם לא עשינו אלא בשביל ישראל כדי שיתעסקו בתורה. אמר להם הקב"ה, שוטים שבעולם, כל מה שעשיתם לצורך עצמכם עשיתם, תיקנתם שווקים להושיב בהן זונות, מרחצאות לעדן בהם עצמכם, הזהב נאום ה' צבאות"., שנאמר (חגי ב-ח) לי הכסף וליכסף וזהב שלי הוא
Le’asid la’vo, HKB”H will bring a sefer Torah and place it in His lap. He will announce, “Let everyone who studied it come and receive his reward.” Immediately, the idolaters will gather and come in . . . HKB”H will say to them, “What did you engage in?” They respond to Him, “Master of the Universe, we established many marketplaces, constructed many bathhouses, and amassed much silver and gold. And we did all that for the sake of the Yisrael, so that they should be able to occupy themselves with Torah- study.” HKB”H then says to them, “Fools of the world! Everything you did, you did for your own sake. You established marketplaces to quarter prostitutes in them; bathhouses to luxuriate in them yourselves . . .”
In Pri Tzaddik (Vayeira 1), the great Rabbi Tzadok HaKohen, zy”a, asks an intriguing question: How will the nations of the world have the audacity to utter such an obvious, barefaced lie le’asid la’vo—that everything they did was for the sake of Yisrael to enable them to study Torah? This is even more incredulous and ludicrous seeing as it will be revealed to the entire world le’asid la’vo that Hashem, the G-d of Yisrael, is the true G-d, the G-d of truth. Furthermore, why are they called fools rather than liars?
He provides an answer that should encourage and strengthen the hearts of Yisrael in our times of galus. Specifically, le’asid la’vo, when HKB”H reveals to the entire world the way he watched over Yisrael magnificently throughout the years of galus, it will also become evident to the nations of the world how they were used and manipulated by HKB”H, the Grand Orchestrator. Everything they accomplished in this world was for the benefit of Yisrael. As the Rambam explains at length in his remarkable introduction to the explanation of the Mishnayos (Seder Zeraim), the entire world was only created for the tzaddikim who study Torah and serve Hashem. Therefore, everything the goyim do and build in the world is solely so that Yisrael who serve Hashem will come along and benefit from them. For instance, say a king has a palace built by thousands of workers. Its sole purpose is so that a wise, scholarly tzaddik will come along at some future date and find shelter in the shade of one of the palace’s walls.
Thus, there is legitimacy and truth to the goyim’s claim le’asid la’vo: “Master of the Universe, we established many marketplaces, constructed many bathhouses, and amassed much silver and gold. And we did all that for the sake of the Yisrael, so that they should be able to occupy themselves with Torah-study.” For, it will be revealed to them in the world of “emet” that they were merely utensils exploited by HKB”H to serve and benefit Yisrael. Hence, HKB”H responds to their fallacious claim: “Fools of the world! Everything you did, you did for your own sake.” I, however, arranged for everything you did to have some benefit for Yisrael.
This explains fantastically why HKB”H calls them fools instead of liars. For, had they indeed intended to benefit Yisrael rather than themselves, they would have been rewarded commensurately for what they did in Olam HaZeh for the sake of Yisrael.
Thus, we have another excellent answer for the question posed by the Yismach Moshe. Ultimately, everything in creation reveals the glory of HKB”H. Even what the goyim build for themselves is actually for the benefit of Yisrael who engage in the study of Torah. They, however, because their extreme hatred, are completely oblivious to this reality. It is only le’asid la’vo that HKB”H will reveal the truth to them; they were merely pawns manipulated by HKB”H to assist Yisrael.
