Avos 2:6

בס״ד

אבות ב:ו

Also, once he saw a skull floating in the water. He said to it: Because you drowned others, they drowned you; And, in the end, those who drowned you will be drowned.

אַף הוּא רָאָה גֻלְגֹּלֶת אַחַת שֶׁצָּפָה עַל פְּנֵי הַמַּיִם. אָמַר לָהּ, עַל דַּאֲטֵפְתְּ, אַטְפוּךְ. וְסוֹף מְטִיפַיִךְ יְטוּפוּן:

        

        In Avos 4:15, Rabbi Yannai teaches that we can’t explain why the wicked prosper or the righteous suffer.  The apparent lack of justice in the world doesn’t seem to make sense.  Yet we have learned earlier, from Nittai of Arbel (Avos 1:7), that we should never lose our trust in retribution.  Hillel, clearly, is taking a leaf from Nittai of Arbel’s book! He argues that HaShem leaves nothing to chance in making sure that we all get what we deserve.  People who drown others will themselves be drowned.  And if those who drown them do so by taking the law into their own hands rather than through the human courts, they too will die in water, and on and on!

        But is he right?  Many meforshim, impressed by Rabbi Yannai’s point of view, make the obvious point that we all know of wicked people, murderers even, who die in peace and never seem to suffer from their crimes.  The Tosfos Yom Tov, in fact, brings a sharp midrash from Devarim Rabbah to make the point:

        “Said Rabbi Levi: Look at how many people commit murder and die in their own beds!  His colleagues replied: Look at the verse that says ‘One who spills human blood, by humans shall his blood be spilled’.  The meaning is that when all humans reach the Coming World, at that moment those who deserve it will have their blood spilled.”

        The point of the midrash — and the best explanation of what Hillel means — is that this life is not the final arena in which HaShem’s plans for us are worked out.  This life is only a speck in time compared to the eternal world.  So, as Nittai of Arbel said, don’t worry — we all get what we deserve, one way or the other, in this life or the next!  Our task here is to live lives of holiness and honor without comparing our “rewards” with those of our friends or enemies.

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