... Recommend this page to a friend.

The Talmud tells the story of Rabbi Elisha Ben Abuha, a famous scholar who became a non-believer as a result of two incidents that he experienced.

Rabbi Elisha was walking one day and he saw a father and son near a tree which contained a bird's nest. Now the Torah has many laws about not hurting animals needlessly. And one of these laws is that if you're about to take an egg from the nest, you must first, out of consideration, chase the mother bird away ... so she doesn't suffer the pain of seeing her egg being taken away.

So the father tells the son, "Here's your chance to fulfill this mitzvah (commonly thought of as "good deed" - really means "connection with G-d). Climb up the tree, shoo away the mother bird, and take the egg." The child climbed up, fell down and died. Rabbi Elisha thought, "if G-d could allow this to happen, then I don't want to have anything to do with Him." That's one version of why he became an atheist.

The other version is that during the Roman persecutions after the destruction of the Second Temple, many of the great Sages were tortured to death in the most horrible ways imaginable ... And on Yom Kippur and Tisha B'Av, we recall these 10 famous martyrs. One of them was Rabbi Elisha's teacher, Rabbi Chutzpas.

Rabbi Elisha watched his beloved teacher's tongue being ripped out by the Romans and tortured to death, after which they did not permit his body to be buried. Rabbi Elisha thought "if G-d can allow such a tragedy to happen, then I don't want to have anything to do with Him."

Is it possible that Rabbi Elisha - one of the greatest Sages of his generation - had never dealt with the question of "why bad things happen to good people?" ... Was he was so naïve that he had never seen suffering up until then? Of course not.

Now Rabbi Elisha had worked through the issue philosophically ... But the Talmud is showing us that even though you may have good intellectual answers, when you come face to face with suffering ... it doesn't make a difference what the answers are. And as we see, even someone as great as Rabbi Elisha can lose it.

By the way, suffering is the only issue that the Talmud talks about which leads to people losing their belief in G-d ... This indicates that it is the single most difficult issue in our relationship to G-d ... in our willingness to remain connected.

People approach the topic of suffering from two separate perspectives. One is the "intellectual agenda:" A person is bothered by this issue and wants to intellectually understand it. The other is the "emotional agenda" ... Here a person may right now be suffering (or know someone who is suffering), and it is bothersome emotionally. It is very important to understand that these two agendas don't always coincide. Someone with an intellectual agenda will want answers ... whereas someone with an emotional agenda will be looking for relief. An approach for one won't work for the another.

Now when someone is in the midst of suffering, you might have some answers, but that's not the time to offer them (unless it is asked for, and then given with great sensitivity) ... It is a time to listen and empathize and say things that can provide comfort. It is really a time to show compassion, and empathy, and be helpful to this person as best you can.

Here we will only deal with the "intellectual agenda." If there is anyone now going through a painful time and is looking for a sense of relief, I am skeptical whether these intellectual answers will offer any kind of relief. But rather let that person return, when the emotional stress is somewhat abated, and try to deal with the "intellectual agenda."

We have to clarify what question we're actually asking. When we say "Why do bad things happen to good people," this can mean one of two things. If you listen to the question carefully, it is assuming G-d's existence. People say: I know there is a G-d, but I want to understand: Is this G-d good? ... And if he is good, then why do bad things happen to good people?

Alternatively, the question ... "Why do bad things happened to good people" ... may really be asking ... "I'm not sure that G-d exists" ... That's a completely different question ... The real question of G-d's existence has nothing to do with the issue of suffering. It has to do with creation, revelation at Sinai, world history, etc. So we should be clear that the question we are dealing with here is not "Does G-d exist?" It's "Why do bad things happen to good people?"

In order for us to be able to "judge G-d," we have to be able to look at what are G-d's "ground rules" for existence. Using this premise, it becomes very difficult to judge G-d. Why? Because we are finite and stuck in a finite perspective of time and space, and we can therefore never be sure which of the rules G-d is employing at any one given moment.

