ומשלם לשנאיו אל-פניו להאבידו וגו’
He repays His enemies to their face, to destroy them.
The Torah makes a vague statement regarding Hashem and His enemies. This is seemingly referring to wicked individuals who brazenly commit crimes and atrocities against Hashem and His Torah. The Torah says that Hashem repays them to their face, to destroy them.
What is this referring to? We are taught that it means that Hashem repays the wicked for their mitzvos in this world, so that they don’t receive any reward in the next world. Consequently, when they die, they’ll be destroyed, as they won’t have access to the World to Come.
There are two questions on this interpretation. Why would Hashem try to destroy the wicked? If they indeed fulfilled mitzvos in this world, why shouldn’t they get their due reward, which is to be received in the next world? Furthermore, how is it even possible to receive reward for mitzvos in this world? By fulfilling mitzvos, we are tapping into spirituality. Unlike the physical, the spiritual has infinite potential. An act of infinite potential, therefore, has infinite reward. The World to Come is forever, unlike this limited physical reality. How then can an infinite reward be compressed into this finite existence?
Rav Dessler teaches us that the truly wicked don’t really have any mitzvos. When we see a wicked person fulfilling a mitzvah, we should be suspicious that they have ulterior motives. When they do something good, it’s because they want to get something out of it. If they give charity, it’s so they receive a good reputation. If they return a government official’s lost item, it’s so they can later ask for a favor. The same is true with all of their mitzvos.
Since their mitzvos are superficial, their reward is also superficial. It’s impossible for them to receive infinite reward for an insincere mitzvah, so the only reward they can receive is in this world. Further, they aren’t really deserving of any reward. However, since it appears to all that they did in fact fulfill mitzvos, it would create a chillul Hashem, a desecration of Hashem’s name, if they didn’t receive any reward. As such, Hashem gives them a finite reward in this world for their deeds. Since they never accrued any mitzvos with substance, there’s no reward to give them in the next world. As such, once the wicked people’s time in this world is up, there’s nothing positive awaiting them.
ZERA SHIMSHON
RABBI RAFI WOLFE
