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September 14, 1970

Lesson to Learn from Tragedy

Theodicy General Jewish Thought

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Emunah and Bitachon - Issues of Faith and Trust in the Face of Tragedy (1994)

Introduction: A very, very difficult topic – the most intractable of all, and the greatest challenge to אמונה ובטחון. We cannot escape it. This talk – really, my avodah – is dedicated to the memory of Aaron Heller, ע״ה. We welcome his mother, Mrs. Klausner, and join all of you in extending condolences and expressing commiseration. חיזוק האמונה in the face of tragedy:a) Two problems-death itself; and death so young. The first focuses on אמונה ("how can a good God allow death?") and second on בטחון("how can we trust a God who takes away one so young?"). But at bottom they are one and the same.b) an ancient yet perennial problem: Israelis for fallen young comrades, Holocaust—and every death since Adam & Evec) Autobiographical-Joshua Kaufman and Saul Goodmanע״ה—I had to confront the fact of death, thought too young to ask the more advanced question, "but why so young?" I felt weak, vulnerable. I never forgot them—part of my maturing process— painful but inevitable. And, in me, led to compulsiveness about time and getting things done before it's too late; workaholic(here: story of Dov Sadan and how he was ab/e to be so prtoductive)d) Need to divide into 3 parts: philosophical, moral, emotionalPhilosophical- evil & death-the theodicy problem. Samuel, David, Solomon—צדיק ורע לו, רשע וטוב לו. Question asked; no answer givenYes, it is an injustice built into the fabric of life. JFK: "Life is unfair"; and so is death!Not to ask the question is escapism; to expect a satisfying answer is arrogance; to bow in faithful acceptance is true אמונה. Thus: JOB....Continuation: ר׳ינאי—אין בידינו לא משלוות הרשעים ואף לא מיסורי הצדיקיםAnd here is where אמונה comes in: acknowledgement of His justice although beyond our ken... That = essence of צדוק הדיןSo, do not expect me to answer question of "Why?" I know only that my אמונה insists that טוב ה׳ לכל ורחמיו על כל מעשיו; that there is an עולם הבא והשארת הנפש ותחה״מ; that by definition we are both physically and metaphysically limi…
Theodicy

Article

Foreword to From the Depths I Have Called to You: Jewish Reflections on September 11th and Contemporary Terrorism (2002)

The traumatic events of September 11th have left an indelible mark on the psyche of the American people – and, indeed, on people throughout the civilized world. The horror of the senseless killing and the noxious religious fanaticism that occasioned it left us perplexed, angry, and determined to uproot the evil that has been visited upon us. High among the issues suddenly thrust upon our consciousness were those of security and economics. We discovered our vulnerability—something most people in the world were fully aware of and were long coping with, but which we had never considered as a result of living between the two great oceans on each side of us. We now had to protect ourselves from the technologically adept madmen who probably had more such awful tricks up their proverbial sleeves. And the destruction of the d'win Towers, the icons of American capitalism and the symbols of our national and individual wealth, coming at a time of a slowing economy, accelerated the bad news and left many people unemployed or underemployed.These challenges have been, are, and will be met and overcome. American ingenuity and unity sometimes falter when things are going well, but become heroically active when adversity suddenly confronts us. Our military activity in Afghanistan, our readiness to stand up to terrorists of all kinds, has inspired and encouraged us. The civilized world suffered from piracy until it was conquered, and international terrorism too will be vanquished, albeit not without more pain and suffering.But beyond these two obvious consequences of the 9/11 catastrophe was something more insidious, more personal, and more unsettling. And that is the philosophical and theological dilemma that widespread suffering had thrust upon us. As a result, Americans turned to their respective houses of worship in numbers considerably greater than usual, the media uncharacteristically turned introspective, and people who never gave thought to the ultimate questions of existenc…
Theodicy

Note

Sources for Future Tisha B'av Sermons (1976)

Suffering has no answer, only questions. Everything depends – as the neo-Kantians said – on the way you phrase the question. The challenge to God of suffering must be properly wielded. It is an old Jewish tradition that the question must be turned back on ourselves: guilt that is not pathological but induces moral regeneration. But – so much? The Holocaust too? The attitude can be overdone.There is a reverse attitude: the challenge is flung at God, as it were: Abraham, Rabbis on Job say: An insult, a scandal and blasphemy — that was all right for a Moses, or an Abraham or a Berditchever -- or the victims of the Holocaust themselves. But the problem is that all the bystanders, and those who were born after the Holocaust, also ask such questions. There is an element of self-righteousness about the person who, living in an economy of affluence, and never pious, asks, how can I believe in God after Auschwitz?There is something simply phony about the attitude. I remain unimpressed by the obese, cigar-chomping philosopher who excuses all his failings by blaming God for suffering of the Holocaust. Too much of what is written in our contemporary literature, and that passes on the lecture podium is no more than preposterous posturing.What then? They must be both simultaneously. Midrash says: So, one question without the other is invalid• To challenge and blame only man and the victim is insensitive; only God is — arrogant and silly. When we combine both questions, as Moses did, then we are asking the great question from the point of proper balance.
Theodicy General Jewish Thought Reflections on the Shoah