Sustenance for All, but What About Hunger in Africa?

Amit asks: "Hello. In the Blessing After Meals, we say 'He nourishes and sustains all,' yet we know there are people dying of hunger in the world today, especially in Africa. I would love an explanation. Thank you very much."

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Hello and blessings Amit, and thank you for your question.

First of all, Hashem maintains the entire world and sustains all human beings. Thank Hashem, most of the world is not dying of hunger, and most Africans in Africa are not starving either. Relative to the size of the population, very few people die of hunger worldwide, and as the sages have said, more people die from overeating than from hunger.

But it is true that some tribes and countries suffer from poverty and hunger, and there are still people in the world who die of hunger.

However, this is not a malfunction in the world, but in us, humans, both materially and spiritually.

On the material level, the sages said about the end of days, there will be widespread corruption in the world. There will be abundance of food, but prices will rise due to greed and corruption of the governments. As the sages said in the Mishnah: "In the footsteps of the Messiah, impudence will increase, and the cost will rise: the vine will bear its fruit but the wine will be expensive, and the kingdom will turn heretical" (Mishnah, end of Tractate Sotah).

And this is the truth, that in terms of natural reality, Hashem has placed great abundance in His world for everyone to earn a respectable living everywhere. However, people choose not to share, elect dishonest leaders, act inconsiderately towards the weak, and as a result, entire tribes and countries go hungry—even when there is an abundance of food in the country. South Africa, for example, lives in economic comfort yet does not support its poor. The hunger that exists in the world does not result from a lack of resources on continents. It is actually humanity's fault, which needs to take responsibility for its actions and care for all its inhabitants.

Nevertheless, even though life is becoming more expensive, we must also acknowledge that in our generation most of the poor have something to eat, and people are not dying of hunger en masse. The worldview has also changed a lot. In the times of the sages 1500 years ago, a wealthy person was someone who had toilets in his home! This is one opinion in the Talmud (Shabbat page 25, column b). But nowadays, we have a faucet that gives us water effortlessly, a bathtub in every house, and in the stores, we find bread and cakes for ten shekels. We have a lot to be thankful for, although we always want more and look at what could be. Most of the world lives in wealth, much more than it needs. If a person looked at all the gifts he has received, he would see that there is much to be thankful for.

The creator gave humans senses, traits, and abilities allowing him to enjoy the world more than any other creature. This title includes a very long list of enjoyments, both physical and spiritual, that cannot be counted. The creator gave man the ability to enjoy nature, marriage, family bonds, the children born to him, learning, and everything he has in life. Man is blessed with imagination, speech, thought, creativity, morals, art, and even a sense of humor. This is a fact that the creator made a wonderful world, and he gave man a magnificent body, through which the man can enjoy a great deal in life. The ability to enjoy beauty, creation, family, and everything you have achieved in life is a collection of a thousand proofs that the creator influences humans with wealth that cannot be replaced by money: we have wonderful senses and an amazing brain, colored three-dimensional vision, stereo hearing, a sense of taste, smell, touch, complex hands with precise fingers, and even eyebrows that prevent sweat from entering the eyes. We are aesthetic and symmetrical creatures, and even the growth pattern of the beard and hair testifies to superior wisdom. We can't even imagine for a moment life without vision or hearing, but despite this, we don't think about these wonderful gifts every day. Both poor and rich people have received these wonderful gifts. Only because people have been given the power of habit, they do not marvel every day about all the wonderful gifts they have in life.

The few who do suffer in the world suffer because of the majority of the public that chooses selfishness and does not demand the welfare of the weak in the state. A situation that needs to be corrected. But certainly, Hashem sustains and provides for the entire world, giving great abundance in His world to all human beings to succeed and enjoy it.

On the spiritual level, we must accurately state that Hashem brings prosperity to all human beings in the world without exception, precisely when the world is in its ideal and best state. If we take, for example, the period of the flood or the destruction of the Tower of Babel—we will see a different situation of decrees in the world. We are punished for our sins, and the nations also return in reincarnation and are punished for previous sins. We must recognize that the current situation is not ideal; we live in the difficult period before the redemption, about which the sages said that costs will rise and the kingdom will become heretical, we are facing the war of Gog and Magog, when then the children of Israel will direct their hearts to our Father in heaven, and the complete redemption will come, and there will be an end to all the troubles of the world: "Hashem will set over them a harsh king like Haman, and immediately they will repent - and they will be redeemed" (Sanhedrin 97).

Thus, the prophets in the Bible promise that in the complete redemption, there will be peace all over the world, everyone will know Hashem from the smallest to the greatest, there will be no more hunger for bread, and there will be no more wars (Jeremiah chapter 31). We pray and ask Hashem to reach this ideal state, and therefore we also pray for redemption and for the coming of the Messiah soon.