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Rabbi Chaim Coffman
Rabbi Coffman has helped people from all across the spectrum to prepare themselves properly for Orthodox Conversion to Judaism. His students admire his vast knowledge and appreciate his warm, personal attention and endearing sense of humor.
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Followers

Welcome to Rabbi Chaim Coffman's Blog!

I would like to thank you for visiting my blog, Beyond Orthodox Conversion to Judaism.

The conversion process can be a lengthy and daunting one to say the least and I want you to know that I am here to help you through it.

I have been teaching newcomers to Judaism for over a decade and over the last few years I have seen that conversion candidates really lack the support and knowledge they need to navigate the conversion process and successfully integrate into the Orthodox Jewish community.

I created my mentorship program in order to help make this whole experience as smooth and as painless as possible! (Can't do much about the growing pains, though ;)

Feel free to get to know me a little through the posts on my blog and visit the mentorship and syllabus page if you are interested in possible joining us.

I sincerely wish you all the best in your search for truth and spiritual growth.

Looking forward to meeting you,
Chaim Coffman

My Rebbe, Rav Moshe Sternbuch

In case you were wondering why I have all of these articles written by Rav Moshe Sternbuch, he is my Rebbe, and one of the gedolei hador (greatest Rabbis of our generation).

Rav Sternbuch fully endorses me and supports my mentorship program.

He is the address for all of my halachic or hashkafic (practical and philosophical) questions that I or my students may have.

The articles are based on his weekly talks on the Torah portion that the Rav gives in Jerusalem in his kollel. As a member of the kollel I get first dibbs on the photocopies and I type them up for my blog so you can all benefit from the Rav's erudition and insight.
Thursday, March 12, 2015

Chapter 4: Mishna 19: Don't let this world fool you

"Rabbi Yannai said: It is not in our power to explain why the wicked are at ease, or why the righteous suffer"

This is the age-old question of why evil people seem to have it easy and the righteous suffer. This world is a world of falsehood because we see many things that don't make any sense to us.

Someone who spends their lives learning Torah and integrating its ideals in their lives, why should they have it so hard in this world? If after all, if they are doing their best to serve G-d, then they should have abundance in their world so they can devote their time to learning! Unfortunately we see them suffer and have a hard time!

One reason that the righteous suffer is because G-d wants to give them greater reward in the next world. If they have suffering in this world then they get atonement for whatever transgressions they may have done and go to the next world with a clean slate ready to get the just reward they deserve.

At the same time, the evil ones seem to have it easy in this world without worries. The reason for this is that they are essentially receiving their reward from the next world in this world. That means for whatever mitzvos they did in this world, they will get the reward now and not have a portion in the world-to-come.

This is because a person has to earn a portion in the world-to-come. The Talmud tells us if you didn't prepare yourself spiritually in this world then there will be no opportunity to have the next world.

Even though the Mishna at the beginning of every chapter of Ethics of our Fathers starts out by saying that every Jew has a portion in the world-to-come, nonetheless there are things a person could do to lose it! One thing that we have to keep in mind is that it is not in our power to explain this.

We have to realize that G-d runs the world and gives each person their trials and tribulations to help them reach their true potential. Some have it easier, some harder, each one according to what spiritual goals they can reach. They help us grow and strengthen ourselves.

We may question things as not being fair because of our own struggles and others who seem to have it easy. We have to realize though at the end of our lives we will have to give an accounting for what we did in this world.

We can't worry about why someone else may have had it easier or anything else but we will have to answer for what we have done! As we see from the end of the book of Job, we can't understand what goes in this world.

G-d takes care of nature at every second of every day taking care of its needs to make sure that things run properly. We can't even imagine everything that goes into that! So too, how can we begin to imagine what goes on here with regards to how things appear!

This world is like a mirage. We have to navigate ourselves through it but through the blueprint which He gave us. This is indeed a formidable challenge which we have to constantly work on to strengthen.

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