Ask the Rabbi with Rabbi Chaim Mintz
I have been teaching someone how Hashem (God) showers blessings on those who keep His Torah. He challenged me, pointing to the fact that there are many righteous people who suffer. He finds it shocking that God allows bad things to happen to people who follow His commands. What is the correct response? Should I just tell him that we are not wise enough to comprehend Hashem’s profound ways?
Rabbi Chaim Mintz responds:
A Valid Concern
While it is true that we cannot possibly fathom the ways of Hashem, some validation of these concerns is in place. If you just tell him that this is something we don’t understand, he may think that you are just brushing him off. He will be left confused and bewildered by the paradox of a compassionate God Who seemingly does not act with compassion.
Amputating an ‘Innocent’ Limb
One window into understanding this difficult topic is with the following analogy: It is well known that a severely infected limb must at times be amputated. To someone unaware of the situation, seeing a doctor cutting off someone’s leg may appear cruel and evil. The patient, however, understands the necessity, and is forever grateful to the doctor for saving his life.
In the same vein, our Great Doctor sometimes puts us through difficult trials and tribulations, which will benefit our souls. Many times we may not realize these benefits until later in life, or possibly until we reach the World to Come, but we firmly believe that Hashem knows what is good for us, far better than we do.
God Suffers Too
The Torah tells us that Hashem is like the loving parent who will punish a child out of profound love for him, even if the child does not appreciate being punished. Even if a parent suffers from the pain the child endures, he can tolerate it because he knows that it is best for the child. Similarly, the Talmud (Sanhedrin 46a) tells us, Hashem, our Father, “suffers” along with us in our pain, but is willing to suffer for our good.
Pain Purifies the Soul
There are many reasons for the troubles we endure. One is atonement for sins, since pain purifies the soul. In fact, the greater the person the more Hashem expects from him, and He holds the righteous accountable even for sins that we may not consider so severe. In addition, there are times that Hashem, in His ultimate wisdom, brings suffering on a righteous person as an atonement, in order to spare others from punishment until they repent.
Children Suffering
Of course there is more to the picture, as this does not explain the suffering or death of children, who are too young to be responsible for their sins. One comforting way to explain this is by introducing the concept of reincarnation (gilgulim), discussed at great length by the great kabbalists. This means that Hashem will sometimes send a soul back to this world — for a whole lifetime or for a short time — to “complete its mission,” and thus merit its full reward in the World to Come. Thus, a child might be the reincarnation of someone who was in need of perfecting his soul, to enable him to reach the highest levels of the World to Come.
The Newborn Sage
There is a fascinating story of a childless couple in France that invested great effort to renovate the mikveh (ritual bath) in their town. They were then blessed with a child, who subsequently drowned in the very mikveh that they had built with such devotion. The parents were devastated and shocked beyond belief, until the father had a dream, in which a great sage, who had been murdered at the time of the Crusades centuries earlier, appeared to him.
The distraught father was told by the sage that his soul had reached great heights in the World to Come, but certain chambers remained locked to him, because he had not undergone taharas hameis, the purification ritual in the mikveh customarily done with the deceased. To gain entry into those chambers, he was told that he must return to this world and receive that final purification. He specifically chose to be born to this couple, because of their devotion to the building of the town’s mikveh. Thus, it was not in spite of their great mitzvah, but because of it, that they were granted the merit of bringing this lofty soul to even greater heights.
It’s All a Part of His Plan
These perspectives serve as a reminder that everything is part of Hashem’s Master Plan. Far from living in a haphazard world, we realize that there is much more going on in the heavenly spheres than we can comprehend with our limited perception. It is only in the Next World that all the pieces of the puzzle will fall into place and all the mysteries will be solved.
In short: Suffering and difficulties are for our good, such as purification of our souls, or because of events from a previous lifetime.
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