In discussing this issue ... we are not going to give an answer as to why particular things happen in a particular situation. Only a prophet can do that. What we can do is look at general approaches that Judaism offers, to at least get a general sense of what the possibilities are for why things happen.

Let's use this analogy ... A physicist can tell you why a leaf will fall in any one particular place - it has to do with the aerodynamics of the leaf, the force of gravity, and the direction of the wind, and velocity of the wind. But if you ask that physicist where a certain leaf is going to fall, he is not going to be able to tell you, because he can't precisely quantify the different forces that make a leaf fall in a particular place. He can give you the general principles, but he cannot give you a precise analysis of a specific situation.

It's the same idea here. We won't be able to say why specific things are happening in a specific situation, but we will be able to speak about general principles that can lead us to understand the workings of a good G-d.

One crucial idea to get us started:

The Torah tells us: "G-d created man in His image, in the image of G-d He created him" (Genesis 1:27). So then what does it mean that man was created in His image? Human beings are finite and corporal. So how are we created in G-d's image?

We understand that the "image of G-d" is dealing with the non-physical part of us - the soul. Where do we get our drive for morality and meaning, our drive to make a difference? That drive is from the soul, which is in the "image of G-d."

But there's more to it than that. Just as G-d has independent choice, so too, does each human being have independent moral choice. The image of G-d means that we have the ability to choose.

Why is choice the essential issue of what makes us special? It is because if you think about it, life only becomes meaningful because of our ability to freely choose. For example, the difference in being "programmed to love" and the choice to love is precisely what makes love significant. Similarly, if I don't have the free choice to do what is good, but am programmed to do what is good, then there's nothing meaningful about it. Whereas if I have the ability to do good or evil, then good becomes significant.

But it goes deeper still. For choice to be authentic, there have to be consequences. If every time I get in trouble, dad comes to bail me out ... that's not really choice. Choice means consequences. Think about it. All of history - whether in our personal lives or from a global perspective - is all based on the decisions that human beings have made - and the consequences that flow from that.

So now we can understand that the "image of G-d" ... means that G-d created beings who have the ability to make decisions ... and those decisions will create consequences that will make this being a co-partner in the development of the world ... This has many ramifications as far as "why bad things happen to good people" and certainly you can start seeing it already.

Now I think we're ready to examine eight ground rules which Judaism spells out for how G-d interacts with the world.

Now for free choice to operate, it's obvious that evil has to have the possibility of existing ... For example, if every time someone chooses to do evil, G-d is going to interfere, then there's no moral choice ... And if every time the gun is pointed, the turret points backwards, after a few times you get the message. If you commit a sin and get struck by lightning, then you're not "morally choosing," you just see it doesn't work. It simply becomes pragmatic not to sin.

If the lives of the righteous were obviously perfect, that too would destroy the possibility of choice. Pragmatically, we'd figure out it pays more to be righteous because look at the millions of bucks that come my way. That's not choice. That's not becoming G-d-like. That's just being pragmatically smart.

A world where a human being can create himself into a saint, also carries the possibility of a person creating himself into a devil..

Sometimes G-d does make a miracle, but it is always in a way that is not obvious, that enables us to retain free choice.

After the Exodus from Egypt when the Red Sea split, it was obvious to everyone that G-d had performed a miracle. Yet the Torah tells us "that a strong east wind blew all night" (Exodus 14:21). Why was there a strong wind blowing? Because G-d had to leave open at least the possibility for someone to say ... "No, there was no miracle. It was a fluke of nature and the wind split the sea."

In Genesis 15:13, G-d tells Abraham, "Know that your descendants are going to be enslaved in a land they don't know" ... which of course ends up being Egypt. So the Jewish philosophers then asked: "If G-d wanted the Jewish people to be enslaved in Egypt, why did he punish the Egyptians?" Tough question.

Nachmanides explains: "All G-d said is that they would be enslaved. He said nothing about torture and murder ... All G-d said was that he wanted a certain something to happen, but the Egyptians took it beyond that" ... and took the consequences.

Now the question is ... "Did the Jewish people deserve intervention or not?" ... But that's not the question here, that's a different story.

