One question that occupies the minds of people here in this world is: What will be? There are people who spend their days thinking about this question and trying to figure out how the world will look in twenty years or in a hundred years, or more. How many people will be living in the world then? How much food will there be in the world then? Will it be enough? They observe how there is global warming and they start sweating in fear. The glaciers at the North Pole are melting, and who knows how that will affect life in this world? It is amazing how they are preoccupied with things no one asked them to think about – purposeless ruminations, matters that human beings generally have no ability to influence whatsoever.
These people succeed in convincing those who are not as intelligent as they are that there is purpose to their actions. They are predicting the future, and they don’t understand that there is no way for them to know what will be. These are the types of things about which Hakadosh Baruch Hu determined that man will know nothing about. What, indeed, will be? There is no way to know! Don’t even attempt to guess, because asking such questions is of no benefit at all.
Shlomo Hamelech said (Koheles 3:11), “He made everything proper for its time.” Everything Hakadosh Baruch Hu created in this world has its time, and that is yafeh – it is good and proper, and it is exactly suited to the people’s needs. “He also gave them the ability to understand the world.” Hashem gave each person the proper mind to enable him to get along in this world, to acquire his physical needs, to bring parnassah to his family, and of course, the main point, to carry out his role in avodas Hashem. Hashem arranged things such that people find out what they need to know, learn from each other, and succeed in doing what they have to do. At the same time, he gave the “elem” – which is written without the letter vav, so it also has the meaning hidden. Only Hashem knows the deeds that He has done from beginning to end. There are things that are intentionally hidden, such as the day of a person’s death. No one knows when he will die, and in what way; and that is because Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants the world to be settled, and if a person knew when his life would end, he would not build a house or plant a vineyard, because he would reason, “I’ll be leaving here very soon anyway. Why should I work hard?”
It is Hashem’s will that we should do what we need to do in order to settle the world, and therefore He hides from us knowledge that is not necessary for us to know. If we knew, it would harm us.
We need to be careful not to be one of those smart-alecks who think too much about the past or about the future. There is no purpose in investigating that which Hashem chose to keep hidden from us. The Torah begins with “Bereishis bara Elokim,” and our responsibility is to know about the world after creation. Obviously, each person in accordance with his abilities can delve into the parts of Torah that have been given to us, but we are not to involve ourselves in questions such as What preceded the world? or in similar questions regarding the future. Trust in Hashem, Who does everything good and suitable and right, in the way that will be best for us forever and always. What we need to do is live the present, in the right way. This is one of the recognizable attributes of someone who has developed proper bitachon: He lives peacefully, dealing with the present moment, trusts in Hashem that He will arrange the future for him, and is not afraid of that which he doesn’t know. He allows himself not to know, and he lives peacefully, while making full use of the kochos that Hakadosh Baruch Hu gave him.
But wait – don’t think that the future doesn’t interest us at all. Thirty days before a Yom Tov we start learning halachos of that Yom Tov. While in galus, we learn the halachos pertaining to the geulah and the building of the Beis Hamkidash. There is a lot of knowledge that we want to deepen. There is the Tanach with all its mefarshim, sixty masechtos of Shas, the Shulchan Aruch, Rambam, mussar and chassidus, Chovos Halevavos.... Do we know all this, and have time left over only to investigate matters that are hidden from us, things that Hashem hid from us for our good?!
Let us trust in Hashem yisbarach. Live life in the best possible way, to make Hashem’s Name great in this world and to crown Him over every corner of the world. Let us fulfill the words, “You shall have perfect trust in Hashem, your G-d,” and the holy words of Rashi will come true for us: “Go with Him with simple trust, with hope in Him, and do not try to figure out what the future will be. Instead, accept with perfect faith whatever happens to you. Then, you will be with Him, and you will be His portion.”
