Rabbi Rifat Sonsino, Ph.D
After the Holocaust and recently after Hamas’ murder of
innocent Israelis on Oct. 7, 2004, many have been asking, why do bad things
keep happening to good people? The
problem of evil (“theodicy”) derives from the assumption that God is all
powerful and all good. So , why does God allow it? Is it because God is not all
powerful or not so caring?
In the Hebrew Bible, this problem was tackled by the Book
of Job, but it did not provide a clear answer. The prophet Jeremiah acknowledged
the unfairness of the prosperity of the wicked (See 12: 1) but still talked about
“the guilt of Judah” (17:1).
In rabbinic times , many had to confront the issue, and
came out with various answers: For example,
1.
Tragedy is the
result of sin: “ If a man sees that painful suffering visits him, let him
examine his conduct” ( Ber. 5a)
2.
We do not know: “It
is not in our power to understand…the suffering of the righteous” (Rabbi Yannai
in PA. 4:15)
3.
Those who suffer in
this world will be rewarded in the world-to-come (Lev. R. 27:1).
In modern times, some Jewish thinkers offered new
interpretations of the problem: Examples:
1.
Mordecai Kaplan (d. 1983),
the naturalist who explained the world in terms of scientifically verifiable
ideas, argued that God is not the source of suffering but “evil is chaos still uninvaded
by the creative energy, sheer chance
unconquered by will and intelligence” ( Meaning
Of God, p. 72). Similarly, Roland Gittelsohn (d. 1995), spoke of “the
imperfections in the universe” (p. 162).
2.
Alvin Reines (d.
2004), who affirmed the right of each individual to freedom in belief and
action, maintained that God is not the cause of disasters but “evil is the necessary concomitant of
existence”, and that happens because of
“the limitation of matter” (Polydoxy, p. 168ff).
3.
Eugene Borowitz (d.
2016) , an influential Reform theologian, argued that evil exists because God
is limited: “Though God is good, there is real evil in the world, because , for
all the power God has, God is not strong enough to overcome it” (Liberal
Judaism, p. 200 ff).
4.
Harold Kushner (d. 2023),
believed that bad things happen to good people because “ human beings choose to be cruel to their fellow men” (When Bad things Happen
to Good People, p. 81)
For me, a religious naturalist, suffering exists for two
reasons 1. Human beings are not physically perfect. As we grow older , we start
to decay and illness happens. It is not
caused by God, but it is simply part of being human who have limited abilities.
2. Often tragedies occur because of the depravity of some people against
others. We need to learn how to take care of ourselves physically and
emotionally, and hope we are not in the wrong time and place.
The lesson is: take each day as it comes, and if everything
goes well with you, say a blessing for being alive.
SONSINO’S BLOG, rsonsino.blogspot.com
