A heretic challenged the sages with a question about God's justice toward the disabled. "If your God is good, why does He create people who are maimed — the blind, the deaf, the lame? A good craftsman would not produce defective work."
The sage's response, preserved in the Talmud (Gittin 68a) and other sources, cut through the heretic's logic with a single insight: God does not create "defects." He creates variety. Every human being — regardless of physical condition — serves a unique purpose in God's plan.
The sage offered an analogy. A king has many servants. Some are strong, some are swift, some are clever. The king does not wish all his servants to be identical — that would make his household less effective, not more. The servant who cannot run carries messages in writing. The servant who cannot see develops hearing so acute that he detects approaching enemies before anyone else.
God, the sage said, operates the same way. The blind man develops inner sight. The deaf man develops sensitivity to what others miss. The lame man sits and studies Torah while others waste their health on trivial pursuits. Each apparent limitation is actually a redirection — God closing one door so that another, more important door can open.
The heretic had framed his question as though God were a manufacturer of products, some defective, some not. The sage reframed reality: God is an artist, and every human being is a unique creation with a unique function. The maimed are not God's mistakes. They are God's specialists.