In Deuteronomy, Moses says that the fate of people depends on our relationship to G-d. The more we move closer to Him, the more He moves closer to us ... The more we move away from him, the more He does the same ... The language used is ... "G-d hides His face" ... And then when that happens, this leaves us open to the decisions of human beings, using their own free will. At times G-d does not intervene.

Now a difficult one, because it is so close to us. We have to appreciate that in the Holocaust, it was not G-d who built the crematoriums; it was the Nazis. It was not G-d who was massacring Moslems in Bosnia, it was the Serbs ... Which now raises the question ... Why isn't G-d interfering? But do you see the difference between "G-d not the one doing something that we think is obviously wrong" and "why is G-d not interfering?" I emphasise "we think" because again, we are thinking with finite minds and can never see the full picture. More abut that in rule #3.

King David said, "G-d, I'd rather have direct punishment from you than to fall into the hands of a human being." History will bear out the wisdom of David's request.

The question of "why do bad things happen to good people" has a lot to do with how we look at existence. The way we usually perceive things is like this ... A "good life" would mean that I make a comfortable living, I enjoy good health, and then I die peacefully at age 80, or even older ... why not? That's a good life. Anything else is "bad."

In a limited sense, that's true ... But if we have a soul and there is such a thing as eternity, then that changes the picture entirely. Eighty, ninety, or 120 years in the face of eternity is not such a big deal.

From Judaism's perspective, our eternal soul is as real as our thumb. Where we live now is the world of doing, and the "world to come" is where we experience the eternal reality of whatever we've become ... Assuming this is a perfect world (would G-d create anything less?) would you think after being responsible for the torture and deaths of millions of people, that Hitler could really "end it all" by just swallowing some poison? Not so ... ultimate justice is found in another dimension.

But the concept goes much deeper. From an eternal view, if the ultimate pleasure we're going after is transcendence ... the eternal relationship with G-d, then who would be luckier ... Someone who lives an easy life with little connection to G-d, or someone who is born handicapped, and despite the challenges, develops a deeper connection with G-d. Who would be "luckier" in terms of eternal existence? All I am trying to point out is that the rules of life start to look different from the point of view of eternity, as opposed to the few years we have on earth.

There once was a farmer who owned a horse. And one day the horse ran away. All the people in the town came to console him because of the loss. "Oh, I don't know," said the farmer, "maybe it's a bad thing and maybe it's not."

A few days later, the horse returned to the farm accompanied by 20 other horses. (Apparently he had found some wild horses and made friends.) All the townspeople came to congratulate him ... "Now you have a stable full of horses" ... "Oh, I don't know," said the farmer, "maybe it's a good thing and maybe it's not."

A few days later, the farmer's son was out riding one of the new horses. The horse got wild and threw him off, breaking the son's leg. So all the people in town came to console the farmer because of the accident. And he says again, "Oh, I don't know, maybe it's a bad thing and maybe it's not."

Well a few days later, the government declared war and instituted a draft of all able-bodied young men. They came to the town and carted off hundreds of young men, except for the farmer's son who had a broken leg. "Now I know," said the farmer, "that it was a good thing my horse ran away."

The point of this story is obvious. Life is a series of events, and until we've reached the end of the series, it's hard to know exactly why things are happening. That's one reason the Torah commands us to give respect to every elderly person - Why? Because through the course of life experience, they have seen the jigsaw puzzle pieces fall into place.

Another example would be when the six blind men of Hindustan approached the elephant of the Hindu fable, their perceptions were colored by where they stood. Certainly, if you grasped the tail of the beast, you might think you held a rope; the ear could indeed be mistaken for a fan; and the trunk was very like a snake. But each man missed the big picture.

The Torah makes "the big picture" point very clear. An example is Jacob, who is raising the next generation of the Jewish people, and is bringing to the world the message of Ethical Monotheism ... And the key character in that picture is his son Joseph, who is kidnapped by his own brothers and sent down to Egypt. Imagine you would come to Jacob at that point in time and ask him about a good G-d. What's he going to answer?

