עברית
Faith
Why Were Flies Created?
Question
Hello Rabbi! It is known to us that everything Hashem created has a specific purpose in the world. I would like to know why Hashem created flies, since in human understanding they seem to have no benefit and only annoy us.
Answer
Greetings and blessings,
The great scholar who authored the Sefer HaBrit wrote: No person can know how many different species exist among the small creatures of creation or for what purpose they exist in the world—this is known only to Hashem, who created them. It is clear and well known that all of them are made with wisdom and supreme knowledge, truly for the purpose of some specific matter that completes creation as a whole. Indeed, if even one species among these were missing, it would be impossible for the world to continue to exist in its entirety, although our understanding is limited as to how and why this is so. We know for certain that when we studied this, this is the conclusion, for the wisdom of the Holy One, blessed be He, requires that the world must be perfect. Thus, He created forty species of lice, eighteen species of ants, one hundred species of mosquitoes, thirty-seven species of flies, one hundred eighteen species of wasps, and the like among other tiny creatures. These extremely subtle creatures are hidden from our eyes and senses; they have no number and their smallness cannot be fully investigated. That is the final point. Some have written that these creatures have a role in the food chain.
Blessings, Benjamin Shmueli
