"I was young and now I am old, yet I have not seen a righteous man forsaken, nor his seed begging for bread"

With G-d's help 

Greetings,

 The verse is taken from the Book of Psalms: "I was young and now I am old, yet I have not seen a righteous man forsaken, nor his seed begging for bread" (Psalms 37:25).

 It seems to me that this verse refers to a completely righteous person, such as Elijah the Prophet, who was fed by ravens, or Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, for whom a carob tree grew in a cave to provide for his sustenance. Very few reach such a high level of complete righteousness and merit openly revealed miracles.

However, even ordinary righteous people receive special divine assistance in their livelihood due to their righteousness, as can be observed. Therefore, it is not common to see a righteous person forsaken whose children are begging for bread—unless during a time of intense decree or in very rare circumstances.

In its simplest meaning, this verse was said by King David in his old age, stating that he never saw in his life a righteous person reach the disgrace of hunger. King David lived during a time when G-d's providence was openly visible, and the Children of Israel dwelled on their land. However, since we have gone into exile, and even now we live in spiritual exile and await our Redeemer's arrival, the reward and punishment are now concealed and not apparent. There are righteous individuals who are punished due to previous incarnations or for the sake of the Jewish people, and we do not know the accounts of the heavens, as in our times the concealment of G-d's face is great.

There are many interpretations of this verse, and many have spoken about the reward of the righteous and their children in the World to Come. It is possible to interpret that this is stated in most cases. For example, consider the mitzvah of honoring one's parents, which in its simple meaning is said to lengthen a person's life in this world, but it also hints at eternal life in the World to Come, which has no end. The Talmud recounts a story of a son who fulfilled his father's command by climbing a tree to fulfill the mitzvah of sending away the mother bird, but he fell and died. The sages provided several explanations for this case, demonstrating that there were specific and special heavenly accounts regarding that son, which prevented the blessing of long life despite the mitzvot he observed. One can understand from their words that normally—the mitzvah of honoring parents indeed extends life in this world—yet there are rare and individual cases that can prevent this benefit.

What is this comparable to? A soldier asking his commander in battle: "Why must I wear a helmet? There are soldiers who wore helmets and still got hit on their heads!" His question is, of course, unreasonable. The helmet protects the head in most cases, according to the regular course of nature, but certainly, there are cases of direct and exceptional injury where no helmet will help.

Similarly, the mitzvah of affixing a mezuzah protects homes in the vast majority of cases, just as the mitzvah of honoring one's parents extends the lives of most people who honor their parents, but there are cases that fall outside the norm—special heavenly accounts with that soul—that do not nullify the decree. Even in the case of righteous individuals, through regular providence, they do not reach the disgrace of hunger and are more protected than anyone from falling into a state of hunger.

Sincerely,

Daniel Bals