Our youngest son, Michael z’l, former CEO of the Jewish Federation of San Diego County, passed away July 24th, 2021, at the age of 45, from Esophegeal Cancer.
Last year it was very important to us that the entire family come together for the Seder. Michael and his wife Laura’s attendance depended on how he felt and that the Seder would be held early enough for them to travel up to Sherman Oaks and return to San Diego the same day. Thus, since he was feeling up to it, we had a glorious, outdoor Seder in the afternoon.
Michael’s nephew, 12-year-old Eli asked a fifth question:
If there’s a God, why do bad things like Cancer, the Coronavirus and the Holocaust happen?
MICHAEL’S RESPONSE:
Eli,
Many people who are smart and curious like you ask the question why do bad things happen to people in a world where there is a God. Why would God allow things like the Holocaust, cancer, Coronavirus?
There is a great movie you should watch called “The Quarrel.” It’s about two brothers who were separated during the Holocaust and only found each other on a park bench in Central Park in the 1970s.
So, they got to talking and they figured out they were brothers. The interesting thing is that one brother was VERY religious, black hat religious, totally devoted to God. The other was not and didn’t believe in God at all. They both argued all night about whether there could be a God if the Holocaust happened. One brother argued that there couldn’t have been. The other argued that it was only because of his faith in God that he survived. The non-believer brother almost found that he was changing his mind given their very meeting on that park bench that night.
For me, bad events have been happening throughout history. I don’t believe God gets involved in most cases. And when he or she does, God seems to get involved after suffering happens and then steps in to help (just like in the Passover story where Jews were slaves for 300 years before being freed). My opinion is that God doesn’t get involved with catastrophes in almost all cases. That’s mostly because God isn’t supposed to be a thing that controls all events.
Rather than stop cancer, God helps our world get the most amazing doctors, nurses and scientists to care for the sick.
God granted people free will and wanted to respect their choices and their gifts and their mistakes. Rather than stop cancer, God helps our world get the most amazing doctors, nurses and scientists to care for the sick. Think of your Uncle Marc and Aunt Elizabeth. I suppose it’s all miraculous in its own way. Only in extreme cases does it seem like God will get involved.
Think of the few miracles like the one during Hanukkah where candles burned for eight nights, or like being saved from slavery. I believe God played a role in those disasters. I even believe God was the very thing that helped so many survive in the end. So, perhaps it’s a matter of perspective.
The question to me is not how could there be a God when such horrible things happen, but why doesn’t God intervene sooner. In my own case, I could get mad at God for allowing me to get cancer. But I tend to be more appreciative that they keep finding it at times when I can be treated. Super religious people pray for these things. They believe God can help. But most people don’t pray. So, not sure that’s the best way, although speaking personally, prayers for health can’t hurt. I would rather live in a world where there is an imperfect God than no God at all. That’s the choice you get to make and think about that as you plan to prepare to become a Bar Mitzvah. I PROMISE that it will be way more interesting if there is a God involved.
RABBI YITZ GREENBERG’S COMMENT:
(Yitz has been a family friend since the late 1970’s)
Eli’s question is good. Michael’s answer was remarkable.
I can only add two items.
1) The presence of innocent suffering in this world is the most troubling phenomenon for a believer. It is an argument against God’s Presence in our world. That is why Isaiah predicts that in Messianic times, there will be no evil or destructive events in the world and only then will people really “know” God, i.e., feel directly and really that there is a god and feel connected.
To get there, we need to repair the world, cure all disease, end war, oppression, etc. That is the human calling according to our Tradition [tikkun olam] and we can/should do it in partnership with God. It will take more than one generation to get there. That is why we pass on Jewish Torah/tradition and the mission from generation to generation, until we get there.
2) In my new (not yet published) book, I argue that there are three stages in our partnership [covenant/brit] with God for tikkun olam. In first stage [Biblical Judaism] God was the dominant partner — liberating us, fighting our battles, instructing us through prophets and heavenly revelation, making visible miracles so the good guys win.
In the second stage, God self-limits again and invites the human partner to take on more responsibility. No more prophets or heavenly revelation. Humans [mostly rabbis] study the past and apply it to today to establish what God wants us to do. Our behaviors and policies mostly decide the outcome. God does only hidden miracles to help but the natural process dominates. God comes closer but in hidden form and can be encountered in home, street, etc. Not just in the Jerusalem Temple.
We are living in stage 3. Humans have developed and God self limits again to become totally hidden (also totally present everywhere but must be uncovered/sought out). Humans are given full responsibility to realize the covenant and goals. God works miracles only through natural laws and the qualities which God has inserted into the elements [which humans can study] and us. There are more miracles than ever but they are done through human agents using these natural laws. Humans are called to create good societies with no oppression or evil, and to cure diseases, anticipate earthquakes, tsunamis and take steps to prevent loss of life, etc.
As Michael said: God respects human free will and does not intervene like the cavalry in the old Westerns to save the day. God does accompany us, gives us strength, support, love to keep us going and to keep us working for tikkun. God also suffers in our suffering -so we must help God and fellow humans by/through tikkun olam.
Unfortunately, the doctors have not yet found the cure for Michael’s cancer. Let’s hope they have found the cure for mine. We keep going until we get there some day. We are inspired along the way by people like Michael to try harder. Also, along the way, we have had moments of encounter with God (such as the exodus or the creation of the State of Israel) which give us hope and trust that we not alone. Of course, the holocaust or coronavirus or Michael’s cancer shake and challenge this faith but we live in the tension.
Love to all, Yitz.
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