In Egypt, Joseph became Prime Minister, and when a grave famine hits the entire world, Joseph is a unique position to rescue his family.

Now when we look at the whole story in retrospect, everything that happened to Joseph was for the good. It set into motion a chain of events where he ended up saving and building the Jewish people. The story of the exodus really begins with the birth of Joseph; it wasn't for nothing that he was sold to the caravan and ended up in Egypt.

It is interesting that one of the weekly Torah portions, "Miketz," ends on a bad note, and is then resolved at the beginning of the following week. Why didn't the Torah simply extend "Miketz" a few verses and have it end good? ... Because the Torah wants to communicate the lesson that we don't always see the whole picture ... Sometimes you have to wait to see how "things turn out good in end."

Sometimes what we perceive as punishment is really an opportunity for growth. In the story of the "Binding of Isaac," the Torah says that ... "G-d tested Abraham." The question is: Doesn't G-d know what Abraham is capable of? So who's the test for? It can't be for G-d. It must be for Abraham.

What does it mean to be tested? We all have potential way beyond what we actually bring to fruition. Now the question is can we actualize our potential? We grow when we have to extend ourselves. The Hebrew word for test - "Nisa," is the same as one of the Hebrew words for flag - "Nes." What's the connection? You hoist a flag; so too through being tested, we become hoisted to higher and higher levels. Was this test a "punishment" for Abraham? Of course not. It was an opportunity for growth. The Abraham before the test is not the same Abraham after the test.

Imagine a track coach training an athlete in the 110-meter high hurdles. The coach would start with the hurdles low, and then he'd raise them steadily as the athlete progressed ... Raising the hurdles is not a punishment; rather it shows the coach's increasing confidence in the athlete's ability. Raising the hurdles requires increased effort on the part of the athlete (and like they tell me in the gym, "no pain, no gain" … we see that even suffering can be integral to the growth process.

In life, we look at life as "I'm here for growth, so how does this situation help me to change and grow?" When G-d is telling you to sacrifice your only son, can there be any greater punishment? Yet it changed the whole future of the Jewish people. "Tests" can change your future, too.

The Talmud (Yoma 35) tells the famous story of the sage Hillel. At the time, the head of the yeshiva wanted to make sure that the people who came to study Torah wanted it for the right reasons, and not for self-aggrandizement. So in order to test people's motivation, he charged money to enter the yeshiva.

Hillel was as poor and impoverished as they come. But in the winter, he wanted so much to study that he climbed up to the roof by the skylight, and then became so enraptured with his studies that he didn't realize he'd become frozen in. The next morning it was dark in the study hall. So they looked up and saw a person's body. They brought him down and thawed him out.

The Talmud states: "Hillel obligates the poor." That means that Hillel takes away the excuse that we didn't accomplish what we were supposed to in life due to lack of money. Hillel serves as a beacon that even in poverty, one can still become the greatest of the great (which Hillel was).

Was Hillel punished or was this his reason for being here? The Talmud tells us this was his reason for being here. You don't know why a particular situation might be happening. Each one of us has his own package. And each one of us is put here for a particular purpose. Sometimes "suffering" may actually be the reason we were put here. Maybe this is, so to speak, our glory, our unique contribution.

We are living in a very complex world and in a complex world, G-d doesn't only deal with individuals, he also deals with nations.

When G-d decided to destroy Sodom and Gemorrah, Abraham was complaining. Remember when he asked G-d, "If I can find 50 righteous people in Sodom and Gomorra, will you spare the cities?" G-d said, "No problem, I won't destroy it." Abraham bargained with G-d until he got down to 10 righteous people, then G-d said, "Okay, if you can find 10 righteous people I won't destroy it."

Why did Abraham stop at 10? Why didn't he go down to one?

It was because Abraham knew if there's a group of people who are righteous, then society might turn around - you can't destroy them. Ten is still a group, under 10 is just individuals. Seemed a few righteous individuals was not enough to save Sodom and Gomorra.

