A Life by Design: Finding Emunah in Life’s Challenges

This week’s parshah, Ki Tetse, teaches an inspiring lesson in emunah, one that can be particularly uplifting for anyone struggling with challenges or difficult circumstances. The Torah says:

“When you build a new house, you shall make a guardrail for your roof, so that you do not place blood in your house if the one who falls should fall from it.” (Devarim 22:8)

Rashi famously asks: Why does the Torah refer to the person as “the one who falls” before

he has actually fallen? Why describe him as the one who falls when, at that point, he is still standing?

Chazal explain that from the time of Creation, this person was destined to fall, and therefore the Torah refers to him as “the one who falls” even before the accident occurs.

This raises a fundamental question: If the person was destined to fall, why does the Torah command us to build a guardrail? If the accident was already destined to happen, what difference would the guardrail make?

Rashi provides a profound answer. The person may indeed have been destined to fall, but it was not predetermined that he would fall from this particular balcony. The Torah therefore commands the homeowner to take the necessary precautions and install a guardrail. Perhaps the person was destined to fall elsewhere, but he should not fall because of your negligence.

This teaches us a powerful principle: Knowing that everything is part of Hashem’s plan does not exempt us from responsibility. We are required to take every reasonable precaution to prevent harm. The outcome may ultimately be determined by Hashem, but we are responsible for our choices and actions.

In other words, emunah in Divine providence and human responsibility do not contradict one another. We must do everything in our power to prevent danger, while recognizing that the ultimate outcome remains in Hashem’s hands.

There is another striking insight here. Chazal are teaching us that a person’s destiny—including the circumstances of his death—can be determined even before he is born. But they go even further: this destiny was not established merely before his birth; it was already part of Hashem’s plan from the very beginning of Creation. From the six days of Creation, the events of a person’s life were already woven into the grand design of Creation.

Imagine, for example, that a person is tragically killed in a car accident. Those who hear about the tragedy may view it in very different ways. Some may say that the drivers were reckless or that the accident could have been prevented. Others may see it as a punishment from Heaven, while still others may attribute it to chance or unfortunate circumstances.

Chazal, however, teach us a very different outlook. Behind every event lies a Divine plan that was established long before the event itself occurred. What may appear to us as a sudden and unexpected tragedy was already known and accounted for in Hashem’s plan for Creation. This perspective does not diminish the tragedy or excuse human responsibility, but it gives us a deeper understanding of emunah: nothing is truly random, and even events that appear unforeseen are ultimately part of Hashem’s master plan.

Chazal offer a further profound insight. Rebbe Yehoshua ben Levi says:

“All the works of Creation were created in their complete form, with their consent, and according to the form they chose.” (Rosh Hashanah 11a)

Rashi explains “with their consent” (לדעתן) to mean that Hashem informed them that He was going to create them, and they willingly agreed.

And what does it mean that they were created “according to the form they chose” (לצביונן)? Rashi explains that they were created in the form they themselves chose.

This teaches an extraordinary concept: the details of Creation were not arbitrary. Each creature was brought into existence in the form and condition that was part of its predetermined purpose.

According to Rashi, before each person was created, he was given the opportunity to choose the form in which he would be created—to determine, so to speak, his own “custom design.” Hashem then created him exactly according to that choice.

Rabbeinu Bachya elaborates on this idea:

“What this Midrash is trying to illustrate is that all creatures, at the time of their creation, which occurred in accordance with their will and aspirations, were informed by Hashem at that time of all that would befall them in the course of their lives. Similarly, He informs them of the number of years they are going to live and what the manner of their death is going to be. They are also informed if they will enjoy an easy livelihood, or if they will have to struggle and suffer in order to eke out a living. Hashem tells them if they will be dependent on handouts or will be able to make a living through their own skills and labors. At that time, those creatures were all satisfied with what fate was to have in store for them.”

This raises a profound question: If a person was informed beforehand about the life he was going to have, why would anyone choose a life filled with challenges and hardships? Why would a person choose difficulties with livelihood, health, children, marriage, Torah learning, friends, neighbors, or other areas of life? Wouldn’t everyone naturally choose a life filled with goodness, happiness, and comfort?

The answer is that our definition of “good” and “bad” is very different from the perspective of the next world. In this world, we often equate good with an easy, comfortable, and pleasant life, and bad with hardship, pain, and difficulty. But from the perspective of the eternal world, it becomes clear that this is not necessarily the case.

In the next world, a person understands what truly matters. He sees which experiences elevated him, strengthened him, refined him, and brought him closer to his ultimate purpose. He realizes that what appeared in this world to be a hardship may have been one of the greatest gifts he was given.

If we could see our lives from that eternal perspective, we might choose very differently. We might not choose the easiest life, but rather the life that would accomplish the most and elevate us to the greatest heights.

Thus, the challenges we face are not necessarily signs that something has gone wrong. Quite often, the very difficulties we would have tried to avoid are the experiences that ultimately shape us, elevate us, and bring us to a far greater place. What appears to us as “bad” in this world may, in the larger Divine plan, be precisely what is good for us.

Perhaps this is one of the greatest lessons of emunah: we do not always have the ability to choose what happens to us, but we can trust that the life Hashem has given us was designed with a purpose. What we experience as a challenge may be exactly what our neshamah needs to reach the place it was meant to reach.