Perspectives on the Meaning of Suffering

Packet #1

Dr. Aaron Segal and Dr. David Shatz

Championsgate 2013 July 26, 2013 עש"ק פרשת עקב

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A. CRITIQUES OF THE “RETRIBUTIVIST THEODICY” IN CERTAIN JEWISH SOURCES

1) 55a:

אמר רב אמי: אין מיתה בלא חטא ואין יסורין בלא עון.

Rav Ami said: There is no death without transgression, and there is no suffering without sin.

BUT AT THE END THE DECLARES THAT RAV AMI HAS BEEN REFUTED . [See, however, Va‐Yikra Rabbah 37:1, Kohelet Rabbah 5:4) .תיובתא דרב אמי תיובתא

2) Job 42:7‐9

(ז) ויהי אחר דבר יקוק את הדברים האלה אל איוב ויאמר יקוק אל אליפז התימני חרה אפי בך ובשני רעיך כי לא דברתם אלי נכונה כעבדי איוב: (ח) ועתה קחו לכם שבעה פרים ושבעה אילים ולכו אל עבדי איוב והעליתם עולה בעדכם ואיוב עבדי יתפלל עליכם כי אם פניו אשא לבלתי עשות עמכם נבלה כי לא דברתם אלי נכונה כעבדי איוב:

After God spoke these words to Job, God said to Elifaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you and your two friends, for you have not spoken of me correctly as my servant Job did. Now therefore. . .offer up a burnt offering, and my servant Job will pray for you, for him I will accept so that I do not do unto you something unseemly, for you have not spoken of me correctly as did my servant Job.

B. THEODICIES OTHER THAN THE “RETRIBUTIVIST” ONE

3) Professor Yaakov Elman: The Bavli thus provides us with a number of ‘mechanisms’ of divine governance . . . . These include the astrological sources of the human condition (Mo‘ed Katan 28a), sufferings of love ( 5a‐b), nissayon, vicarious atonement (Mo‘ed Katan 28a), situations of negligence in the face of hazard (kevia hezeqa) ( 39b), or the workings of a hereditary curse (R.H. 18a, Yevamot 105a) . . . the ‘sliding scale’ of judgment applied to persons depending on their righteousness, the judgment of the righteous to a ‘hair’s‐breadth’ (Yevamot 121b), either because of their responsibilities as moral leaders of their generation, to whatever (geographical or social) extent their influence carries (Shabbat 33b, Shevu‘ot 39b), or the inordinately severe punishment meted out for certain sins . . . . the consequences of being a member of a community or the community of Israel; the danger of the Destroyer ( 60a); God’s hiding of His face during Israel’s exile ( 5a), or the necessities of God’s plan for history (Ta‘anit 5b). . . . (“The Contribution of Rabbinic Thought to a Theology of Misfortune,” In Jewish Perspectives on the Experience of Suffering, ed. Shalom Carmy [Jason Aronson, 1999, Orthodox Forum Series], 192‐194. He is speaking of Talmud Bavli, and notes that Talmud Yerushalmi is different with regard to the topic.)

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A few samples:

4) Kiddushin 39b:

רבי יעקב היא, דאמר: שכר מצוה בהאי עלמא ליכא… הרי שאמר לו אביו עלה לבירה והבא לי גוזלות, ועלה לבירה ושלח את האם ונטל את הבנים, ובחזירתו נפל ומת, היכן טובת ימיו של זה? והיכן אריכות ימיו של זה? אלא, למען ייטב לך - לעולם שכולו טוב ולמען יאריכון ימיך - לעולם שכולו ארוך.

R. Yaakov said: The reward for doing a mitzvah is not given in this world. . . .There was one whose father said to him, “climb up the tower and fetch me some young birds.” The son climbed up the tower [in fulfillment of the commandment to honor parents] and sent the mother bird away [as required by biblical law] and took the offspring. On his way back down, he fell and died. Where is his good life [which the promises, together with long life, in the case of two commandments‐‐honoring parents and sending the mother bird away]? “So that it will be good with you” refers to the world that is entirely good, and “so that your life will be long” refers to the world that is entirely long [the World to Come].

