WORKSHOP
(1) Rabbi Blech introduced the idea that suffering is a result of free choice. Here he introduces another category of suffering. What is the distinction that he makes here?
(2) Read the source from Exodus above. What was Moses asking when he said, "God, show me Your glory"?
(3) How does God respond?
(4) How does Rabbi Blech explain God's response, "You will see my back," in the context of suffering?
(5) What do we learn about the Jewish attitude to suffering, when God responds to Moses, "You cannot see me and live"?
(6) Why do we bless God when 'bad' things happen in our lives?
ANSWERS
(1) Q: Rabbi Blech introduced the idea that suffering is a result of free choice. Here he introduces another category of suffering. What is the distinction that he makes here?
A: There is a type of suffering that comes as the result of the actions of one person against another. However there are also instances of suffering that comes directly from God – for example through sickness or genetic illness that is not the result of human action.
(2) Q: Read the source from Exodus above. What was Moses asking when he said, "God, show me Your glory"?
A: In asking, "Show me Your glory," Moses was saying: "I do not understand how to honor Your glory when I see people suffering. Please help me to understand your ways."
(3) Q: How does God respond?
A: God makes two statements that require explanation.
- Man cannot see me and live.
- I will show you my back.
(4) Q: How does Rabbi Blech explain God's response, "You will see my back," in the context of suffering?
A: 'You will see my back' is interpreted as 'you will see me in retrospect'. Rabbi Blech explains that it may be difficult to understand God's actions at the time that we experience them. Sometimes it may take months, years or even a lifetime to understand why something had to happen the way it did, and to see how something seemingly bad turned out for the best. God is saying that only with the wisdom of hindsight will it be possible to fully understand His ways.
(5) Q: What do we learn about the Jewish attitude to suffering, when God responds to Moses, "You cannot see me and live"?
A: God is good. It is our perspective on this earth that is limited, often making it difficult to tell 'good' from 'bad.' Sometimes what appears to be bad in the moment turns out to be good, with the benefit of hindsight. Sometimes it can take many years to understand an event. Sometimes, God tells us 'You cannot see me and live', meaning you will not be able to see the reasoning behind my actions in your lifetime. With some things, only in the World to Come will all be revealed and our understanding complete.
(6) Q: Why do we bless God when 'bad' things happen in our lives?
A: We are taught that just as we make a blessing on the good, we must also make a blessing on that which seems to be bad. We do not know the reason behind the difficulties that people must endure. What may appear to be bad from our limited perspective, may actually be the best thing for us and our growth. So we must bless on the (seemingly) bad, too, with the faith that everything that God does is for the good.
SUMMARY
We have looked at the question of suffering when one person causes harm to or even takes the life of another. In giving us free choice, God removes Himself from the world to some degree. The 'gift' of free choice enables a person to choose bad as well as good, opening up the possibility of an 'innocent' being harmed by the negative actions of his fellow man. In such a scenario, it is the person and not God who is to blame and he must accept the consequences of his actions.
But what of the case of an innocent person hurt or killed by natural disaster, illness or disease. How do we understand suffering that is not the result of man's actions? What about the suffering of an innocent child? Again, says Rabbi Blech we come back to the same question: Why do the innocent and the righteous suffer in this world?
Moses asks God this very question in the aftermath of the Golden Calf (see source above). He says to God, "Show me Your glory." Moses was not asking to see God physically – we know that God does not have a physical form. The Talmud explains that Moses was really saying to God, "I want to honor you, I want to pay you full respect but how can I do this when I see innocent people suffering? You are a good God, but it seems that these people do not deserve to suffer. I need to understand your ways."
God responds to him by saying, "Man cannot see me and live... You will only see my back." If God has no physical appearance, what is He trying to say? Rabbi Blech explains that God is telling Moses that he will only understand God's actions in retrospect. God is telling Moses: "You will review what happened and while I pass, you will not understand. But from the wisdom of hindsight, you will understand where I was and why things happened the way they did."
It may appear to us that bad things are happening to good people, but we know that sometimes things that appear to be bad turn out for the best.
In life it is not always easy to see the result so obviously, and the resolution of a difficulty may take many months, years or even a lifetime to see. Some difficulties may not be revealed to us until the end of days. This is the reason that we bless God for the bad as well as the good.
Rabbi Blech relates that when the Chafetz Chaim heard his student complaining that things in his life were bad, he told him, "Don't say it's bad; say it's bitter." A medicine may be bitter, but is never bad. God sometimes gives us bitter pills to swallow, but bitterness can also lead to redemption. Our greatest challenges may become the greatest source of our growth in this world.