DISEASE IS NOT DIVINE PUNISHMENT

 Rabbi Rifat Sonsino, Ph.D.

When I was a teenager back in Turkey, if I had a cold or was not feeling well, my Hebrew teacher would often say: “You must have done something wrong!” That infuriated me, and I would tell him, “No, I did not do anything bad.”

There is an old assumption in our western world that equates illness with sin. As Philip I. Lieberman recently wrote, “Religious people throughout history often saw plagues as the manifestation of divine will, as a punishment for sin” (In Milwaukee Independent, July 12, 2020). Thus, for example, back in 2014, John Hagee, the televangelist, claimed that the Ebola outbreak was God’s punishment for President Obama’s policies regarding Israel. Even in our time, in spite of the fact that the Pope has recently denied it, there are a number of people in the world who think that the Corona Virus represents divine displeasure.

The classical texts of the western world support this assumption, which goes back to the ancient Near Eastern literature. In “The Babylonian Theodicy,” we read, “he that bears his God’s yoke, never lacks food.” (ANET, p. 603). It is also found in many parts of the Hebrew Bible. For example, in Genesis suffering was introduced as one of the consequences of human sin, namely eating of the apple against God’s command (Gen.3:17-19). The main argument of the friends of Job is that suffering is caused by human sin. On the other hand, according to the Book of Psalms, God forgives all iniquities and heals all the diseases (103:3). Similarly, according to the author of the Book of Exodus if Israelites listen to God and do what is right, He will not put any of the Egyptian diseases upon them (Ex.15: 26). In the New Testament, divine retributive justice is behind the statement of John when Jesus says, “Do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you (5:14).” It is also found in the Quran: when people disbelieved Noah, “We opened the gates of heaven with pouring rain and  caused the earth to burst with gushing springs” (Surah, 54).  The connection between sin and illness is highlighted even in the talmudic literature which states, “there is no death without sin” (Shab.55a) and that zaraat (a type of skin eruption) is punishment for gossip (Lev. Rabba 16:1-6).

How is this theological idea justified? The belief is that the almighty and merciful God rewards the faithful and punishes the wicked. So, if suffering occurs, it must be because of an unknown infraction of the commandments.

In our time, we need to disassociate sin from divine punishment. We are not talking about abuses that have physical consequences, such as overeating causing medical problems for human beings or that smokers often end up with lung cancer.. Most of us would support this idea. I am more concerned about severe illnesses that affect people for reasons that we do not know. How inhuman it would be for us to tell a cancer patient or a person who suffers from Alzheimer’s that his/her illness was caused because of a breach of divine law? A person who suddenly falls and breaks his neck is not suffering because he disobeyed divine commandments. Accidents happen. God, as the energy of the universe, is manifested through the laws of nature, and when we fail nature or nature fails, illness arrives. We are all vulnerable, not because we have sinned against God, but because we were in the wrong time and place, or simply because our bodies succumbed to a disease, often for unknown reason.

To be cured, we need to turn to competent doctors and not to faith healers. In Maimonides’ (d. 1205) view, a person who despises the aid of a physician and relies solely on God’s help is “a pious fool” (Intro to Sefer Hakatzeret). According to Jewish law, the Torah has granted physicians permission to heal and this is considered a Mitzvah, a divine commandment (Shulhan Aruh, Yore Deah, 336/2).

Patients need our empathies during the time of their suffering. They don’t need to feel guilty for something they have or have not done.