5) Berakhot 5a:

אם רואה אדם שיסורין באין עליו - יפשפש במעשיו, שנאמר +איכה ג'+ נחפשה דרכינו ונחקורה ונשובה עד ה'; פשפש ולא מצא - יתלה בבטול תורה, שנאמר: +תהלים צ"ד+ אשרי הגבר אשר תיסרנו יה ומתורתך תלמדנו. ואם תלה ולא מצא - בידוע שיסורין של אהבה הם, שנאמר: +משלי ג'+ כי את אשר יאהב ה' יוכיח.

If a person sees that afflictions are befalling him, he should examine his deeds, If he examined them and did not find anything, he should attribute his afflictions to neglect of Torah study... And if he attempted to attribute his afflictions to neglect of Torah study but did not find anything, it can be assumed that they are sufferings of love, as it is stated: “God chastises the one He loves” (Proverbs 3:12).

6) Katan 28a:

אמר רבא: חיי, בני ומזוני, לא בזכותא תליא מילתא, אלא במזלא תליא מילתא. דהא רבה ורב חסדא תרוייהו רבנן צדיקי הוו, מר מצלי ואתי מיטרא, ומר מצלי ואתי מיטרא. רב חסדא חיה תשעין ותרתין שנין - רבה חיה ארבעין, בי רב חסדא - שיתין הלולי, בי רבה - שיתין תיכלי. בי רב חסדא - סמידא לכלבי ולא מתבעי, בי רבה - נהמא דשערי לאינשי, ולא משתכח. ואמר רבא: הני תלת מילי בעאי קמי שמיא, תרתי יהבו לי, חדא לא יהבו לי; חוכמתיה דרב הונא ועותריה דרב חסדא - ויהבו לי, ענותנותיה דרבה בר רב הונא - לא יהבו לי.

Rava said: the length of one’s life, the number of his children, and the extent of his sustenance depend not on his merit but on his mazzal (astrological influence). For Rabbah and Rav Hisda were both righteous rabbis; one would pray for rain and rain would fall, and the other would pray for rain and rain would fall. Yet Rav Hisda lived 92 years, Rabbah only forty. Rav Hisda’s household celebrated sixty weddings, Rabbah’s suffered sixty bereavements. Rav Hisda’s

3 household fed bread of fine flour to their dogs and it was not needed; Rabbah’s household fed bread of barley flour to people and not enough of it could be found.

C. A DISCONNECT?

7) Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, citing Rabbi Nahum Rabinovitch: ‘Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look at God’ (Exodus 3:6). Why was he afraid? Because if he were fully to understand God he would have no choice but to be reconciled to the slavery and oppression of the world. From the vantage point of eternity, he would see that the bad is a necessary stage on the journey to the good. He would understand God but he would cease to be Moses, the fighter against injustice who intervened whenever he saw wrong being done.’ ‘He was afraid’ that seeing heaven would desensitize him to earth, that coming close to infinity would mean losing his humanity ( Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, To Heal a Fractured World [New York: Schocken Books, 2005], 22‐23.)

8) Emmanuel Levinas: The justification of the neighbor’s suffering is certainly the source of all immorality. (Levinas, “Useless Suffering”)

