The “Fools” Who Uphold the World
The Rambam is left with one question: If we have established that the ultimate purpose of creation is for man to pursue wisdom, why did Hashem create people who don’t have the ability to think...people empty of wisdom... people who simply pursue their bodily desires all the time? Moreover, we find that an individual who abhors worldly pleasures is extremely rare!
The answer is twofold: First, the entire existence of those people is indeed to serve that one rare individual. For if all humans were to be philosophers and thinkers, the world would go to ground, and people wouldn’t be able to exist. The world needs farmers, bakers, builders, smiths, machinists, and so forth—all for the existence of the chacham. Thus, all the people engaged in these vocations are serving the man who pursues wisdom.
All for One Fish
In order for a person to eat a fish, hundreds of people who will work for this are involved. There must be factories for manufacturing nets, fishmongers who will agree to go onto the seas and work hard to catch the fish, people who will transport the fish to the markets, people who will sell the fish in the markets, and people who will buy and cook the fish. A talmid chacham simply doesn’t have the time or the capacity to engage in all these tasks. The same process repeats itself regarding the produce that he eats, and in myriad needs.
From All Over the World
We will elaborate on this a bit so we can understand it better. A person is need of eyeglasses, and we ask him, “Tell me, who manufactured your eyeglasses?” And he says that he doesn’t know; he went to the store and bought them. Indeed, how much toil and manpower went into ensuring that this person can acquire a pair of glasses!
Myriads of people were involved in the process of only engineering the design. Then there’s a process of technological innovation in how to make the lenses thin...then there are the people engaged in transporting the glasses to your country... and the list goes on and on—all so this person should be able to walk into a store and walk out with a pair of glasses.
Many other things that we consume today are imported from countries around the world—and once they arrived at the port, they still need to be transported by truck or train to various states and cities... the list is endless.
Millions of People at Your Service
Sometimes, we go into a store and ask for a product, but it’s out of stock. “We can get it in for you within ten business days,” they say. “Ten days?! And what will I do until then?!,” the customer asks. He doesn’t understand that hundreds of people are busy at that moment ensuring that he will have his pair of shoes!
The people who manufacture and operate the traffic lights are also part of this equation—all to ensure that you will receive your pair of glasses in a safe and timely manner so you can read the holy letters of the Torah. All for you, the Ribbono shel Olam makes the entire world go round....
When we internalize this, we will recognize that it’s not an exaggeration to say that millions of people are at our service every day. We haven’t even gotten to what goes into the production of our food... and the food that our food eats... all so you can eat your Shabbos food to your heart’s delight or celebrate a siyum on Torah that you have learned. This isn’t a mashal or a joke! This happened yesterday, and it happened again today! This is how the world works on a constant basis.
The smallest factory has hundreds of people working there, with machines that are worth millions of dollars—all to manufacture one specific type of nut. To acquire another type of nut, you must travel to the other end of the world. We think about all this, and we stand back in awe of what Hashem has orchestrated.
But the Rambam says that this is no wonder at all. All these machines, all this human labor, and all this production, are created for you. And as noted above, this reality is constant, every day.
The Palace for Your Shade
Perhaps you will ask, says the Rambam, what about the fool who enjoys life on This World and doesn’t work hard for it... others serve him and wait on him, doing his work? Furthermore, sometimes this very servant is more learned than his master. It’s not like you think, says the Rambam. The entire purpose of the pleasure of this fool is also for the person who pursues wisdom, the purpose of our Creator. For because of his pleasure and wealth, he will command his servants to build him an enormous palace or to plant a massive vineyard, as the kings and the like tend to do, and the palace will stand ready for the pious person to take refuge in its shade and thus be saved from death. The purpose of the vineyard may be to supply him with wine as a remedy for the pious person who was bitten by a snake. Thus is the conduct of our exalted Creator and His wisdom Who has harnessed nature [for our purposes].
A House for a Night
In our times, we can understand this well. Sometimes a pious Yid needs to travel to a faraway place, perhaps for rest or respite, and he finds there a beautiful edifice where he can sit and learn with peace of mind. Is there any doubt that this building was built especially for him?
How many tzaddikim who fled for their lives during the war took refuge in a home for one night as they were fleeing. Is there any question that this house was built especially for them?
Or how about when a Yid finds himself in a remote place and goes into a store to buy a bottle of water. Surely, Hashem placed that entire shop in that place so the tzaddik will have water on that day.
It is all ordained from Above precisely for you.
