JEWISH THOUGHT: Yesha'ayahu vs The Lord of the Rings

Last week ( see this) we began to explore the complex question: "Why bad things happen to good people?" We explained that according to our tradition, Moshe Rabbenu was the only human being who had access to God while he was conscious and awake. This state of mind provided him with an opportunity to ask God a question. (Ex.33:18) "Show me how do You administrate Your Justice". Moshe Rabbenu, like probably many other intelligent believers, had a difficult time coping with seeing righteous men suffer.   If God is All Good and Almighty, then a good man should not be suffering. Unless, 1. God is not righteous  or 2. There is another god behind tragedies.   (ח"ו). This matter, theodicy, is the main origin of many (probably most) pagan cults and beliefs. People in antiquity -heathens- believed that the gods struggled among themselves and when the evil gods (=gods of darkness) prevailed, bad things happened to good people ( a modern version of this idea could be found in the famous "The Lord of the Rings"). Even those who denied the existence of multiple gods believed that at least two god must exist (Manichaeism,etc."shete reshuyot"). One from whom all good and blessings comes from, and the other god who is the source of all tragedies.   Jewish Monotheism implies, among other things, the belief that although its understanding escapes our mental capacities, all things are under the control of One God.    No one expressed this belief better than the prophet Yesha'ayahu. At a time in which the whole world believed in a constant struggle between the forces of evil/darkness against the forces of light/goodness, he proclaimed (Is. 45:7 yotzer or ubore hoshekh...): This is what HaShem says: "I form the light and I create darkness, I bring prosperity and I create disaster; I, the LORD, do all these things".   Although we don't understand why bad things happen to good people, we acknowledge, to begin with, that there is no an alternative power to HaShem. Nor gods, wizards or idols to appease...  HaShem is in total control and He is the only One we need to address.

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JEWISH THOUGHT: Why bad things happen to good people?

?למה צדיק ורע לו Last week we explained that Hashem's first commitment with the people of Israel is to insure that as a people we will never disappear.  We see that despite being the victims of the oldest and most widespread hatred in human history --anti-Semitism-- HaShem delivered His promise to us.  Now, what about each of us as individuals. Are we also individually under HaShem's permanent unconditional protection? Many rabbis and Jewish philosophers discussed this issue. Especially what is known in English as theodicy: when the wicked succeeds and the righteous fails and suffers. We kind of understand when bad things happen to the wicked and when God rewards the righteous. That is expected. But we also see that this is not always the case. Many times (too many?) bad things happen to good people.  The fate of an individual is definitely within God's control. The question then is the following: in light of God's Omnipotence (=God has control over everything), Omnibenevolence (=HaShem is all good) and Omniscience (=HaShem knows everything) how can we reconcile the suffering of the innocent?  This is probably one of the matters that drive many believers away from faith.  The first one to address this question was no less than Moshe rabbenu. The Tora says (Ex. 33:11) that Moshe spoke to God "face to face" which means that unlike all other Prophets who received a message from God while asleep or in a trance, Moshe spoke with God while completely conscious and alert. Among other things, Moshe's awareness provided him with an extraordinary opportunity. Within that non-virtual conversation with God Moshe was able to ask God a question.  What question did Moshe ask God? Perhaps on behalf of all humankind Moshe asked God: Why bad things happen to good people? (Ex. 33:18 , see Rashi) In the following weeks, BH, we will see what did HaShem answer Moshe, and how Prophets (Moshe himself!), Kings, Rabbis, Jewish thinkers and poets dealt with this sensitive issue.

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