And another question ... Now that G-d decided to destroy the city, do these righteous individuals merit to be spared themselves? They are "righteous people," so should they be destroyed with the rest of Sodom? The answer is that these individuals were not the catalyst for the disaster, but now that the disaster is going to happen, you need a tremendous amount of merit to be saved from it in a miraculous way. G-d deals both on a national realm and on an individual realm. And that complicates our understanding of the equation.

Unfortunately, the way a lot of Jews relate to punishment has been very heavily influenced by Christianity, which is that G-d is always ready to get me with "fire and brimstone" ... No offense, but the Jewish idea is much different. G-d is our merciful Father. He's an infinite being that has no needs. Punishment cannot mean that He's "getting something." And this is the key to understanding the concept of chastisement.

In May 1981 the pope, Pope John Paul II, survived an assassination attempt when he was shot during a general audience in St Peter's Square in Rome. His words were something like, "let this bullet be some small punishment in this world for some bad I might have done (willfully or accidently) so I can enjoy life in the next world with a cleaner slate". He accepted this "punishment" with an eye to the future.

When you think about it, all relationships are based on reward and punishment. When you bring your wife flowers, she smiles. If it's her birthday and you don't bring her flowers, you get punished, either by a burnt dinner, cold shoulder, etc. (Fortunately, my wife is more understanding ... I think.) Relationships that are based on love always play themselves out in terms of reward and punishment. So when you do what's right, you receive positive reinforcement, when you do what's wrong, you receive "punishment."

What happens if your wife would always react the same regardless of whether or not you bring her flowers? That could be the worst possible thing in a relationship - indifference.

We see "punishment" as a blessing in disguise; we grow from punishment. Judaism says that punishment exists because G-d is reacting to the fact that I have done something wrong and He wants me to change. Hopefully I'll hear the message and learn from that. G-d is not out for revenge. He's doing this for my own good. If He wouldn't react to my negative behavior, that would be the worst punishment of all - because that would mean indifference. This is why King David says in Psalms (23:4): "Your rod and your staff comfort me." Even though I may get "hit" once in a while, I know it is ultimately for my own good.

Remember our original premise? ... That it is very difficult for us to "judge" G-d because we are stuck in time and space. And because our view is so limited, we are therefore limited in terms of knowing which ground rules G-d is employing. When "bad" things happen, there are so many possibilities of why it's happening.

• Is this a challenge in life that was given to me so I could become an example to inspire others?
  
• Is this to get me to fix a wrong I've done?
  
• Is this due to historical/national forces that are affecting me as an individual?
  
• Is what's happening to me now through a choice that I've made? Or is it that I'm on my own because I've distanced myself?
  
• Is this a "slap on a wrist" now (maybe it could have been worse) for some wrong I have done so when my journey in this life is over, I can better enjoy eternity?

The fact that there are so many possibilities makes it easier to come to terms with the question, to be more comfortable realizing that if I had G-d's infinite view I would understand.

In Exodus 33:13, Moses asks G-d, "Make Your ways known to me." So here the commentators explain that there are ... "50 Gates of Wisdom" ... and Moses had reached the 49th Gate ... This means that only one aspect of existence was still unknown to him. And which was that? The issue of "why bad things happen to good people." So what was G-d's answer? "I'm sorry, but this is the one thing that no human can ever comprehend." (see Exodus 33:20)

We see much suffering, and to understand it, the key is "attitude." How people deal with it depends on what attitude they have. An attitude of anger or hurt can prevent people from getting beyond a particular event - which then becomes the defining moment of their lives. In a certain sense, life stops at that particular moment.

On the other hand, after tragedies, one's attitude can be positive with believing that there is an ultimate good, of asking how one can learn and grow from this. It can be accepted with dignity, and can be a source of inspiration to others. One has to move on with one's life. And the contrast is so unbelievable between these two attitudes. Living with the concept of a good G-d is so much more uplifting and gives a person the ability to remain joyful and hopeful and have the strength to go on and fight. I want to conclude with the following poem I once read: