Introduction: "That which has been is now" - A Key to Understanding History
We are focusing on a single verse in chapter 3 of Kohelet, a verse that constitutes an entire principle in understanding the Divine governance of the world. King Solomon teaches here that there is nothing truly new in the world of the Holy One, blessed be He: whatever is destined to be has already occurred in history, and for anything that seems perplexing to us, a precedent can be found. And at the end of the verse lies a sharp, profound moral insight: "and God seeks that which is pursued."
מַה שֶּׁהָיָה כְּבָר הוּא, וַאֲשֶׁר לִהְיוֹת כְּבָר הָיָה, וְהָאֱלֹהִים יְבַקֵּשׁ אֶת נִרְדָּף. (טו) - That which has been is already here, and that which is to be has already been, and God seeks that which is pursued. (15)
Had Adam HaRishon Not Sinned - Would He Have Lived Forever?
The Pesikta Zutarta expounds: Rabbi Nechemia said, if a person should say to you, "Is it possible that had Adam HaRishon not eaten from that tree, he would have lived until now?" This is a question many ask: after all, in reality we see that man wears out. At seventy, eighty, ninety, a hundred, a person gradually withers away, passing and vanishing from the world. How long could he possibly have lived? Is it really theoretically possible for a human being to live forever?
First of all, there is no question here at all, for two reasons. One: you are looking at the reality of man as it is after the sin, but the reality of the physical body of Adam HaRishon prior to the sin was like the reality of our soul today, while the reality of the soul of Adam HaRishon is beyond our comprehension altogether. In other words, Adam HaRishon was constituted entirely differently before the sin.
And the second reason: today, according to science, the question does not even arise to begin with - "me'ikara kushya leita", to use the Talmudic phrasing. For it is well known that there is a gene responsible for aging and cellular decay, and scientists are currently working on isolating it; once they succeed in deactivating it, man could theoretically live forever. It may be that they will discover this precisely when it is decreed for mankind to live forever - Mashiach will come and "He will swallow up death forever," while science will imagine that it discovered something on its own. Indeed, were it not for this gene, there would not be any aging at all, since human cells regenerate every day: cells die and new cells take their place. If so, why should a person die at all? It is clear that there is a specific genetic mechanism causing aging; otherwise, just as old cells die and new ones are regenerated, a person could live for two thousand or three thousand years. Look at a child's skin: today's skin is not the skin of a month ago, a year ago, or a decade ago; dead cells shed and new skin replaces them. This could have been true for all of human biology. (Incidentally, two organs that do not regenerate are the eyes and the brain; there, cells do not turn over, but remain as they are. There is certainly cellular decline with old age, but they do not undergo constant renewal.)
And what does the Midrash itself answer? "Say to him: it is already so" - for Eliyahu is alive. Pinchas is Eliyahu, and you see him existing hundreds of years after the events in the wilderness, after the Holy One, blessed be He, promised him His covenant of peace. Thus you see that prolonged physical life is not inconceivable: "That which has been is already here."
"And that which is to be has already been" - All Future Bounties Have Already Occurred
The Midrash states: everything the Holy One, blessed be He, is destined to bestow upon the righteous has already occurred. That is to say, even regarding future blessings, if you reflect upon history you will see that they have already taken place. For example, the revival of the dead. A person might ask: Will the Holy One, blessed be He, truly resurrect the dead? They say to him: It has already happened. Behold, He resurrected the dead through Eliyahu and through Elisha - the son of the woman of Tzarfat and the son of the Shunammite woman - and through Yechezkel in the valley of Dura. Why should you wonder?
Yeshayahu says, "When you pass through the water, I am with you" - how is it possible for a person to pass through water and survive? Today, in the age of submarines, we understand this. And if you wish to explain that it means the sea will split for them, here too, do not wonder: through Yehoshua it is stated, "You shall inform your children, saying: On dry land Israel crossed the Jordan." Yeshayahu further states, "When you walk through fire, you will not be scorched" - how is it possible for a man to walk through fire and not be burned? The Midrash says: Why are you astonished? It has already happened - Chananyah, Mishael, and Azaryah, and Avraham Avinu who was cast into the fiery furnace.
