A well known and obviously religious Jew was released from jail after being caught stealing large amounts of money and publicly spoke before a large crowd in Yiddish. He said during the course of his talk that if Hashem wanted him to sit in jail he accepts the Divine will.
צידוק הדין - accepting Divine justice. A tzaddik??
NOOOOOOOO! HASHEM DIDN'T WANT HIM TO SIT IN JAIL! Hashem explicitly told him not to steal and not to lie and he disregarded Hashem's words and stole and lied. Hashem told him not to desecrate His name and made made a HUGE desecration of His name. So pu'leeeeaaase - don't blame this one on Hashem.
It's a gemura [harking back to the yiddish of his talk]. The gemura says that Yosef's brothers saw what a thorny situation they were in [before he revealed himself] and said "Why did Hashem do this to us?" The gemara [taanis 9] employs the pasuk אולת אדם תסלף דרכו ועל השם יזעף לבו- The foolishness of man corrupts his way and he gets angry at Hashem. No brothers, says the gemara, had you not sold Yosef you wouldn't have gotten into this pickle.
This man made a CHILUL HASHEM [as we mentioned earlier]. The gemara says that every sin can be atoned for in this world. Every one - adultery, homosexuality, eating treif, chilul shabbos, smoking [cigarettes and otherwise..] - all of 'em, even the yicheest ones. But not Chilul Hashem [Yoma 86a] - that can only be atoned for by dying. Serious business! [Why this is so despite the fact that it is merely a לאו and not even a chiyuv misah is explained by Maran ztz"l in the Pachad Yitzchak on Yom Kippur.]
I would have preferred if he would have said [I'll do this in english...] "Raboisai - I made a big mistake! I mamesh goofed!! I stole and caused a public Chilul Hashem. Learn from my mistake. Crime doesn't pay, not in this world and not in the next. I will never do such a thing again. Hashem's very signature is EMES - truth [Shabbos 55] and I distanced myself from Him by acting falsely. Rabbeinu Yonah in his Shaarei Tshuva writes that the only way to combat a Chilul Hashem is by making a kiddush Hashem. Let us all make a kiddush Hashem by showing the world how honest Jews are."
Ultimately we believe that everything that happens is part of the master plan of Hakadosh B"H but that doesn't give us the license to shirk responsibility for our actions.
Dr. Viktor Frankl suggested that just as on the east coast we have a Statue of Liberty, so on the west coast we should have a Statue Of Responsibility. We aren't big fans of statues in general but his point is well taken. Liberty must come with responsibility. [We have a recorded shiur on this somewhere on YUTORAH - I think it was Parsha Yisro last year or 2 years ago.]
Responsibility for your actions - a key to a good marriage, good parenting and an all around productive life.
Love and blessings and oodles of Kiddush Hashem.
ואמרו אמן
