Last
\nweek I was honored to speak to the Jewish community of Venice at the
\nChabad House, which hosts thousands for Shabbos meals, and to the
\nextremely warm and welcoming main community. Having just returned from
\nHaiti, I addressed the issue of why a good G-d allows the innocent to
\nsuffer. I was amazed when an observant Jew approached me to say that
\nthe people of Haiti were not innocent, immersed as they are in
\nidol-worship. ‘Surely you don’t mean to say that the morgue filled with
\nthe babies that I witnessed, the stench so bad that I was gagging,
\ndeserved to die? Or that the discarded bodies I saw being eaten by dogs
\ndeserved their fate?’ His response: The people of Haiti as a whole were
\npunished. A similar sentiment had earlier been voiced by the Rev. Pat
\nRobertson on The 700 Club.<\/p>\n
I have always been puzzled as to why
\nmany religious people enjoy portraying G-d as executioner-in-chief and
\nare always finding reasons to justify human suffering.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\nThe holocaust produced two camps of Jews. Many decided that the Jews
\nhad been punished for intermarriage and wanting to be secular. But
\nothers had a much more Jewish response. They rejected any theological
\njustification or self-blame and set to work even harder toward the
\ncreation of a Jewish state where Jews would find refuge and build an
\narmy to prevent another genocide. The appropriate response to death is
\nalways life. And the Jewish response to suffering is to demand that G-d
\nput an end to it.<\/p>\n
So many people search for a reason why people suffer. They want to
\nredeem tragedy by giving it meaning. Suffering ennobles the spirit,
\nthey say. It makes you more mature. It helps you focus on what’s
\nimportant in life.<\/p>\n
I would argue that suffering has no purpose, no redeeming qualities,
\nand any attempts to infuse it with rich significance are deeply
\nmisguided.<\/p>\n
Of course suffering can lead ultimately to a positive outcome. The
\nrich man who had contempt for the poor and suddenly loses his money can
\nbecome more empathetic when he himself struggles. The arrogant
\nexecutive who treats her subordinates like dirt can soften when she is
\ntold that she G-d forbid has breast cancer. But does it have to come
\nabout this way? Is suffering the only way to learn goodness?<\/p>\n
Jewish values maintain that there is no good that comes from
\nsuffering that could not have come through a more blessed means. Some
\npeople win the lottery and are so humbled that they dedicate a huge
\nportion to charity. A rock star like Bono becomes rich and famous and
\nconsecrates his celebrity to the relief of poverty. Yes, the holocaust
\nled directly to the creation of the State of Israel. But there are
\nplenty of nations who came into existence without being preceded by gas
\nchambers.<\/p>\n
Here is another way that Jewish values are so strongly distinguished
\nfrom other values systems. Many religions believes that suffering is
\nredemptive. In Christianity, the suffering servant, the crucified
\nChrist, brings atonement for the sins of mankind through his own
\ntorment. The message: No suffering, no redemption. Someone has to die
\nso that the sins of mankind are erased. Suffering is therefore extolled
\nin the New Testament: “And not only that, but we also boast in our
\nsufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance
\nproduces character, and character produces hope.” (Romans) Again, “If
\nwe are being afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation; if we
\nare being consoled, it is for your consolation, which you experience
\nwhen you patiently endure the same sufferings that we are also
\nsuffering.” (Corinthians) Indeed, Paul even made suffering an
\nobligation, encouraging the fledging Christians to “share in suffering
\nlike a good soldier of Christ Jesus.”<\/p>\n
But Judaism, in prophesying a perfect Messianic future where there
\nis no death or pain ultimately rejects the suffering-is-redemptive
\nnarrative. Suffering isn’t a blessing, it’s a curse. Jews are obligated
\nto alleviate all human misery. Suffering leaves you bitter rather than
\nblessed, scarred rather than humble. Few endure suffering without
\nserious and lasting trauma. Suffering leads to a tortured spirit and a
\npessimistic outlook. It scars our psyches and creates a cynical
\nconsciousness, devoid and bereft of hope. Suffering causes us to dig
\nout the insincerity in the hearts of our fellows and to be envious of
\nother people’s happiness. If individuals do become better people as a
\nresult of their suffering, it is despite the fact that they suffered,
\nnot because of it. Ennoblement of character comes through triumph over
\nsuffering rather than its endurance.<\/p>\n
Speak to a Holocaust survivor like Elie Wiesel and ask them what
\nthey gathered from their suffering, aside from loneliness, heartbreak,
\nand outrage. To be sure, they also learned the value of life and the
\nsublime quality of human companionship. Wiesel is an incredibly
\nprofound man. But these lessons, this depth, could easily have been
\nlearned through life-affirming experiences that do not leave all of
\none’s relatives as ash.<\/p>\n
I believe that my parents’ divorce drove me to a deeper
\nunderstanding of life and a greater embrace of religion. Yet, I know
\npeople who have led completely privileged lives and have far deeper
\nphilosophies of life and are even more devoted to their religion than
\nme. And they have the advantage of not being bitter, cynical, or
\npessimistic the way I can sometimes be because of the pain of my early
\nchildhood.<\/p>\n
When I served for eleven years as Rabbi at Oxford University I
\nnoticed that the college students I knew who were raised in homes in
\nwhich their parents gave them huge amounts of love and attention were
\nthe most healthy and balanced of all. They were usually also the best
\nstudents. Those who were demeaned by their parents could also be
\npositive and loving, but a Herculean effort was first needed to undo
\nthe scarring inflicted upon them by parental neglect. Whatever good we
\nas individuals, or the world in general, receives from suffering can be
\nbrought about in a painless, joyful manner. And it behooves people of
\nfaith especially to once-and-for-all cease justifying the death of
\ninnocents and instead rush to comfort and aid the survivors.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n