"And God seeks that which is pursued"
The Midrash says: Just as the Holy One, blessed be He, demanded the blood of Israel from Pharaoh's hand, so will He demand it from the hand of all the nations that shed the blood of Israel and from their persecutors. Here, too, one might ask: Is it possible for reality to change, that the Holy One, blessed be He, will punish the wicked and those who caused us distress? They tell you: Do not wonder, for that which was is that which will be. The Jewish people were persecuted by Pharaoh, and Hashem taught him his lesson properly; so too in the future to come, "And I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed" - Hashem will not leave the blood of Israel unavenged, and He will exact retribution from them.
And so it is from the other side, that the Holy One, blessed be He, seeks out Israel because they are the pursued, as it is written, "And they walked without strength before the pursuer." And if you ask how this can be, they tell you: It has already happened. Avraham - Hashem saved him from the hand of Nimrod, who cast him into the fiery furnace. Yitzchak - was saved from Yishmael, as it says, "Like a madman who shoots firebrands." Yaakov - from Esav, who pursued him to kill him. Yosef - from his brothers, "Come, let us throw him into one of the pits." Moshe - from Pharaoh, "And he sought to slay Moshe." David - from Shaul, "And Shaul eyed David askance from that day onward."
And what does "seeks out the pursued" mean? That it is precisely the pursued whom Hashem raises to the head. Who is the greatest pursued figure in history? King David, who said, "Those who pursue me without cause are more numerous than the hairs of my head" - and behold, "He chose David His servant." The Holy One, blessed be He, specifically seeks out the pursued, and elevates him to the head.
Why the Ox, the Sheep, and the Goat Were Chosen for Offerings
Therefore, the Holy One, blessed be He, chose the pursued rather than the pursuers when it comes to sacrifices. A question naturally arises: Why did Hashem not choose a lion for an offering? Seemingly, a lion is considered far more majestic to offer upon the Altar. And why did He not choose a deer, which is also prized above a sheep? The answer is: "And God seeks out the pursued" - an ox from before a lion, a sheep from before a wolf. The wolf was not chosen for an offering, but the sheep was, because it is pursued by it.
Now, according to this, there would still have been room for a deer, but there is another Midrash that says the Holy One, blessed be He, said to the Jewish people: I did not burden you to bring Me a sacrifice from the forests. Think about it for a moment: If Hashem had burdened us, a person would have had to hire hunters to track down where that animal was found; and if a lion, go hunt a lion to bring it as an offering - and not just hunt it, but capture it unblemished, for if you shoot an arrow at it, it will develop a blemish, a spot in its eye or its ear, and that would invalidate it entirely. Hashem says: I did not burden you; I told you to bring from what you already have in the pen - a sheep, a goat, an ox in the enclosure. Bring from what you have. This reflects the principle that the Holy One, blessed be He, does not act tyrannically toward His creations and does not overburden them. But for our purposes, there is an additional reason: God seeks out the pursued, and therefore it is specifically the pursued that Hashem desires to be brought as a sacrifice before Him.
The same applies to the dove. The dove is also considered pursued, and it is the weakest of the birds, and Knesset Yisrael is compared to a dove. Look at its nature: when you catch it, it does not rebel or thrash about wildly, but sits quietly in your hand like a pet. Try grabbing a Rottweiler - you had better not. From this we see that these animals are the submissive ones, they are the pursued, and God seeks out the pursued.
"Even When a Righteous Person Pursues a Wicked Person"
Rabbi Yosi said: God always seeks out the pursued - whether it is a righteous person pursuing a righteous person, a wicked person pursuing a righteous person, or a wicked person pursuing a wicked person. And note the astonishing addition: even when a righteous person pursues a wicked person, God seeks out the pursued. Even if the righteous person is the pursuer and the wicked person is the one pursued, know that Hashem stands at the right hand of the pursued. This is an extraordinarily dangerous matter.
An incident took place with the Brisker Rav, recorded in the book HaRav MiBrisk, volume 3, page 135: There were individuals who persecuted those who undermined and destroyed religion, and the Brisker Rav warned them not to pursue them excessively. His reasoning: If you pursue them excessively, they will fall into the category of the pursued, and the moment they become the pursued, the situation will reverse in their favor, for God seeks out the pursued. And he added the words of the Midrash we mentioned: Even when a righteous person pursues a wicked person, God seeks out the pursued.
A similar story occurred with the Chazon Ish, who attempted to smooth over a dispute between two rabbis. One of them told him that he was deeply afraid of the persecutions of the opposing rabbi, who had the upper hand. It is told that the Chazon Ish gave him a penetrating look and said: If so, you must be extremely cautious and on guard, lest out of sheer fear of being pursued, you turn into the pursuer yourself. For the distance between being pursued and being a pursuer is as thin as a hairsbreadth, and roles can reverse in the blink of an eye; and one who was pursued and turns into a pursuer forfeits all of his previous merits in a single moment.
And this dynamic is familiar: a person says, "He is pursuing me, I am only defending myself" - yet out of self-defense he is already harming, slandering, and defaming. Out of self-defense you have become the aggressor, and once you are an aggressor you have become the pursuer, and then "God seeks out the pursued" - and the pursued is now the opposing side, even if he is wicked. You might argue: But he is in the wrong! True, but you began to pursue him out of fear that he might pursue you, and by doing so, you altered the entire reality in a single moment.
The Etz Yosef: What Kind of Pursuit Is Being Discussed?
Nevertheless, one must note the words of the Etz Yosef in his commentary on the Midrash: When it is said that "even when a righteous person pursues a wicked person," this does not mean he pursues him because of his wickedness, but rather that he pursues him for his own gratification. For if he pursues him on account of his wickedness, he is performing a mitzvah, and it cannot be said that regarding this, "God seeks out the pursued" - after all, on the contrary, he is pursuing the wicked man because of his wickedness! Rather, the Midrash is speaking of a situation where the righteous person is not pursuing him in order to eradicate evil, but is fighting him for personal reasons, out of a personal feud or the like.
In fact, one can say that there is no contradiction at all between the Etz Yosef and the words of the Brisker Rav and the Chazon Ish, and an incident with Rabbi Yisrael Salanter illustrates this. Once, a person came to Rabbi Yisrael of Salant and told him about a wicked man who was committing all kinds of misdeeds, and that people must rise up and protest against him, organizing assemblies and demonstrations. The Rav heard the matter and said to him: "True, you are right; one may not remain silent and one must protest. But I wish to tell you one thing. It is written, 'Justice, justice shall you pursue' - and the question is already asked, why does the verse repeat the word 'justice'? To teach us that justice itself must also be pursued with justice. When you come to protest, the protest must conform to halachic guidelines. When you want to pursue justice - meaning there is someone acting unjustly and you come to pursue him - you must not use tools that are unjust. Not violence, which is foreign to our camp and is not our way at all. If you wish to pursue - pursue with justice."
Many Disputes Began for the Sake of Heaven
And this is what he told him: "Know that many disputes began for the sake of Heaven. I rise up and protest against something you did, as it is contrary to Daas Torah, and I protest about that. But the moment I protest and speak out against you, you return fire, you slander me, and I escalate the response. And what has happened here? I entered a dispute to which my ego has now attached itself. While at first it was justice, I did not remain in justice." Rabbi Yisrael of Salant said to him: "If you start with justice, make sure you remain with justice, so that the battle does not turn into a personal vendetta. For I attacked you for the honor of Heaven, you attacked me back, and now I am retaliating out of my own personal grievance, because I was hurt - and that is no longer the honor of Heaven."