9) Rav Soloveitchik zt”l (in “A Halakhic Approach to Suffering,” Out of the Whirlwind, 100‐103) The topical Halakhah could not accept the thematic metaphysic which tends to gloss over the absurdity of evil, and it did not engage in the building of a magnificent façade to shut out the ugly sights of an inadequate existence . . . . The topical Halakhah is an open‐eyed, tough observer of things and events and, instead of engaging in a speculative metaphysic, acknowledged boldly both the reality of evil and its irrationality, its absurdity. As a case in point, let us examine the topical Halakhah’s attitude toward death . . . It is enough to glance at the laws of mourning in order to convince ourselves that the topical Halakhah saw death as a dreadful fiend with whom no pact may be reached, no reconciliation is possible. In the act of mourning for a deceased member of the household, the whole traumatic horror in the face of an insensate and absurd experience asserts itself. Death appears in all its monstrosity and absurdity, and an encounter with it knocks out the bottom of human existence. If the topical Halakhah concurred with the thematic in its interpretation of death as deliverance, as a victory over nihility, then why mourn and grieve for the departed? Why rend our garments, sit on the floor, and say “Barukh dayyan emet”? . . . . Yes, the topical Halakhah has evolved an ethic of suffering instead of a metaphysic of suffering.. . . To sum up, I would say that the halakhic ethic of suffering rests upon three propositions. First, evil does exist, and evil is bad. The world in which we live is not free from deformities and inadequacies . . . . In other words the reality of evil is indisputable. Second, one must never acquiesce in evil, make peace with it, or condone its existence. Defiance of and active opposition to evil, employing all means that God put at man’s disposal, is the dominant norm in Halakhah. Scientific intervention on behalf of man in his desperate struggle for control of his environment is fully endorsed and justified . . . . The third proposition is faith . . . .that at some future date, evil will be overcome, evil will disappear. In Fate and Destiny (=Kol Dodi Dofek), trans. Lawrence Kaplan, pp. 7‐8: The fundamental question is: What obligation does suffering impose upon man? . . . . We do not inquire about the hidden ways of the Almighty, but, rather, about the path wherein man shall walk when suffering strikes. We ask neither about the cause of evil nor about its purpose, but, rather, about how it might be mended and elevated. How shall a person act in a time of trouble?

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(See also quotation 8‐e below.)

D. ANOTHER DISCONNECT?

10) Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik zt”l

(a) When I looked upon my grandson, I always tried to think of him as if he were my contemporary. I believed that we would always do things and play together. Sickness initiated me into the secret of non‐being. I suddenly ceased to be immortal. . . The night preceding my operation . . . . The fantastic flights of human foolishness and egocentrism were distant from me that night. However, this “fall” from the heights of an illusory immortality. . .was the greatest achievement of the long hours of anxiety and uncertainty … . I stopped perceiving myself in categories of eternity. When I recite my prayers, I ask God to grant me life in very modest terms . . . . When one’s perspective is shifted from the illusion of eternity to the reality of temporality, one finds peace of mind and relief from other worries . . . . We magnify the significance of incidents because we exaggerate our own worth. Man sees himself in the mirror of immortality. Hence his desires, dreams, ambitions and visions assume absolute significance, and any frustrating experience may break man. When one frees himself from this obsession, his perspective becomes coherent and his suffering bearable. He learns to take defeat courageously. (The Rav, “Out of the Whirlwind,” in the book with that title, 131‐132.)

(b) [I will explain the Rav’s discussion of Job in The Lonely Man of Faith. See also the following: ] We have stated that it is the consciousness of the fate imposed upon the [Jewish] people against their will and of the terrible isolation that is the source of the people’s unity, of their togetherness. It is precisely this consciousness as the source of the people’s togetherness that gives rise to the attribute of hesed . . . The lonely Jew finds consolation in breakinfg down the existential barriers of egoism and alienation . . . . The oppressive sense of fate undergoes a positive transformation . . .. (Fate and Destiny (Kol Dodi Dofek), 53‐54)

(c) When I eulogized my uncle, R. Velvel Soloveitchik, zt”l, in the auditorium of Yeshiva University while knowing of my affliction one nagging thought assailed my mind. All these thousands of people are healthy and expect to live a long and happy life, whereas I am not certain that I will be able to accompany my daughter to the wedding canopy. While these thoughts are passing through one’s mind with the speed of lightning, one feels forsaken, forlorn, and lonely . . . . Gradually this feeling of loneliness pervades one’s whole being with ever‐increasing predominance; the whole self becomes immersed in solitude and the awareness of being taken away from the community. The man who is bound to others by countless invisible threads is torn loose from his social bearings. He makes his exit from the community because he was singled out. The night before my operation, when my family said goodbye to me, I understood the words of the psalmist, “Ki avi ve‐immi azavuni, va‐Hashem ya’asfeni. When my father and my mother forsake me, the Lord will take me up” (Ps. 27:10). I had never understood this verse. Did a parent ever abandon his child? Of course not! Yet in certain situations, one is cut off even from his parents or his beloved wife and children. . . . Suddenly one realizes that there is no help

5 which his loved ones are able to extend to him. They are onlookers who watch a drama unfolding itself with unalterable speed. They are not involved in it. I stand before God; no one else is beside me. A lonely being meeting the loneliest Being is a traumatic but also a great experience . . . (“Out of the Whirlwind,” 133‐134).

