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Share(7) I form light and create darkness, I make peace and create woe— I HaShem do all these things.
For Jews, the problem of suffering is twofold: There is a universal problem and a particular problem. The universal problem is a philosophical one; it is not just a problem for Jews, but for anyone who conceives of God in a certain way. If God knows everything, then God knows about all evil. If God is all-powerful, then God can prevent all evil. If God is perfectly good, then God should prevent all evil. And yet, evil exists. How can this be true?
According to the Torah, the covenant at Sinai, in which the Israelites agreed to abide by the commandments, established that the Jews would be rewarded if they followed God’s ways. And yet, suffering often seems to be meted out randomly. Righteous people suffer, and wicked people prosper. How can this be reconciled with the covenantal relationship between God and the Jews? The problem of justifying God, despite the existence of evil is known as theodicy.
Types of Solutions
There are several types of solutions to the problem of suffering and evil.
- The biblical book of Job suggests that it is fruitless for humans to try and figure out why God causes some righteous people to suffer.
- While this approach may subvert the concept of reward and punishment, many rabbinic figures, as well as medieval philosophers and mystics, retained this concept by turning to eschatology; that is, they believed that reward and punishment is meted out in the afterlife, or — for those medieval mystics who believed in reincarnation — in a future lifetime.
- Other traditional solutions include the idea that suffering is in some way beneficial (and thus isn’t really bad), and the suffering servant model of the biblical prophet Isaiah, which suggests that the Jewish people suffer in order to redeem the wicked of humanity.
- Many post-Holocaust theologians have developed responses to the unique problems raised by the suffering of the Jews during the Shoah. From “God is hiding” to “God is dead,” these thinkers have placed modern analyses of God and evil at the center of their thought.
וְאִם־לֹא תִשְׁמְעוּ לִי...וְלֹֽא־תִתֵּן אַרְצְכֶם אֶת־יְבוּלָהּ…כה וְשִׁלַּחְתִּי דֶבֶר בְּתוֹכֲכֶם וְנִתַּתֶּם בְּיַד־אוֹיֶב.
If you do not listen to me, then not only will you suffer, but, the Torah goes on to explain, your land will not give its produce, pestilence will be sent and you will be delivered into the hand of your enemy.
כָּל הַבְטָחוֹת וְנֶחָמוֹת דְּיִשְׂרָאֵל, בְּהַנֵּי קְלָלוֹת כְּתִיבֵי.
(י) פּוֹק וַחֲזֵי, מַלְכָּא דִּרְחֵים לִבְרֵיהּ, וְאַף עַל גַּב דְּלַטְיֵיהּ וְאַלְקְיִיהּ, רְחִימוּ דִמְעוֹי עֲלֵיהּ. כַּד אַחֲזֵי רוּגְזָא תַּקִּיף, כְּדֵין רַחְמָנוּתָא עֲלֵיהּ. כָּךְ קוּדְשָׁא בְּרִיךְ הוּא, אַף עַל גַּב דְּלַיֵּיט, מִלּוֹי בִּרְחִימוּ. אִתְחַזְיָין בְּאִתְגַּלְיָיא לְוָוטִין, וְאִינוּן טַבְוָון סַגִּיאָן, בְּגִין דְּאִלֵּין קְלָלוֹת בִּרְחִימוּ הֲווֹ.
All the promises and consolation of Israel are written in these curses. Consider, when a king loves his son, although he might curse him and beat him, nevertheless he loves him from the bottom of his heart. Thus, even though the Holy One, blessed be He, uttered curses, His words were said lovingly. Outwardly they appear as curses, but they are a great beneficence, since these curses were said lovingly.
בשעה שהקב"ה זוכר את בניו ששרויים בצער בין אומות העולם מוריד שתי דמעות לים הגדול וקולו נשמע מסוף העולם ועד סופו והיינו גוהא
When the Holy Blessed One, remembers their children who are suffering among the nations of the world, God sheds two tears into the great sea. The sound is heard from one end of the earth to the other. And that is an earthquake.
אמרי אין חבוש מתיר עצמו מבית האסורים רבי אליעזר חלש על לגביה רבי יוחנן חזא דהוה קא גני בבית אפל גלייה לדרעיה ונפל נהורא חזייה דהוה קא בכי ר' אליעזר א"ל אמאי קא בכית אי משום תורה דלא אפשת שנינו אחד המרבה ואחד הממעיט ובלבד שיכוין לבו לשמים ואי משום מזוני לא כל אדם זוכה לשתי שלחנות ואי משום בני דין גרמא דעשיראה ביר א"ל להאי שופרא דבלי בעפרא קא בכינא א"ל על דא ודאי קא בכית ובכו תרוייהו אדהכי והכי א"ל חביבין עליך יסורין א"ל לא הן ולא שכרן א"ל הב לי ידך יהב ליה ידיה ואוקמיה.
They say: A prisoner cannot free himself from prison.
Rabbi Elazar fell ill. Rabbi Yoḥanan visited him and saw that he was lying in a dark room. Rabbi Yoḥanan exposed his arm, and light came out.
He saw that Rabbi Elazar was crying, and said to him: Why are you crying? ...
Both cried over the fleeting nature of beauty in the world and death that eventually overcomes all. Meanwhile, Rabbi Yoḥanan said to him: Is your suffering dear to you?
Rabbi Elazar said to him: Neither this suffering nor its reward. Upon hearing this, Rabbi Yoḥanan said to him: Give me your hand. Rabbi Elazar gave him his hand, and Rabbi Yoḥanan stood him up.
The thread uniting God and man, heaven and earth, has been broken. We stand in a cold, silent, unfeeling cosmos, unaided by any purposeful power beyond our own resources. After Auschwitz, what else can a Jew say about God?
When asked “How would you answer a chld who asked: ‘why did God make polio?’ ” he replied “God did NOT make polio. God is helping us humans to make this a better world, but the world cannot at once become the kind of world He would like it to be.”
What I realized is, Where did we ever get the notion that worshiping power was the greatest compliment we could play to God? Why is power the most admirable virtue? If I, walking through the wards of a hospital, have to face the fact that either God is all-powerful but not kind, or thoroughly kind and loving but not totally powerful, I would rather compromise God’s power and affirm his love.
We find God in the response of the people who come to support those who are suffering. God is in the medics, not in the accident.
The evils that befall man are of three kinds:
(1) The first kind of evil is that which is caused to man by the circumstance that he is subject to genesis and destruction, or that he possesses a body.
(2) The second class of evils comprises such evils as people cause to each other, when, e.g., some of them use their strength against others.
(3) The third class of evils comprises those which every one causes to himself by his own action.
The hiding God is present; though man is unaware of him, He is present in his hiddenness. Therefore, God can only hide in this world. But if this world were altogether and radically profane, there would be no place in it for Him to hide. He can only hide in history. Since history is man's responsibility, one would, in fact, expect him to hide, to be silent, while man goes about his God-given task. Responsibility requires freedom, but God's convincing presence would undermine the freedom of human decision. God hides in human responsibility and human freedom.
The religious mind starts with the world that is, not the world that might have been. Within this world it seeks meaning. It does not seek explanation...The religious question is about meaning. (Page 237)
(טו) רבי ינאי אומר, אין בידינו לא משלות הרשעים ואף לא מיסורי הצדיקים.
(15) Rabbi Yanai says: We don't have the ability to explain the success of the wicked or the suffering of the righteous.