This is like the person who came to Rav Shteinman regarding someone who demonstratively walked out of his shiur. He came to ask about a certain request that person made, asking whether he should grant it, arguing that the honor of the Torah was at stake: "I deliver a shiur and he walks out in the middle demonstratively and causes disgrace!" Rav Shteinman looked at him and asked with slight irony: "Is your name 'Torah'?" Meaning: Is it truly the honor of the Torah that concerns you? You are demanding your own honor and wrapping it in the mantle of Torah.
So too here: if you are pursuing justice, see to it that you remain just, because otherwise you enter a conflict where you have completely forgotten why it began or what it was about, and it has turned into a personal war. And what is the result? The opposing party becomes the pursued, because you are no longer pursuing for the sake of Heaven! And it is very likely that it was precisely about such a situation that the Brisker Rav and the Chazon Ish spoke: when a person pursues excessively, that excessive zeal itself reveals that there is something personal at play, not merely the honor of Heaven.
The Incident of the Lender Who Asked for Forgiveness
We once recounted the story of a man who lent money to his friend, and the borrower denied the debt. In short, they went to beit din, and that person swore an oath in beit din that he had never borrowed anything from him. The lender was so horrified that he tore his garments and cried out, "Be astonished, O heavens! How can a person swear falsely? This is an absolute wicked man!" - and he denounced him with great severity.
A few months passed, and he came to the synagogue where they prayed in the same minyan, banged on the bimah, and said: "Gentlemen, I ask forgiveness from so-and-so - from that man whom I humiliated in beit din. I humiliated him, I spoke harsh words against him, and I called him wicked, and I ask his forgiveness." And he asked this publicly, since the humiliation had been in public. They asked him: "Did it turn out that he swore truthfully?" He replied: "No, he swore falsely." They asked: "If so, why are you asking for forgiveness?" He said: "I am asking for forgiveness because humiliating him as I did was unlawful. And how do I know? A week ago, I was in beit din again, and once again I saw a man swearing falsely without blinking, without hesitation, in cold blood - and suddenly I realized that it did not really move me. I did not rend my garments, there was no 'Be astonished, O heavens!', and no cries of 'wicked!' It became clear to me that my humiliation of that man back then had nothing to do with the honor of Heaven; it was simply because my money was taken! The proof is that when someone else swore falsely, there was also a desecration of God's Name - so why did you not cry out? Rather, it was not the desecration of God's Name that concerned me, but that my money was touched and on top of that he swore he owed me nothing. For that, I had to ask his forgiveness - because I humiliated him unlawfully."
First of all, one sees true greatness here; another person would have said, "He deserved it, he is wicked," yet here this man drew a moral lesson for himself. And this is precisely the point: a person can begin with justice, but when you see him organizing protests and all, and suddenly it turns out that it is entirely about ego - because they hurt him, because he has a personal stake - then it has nothing to do with the honor of Heaven, and there is no protest over the desecration of God's Name whatsoever.
Rashi: What Advantage Does the Evildoer Have?
Rashi explains "That which has been is already done" - that which we see having occurred, know that it has already taken place before us; we have seen it before us, and witnesses have testified before us that they already saw it. And see, for example, that "God seeks the pursued": Yaakov was pursued - and who ended up on top? Yaakov, and where is Esav? "And Esav I hated." Egypt pursued Israel - and the Egyptians drowned in the sea. Thus you see that what occurred in history is also what will be: take into account that in the future as well, Hashem will seek the pursued, for when Hashem sees that someone is being pursued, He stands at the right hand of the pursued to exact retribution from the pursuer.
מַה יִּתְרוֹן הָעוֹשֶׂה בַּאֲשֶׁר הוּא עָמֵל. (ט) - What gain does the worker have in that which he toils? (9)
Therefore, Rashi explains: What is the advantage of the evildoer in his toil, since he will ultimately be repaid - in the end, he will pay a price for it, because God seeks the pursued. Even if right now it seems that you are on top of the world - "I am on top, I am the pursuer" - come and see in history that the pursuer always paid a heavy price, and so it will be in the future. So what is the advantage of the evildoer? Why do you feel so successful, when you know that shortly the situation will be reversed and Hashem will seek the pursued?