(d) The function of suffering is to mend that which is flawed in an individual’s personality. The halakhah teaches us that the sufferer commits a grave sin if he allows his troubles to go to waste and remain without meaning or purpose . . . . From out of its midst the sufferer must arise ennobled and refined, clean and pure . . . . If a person allows his pains to wander about the vast empty spaces of the cosmos like blind, purposeless forces, then a grave indictment is drawn up against him for having frittered away his suffering. (Fate and Destiny (Kol Dodi Dofek), p. 8.)

(e) Fate and Destiny, 6: The motto of the “I” of destiny [yi‘ud] is, “Against your will you are born and against your will you die, but you live of your own free will.” Man is born like an object, dies like an object, but possesses the ability to live like a subject, like a creator, an innovator, who can impress his own individual seal upon his life and can extricate himself from a mechanical type of existence and enter into a creative, active mode of being. Man’s task in the world, according to , is to transform fate into destiny; a passive existence into an active existence; an existence of compulsion, perplexity, and muteness into an existence replete with a powerful will, with resourcefulness, daring, and imagination.

11) Psalms 73:28

ואני קרבת אלהים לי טוב שתי באדני יקוק מחסי לספר כל מלאכותיך:

For me—nearness to God is good.

12) Berakhot 61b:

בשעה שהוציאו את רבי עקיבא להריגה זמן קריאת שמע היה, והיו סורקים את בשרו במסרקות של ברזל, והיה מקבל עליו עול מלכות שמים. אמרו לו תלמידיו: רבינו, עד כאן? אמר להם: כל ימי הייתי מצטער על פסוק זה בכל נפשך - אפילו נוטל את נשמתך, אמרתי: מתי יבא לידי ואקיימנו, ועכשיו שבא לידי לא אקיימנו?

When R. Akiva was taken out to be executed, it was the time to recite the Shema. [The Romans] were combing his flesh with iron combs. . .. R. Akiva said to his students: All my days I was troubled by this verse, “With all your soul—even if he takes your soul.” I said to myself, when will I have the opportunity to fulfill this verse? And now that I do, should I not fulfill it?

13) Job:

לשמע אזן שמעתיך ועתה עיני ראתך:

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I had heard you with my ears, but now I see you with my eyes. (42:5)

ויהי כי הקיפו ימי המשתה וישלח איוב ויקדשם והשכים בבקר והעלה עלות מספר כלם כי אמר איוב אולי (1:5) חטאו בני וברכו אלהים בלבבם ככה יעשה איוב כל הימים

[Job brings sacrifices for his children.]

ועתה קחו לכם שבעה פרים ושבעה אילים ולכו אל עבדי איוב והעליתם עולה בעדכם ואיוב עבדי יתפלל עליכם כי אם פניו אשא לבלתי עשות עמכם נבלה כי לא דברתם אלי נכונה כעבדי איוב:

ויקוק שב את <שבית> שבות איוב בהתפללו בעד רעהו ויסף יקוק את כל אשר לאיוב למשנה:

[Job prays for his friends.] (42:8, 10)

14) Epictetus the Stoic (55‐135), Enchiridion (Discourses), sect. 5 : “What disturbs people’s minds is not events, it’s their judgments on events.”

15) Victor Frankl, author of Man’s Search for Meaning

Life is never made unbearable by circumstance, but only by lack of meaning and purpose.

When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.

What is to give light must endure burning.

(Translations are mainly adapted from Jewish Publication Society Tanakh and Art Scroll Talmud.)

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