Dear Maeir לאוי״ט: During this past Pesach, Josh showed me your essay on R. Akiva and theodicy, and I found it most impressive. At first I thought that your eclectic use of sources constituted a weakness, but then I reconsidered and realized that this is the only way to find some rational and coherent explanation of R. Akiva’s remarkable optimism – because I too would love to know the answer. Offhand, I prefer to think that R. Akiva came out of the Pardes the same way he entered – no solutions, but with the satisfaction of knowing that there is a solution, but the Almighty has chosen not to reveal it to us, perhaps to leave place for freedom of the will. In that case, R. Akiva merely experienced anew the “solution” that the Almighty gave to Job. (Not every knshia has a terutz...) Yeyashar kochakha, and keep it up – and do try to develop the idea further. All the best to all the Becker generations.