The Alshich: What Occurred in the Previous Gilgul
The holy Alshich offers an original explanation here. If you ask: we clearly see a righteous person who suffers and a wicked person who prospers, so how can you say that the evildoer will ultimately be repaid? Regarding this, the verse says, "That which has been is already done." When you see a tzaddik suffering, he is not suffering for what is happening with him now, but for his previous gilgulim (reincarnations). What happened back then - that he defied the word of Hashem and acted improperly, and was therefore reincarnated - "is already done," it is what you are seeing right now. And conversely, when you see a rasha who has it good, Hashem gives it to him now on account of what he did in a previous gilgul. Do not wonder, then, when you see things that do not seem to align with justice and fairness. And from this you will also understand "and God seeks the pursued": even if you might say of the pursued that he seemingly deserves to be pursued - it is very possible that in a previous gilgul he was a tzaddik, and that is precisely why God seeks him.
Amtachat Binyamin: What Was Decreed on Rosh Hashanah
The Amtachat Binyamin, cited by the Me'am Lo'ez, adds another explanation: "That which has been is already done" - everything that happens to a person throughout the year did not just happen now, but was already determined on Rosh Hashanah. It was already inscribed and decreed in advance.
A story is told of one of the Gedolei Yisrael who, on Chanukah, was informed, God forbid, that an illness had been found in him. He was deeply distressed - and over what was he distressed? That they had not discovered it in Elul. He said: For then my prayer would have been different, my Elul would have looked different, "The books of the living and the dead are opened before You" would have been recited with an entirely different feeling, and perhaps then I could have contended with it and annulled the evil decree. But now, when they discovered it in the middle of the year, it is much harder to change things after they were already decreed on Rosh Hashanah. And this is "That which has been is already done" - everything that happens to a person throughout the year was already decreed upon him on Rosh Hashanah. "And that which is to be has already been" - even that which is destined to be has already been decreed beforehand.
And if someone should come and say: If so, I can harm my fellow, since it was already decreed upon him in advance to suffer harm - to this we have previously answered: Hashem did not decree that you must be the agent. That is your own free choice. It is true that harm was decreed upon him, but why must you be the agent? Just as we find regarding Pharaoh, who was punished even though it was said, "And they shall serve them, and they shall afflict them four hundred years." Pharaoh might say: What do you want from me, wasn't it decreed that they would be afflicted? But who said that you had to be the one to afflict them? The Holy One, blessed be He, brings guilt through the guilty, and ultimately punishes the guilty party. So too here, he will ultimately be punished.
And this is what King Solomon is saying: Know that even though you think you can harm him and have nothing to worry about because it was already decreed upon him in advance - "and God seeks the pursued." Hashem will exact retribution from whoever harms his fellow, and ultimately the pursuer will not succeed in carrying out his plot. And the reason: the pursued has a broken heart, and God seeks out those who are brokenhearted. Therefore, do not harm your fellow, for ultimately he will have the upper hand - and you will fall.
In Summary:
"That which has been is already done" teaches us not to wonder at the promises of the future - long life, the resurrection of the dead, passing through water and fire, exacting retribution from the nations - for each of these has a precedent in history. And at the heart of the verse lies the principle of Divine Providence: "And God seeks the pursued." The Holy One, blessed be He, stands at the right hand of the pursued and elevates him to the top, to the extent that even the sacrifices were chosen from the pursued species, and even if a righteous person pursues a wicked one. From here arises a severe warning: do not pursue excessively, for the distance between pursued and pursuer is like a hairsbreadth; "Justice, justice shall you pursue" - pursue justice itself justly, lest you begin for the sake of Heaven and end in a personal feud. On the other hand, you need not worry about what was decreed upon you from Rosh Hashanah, but neither should you be the messenger of evil, for the pursuer will ultimately pay, and the brokenhearted pursued will ultimately be sought out by the Creator of the universe.