Video: When Bad Things Happen in G-d’s World

How could G-d allow the innocent children of Sandy Hook to be murdered by a madman? And the inquisition, the holocaust, the intifada and countless atrocities, both communal and personal, that have occurred throughout history? This is the perennial question that arises at times of crisis.

What is the alternative? Why would we care if something that came into existence by accident ends by accident? It is impossible to deal with human suffering without taking G-d into consideration.

Rabbi Yitzchak Schochet clarifies how G-d runs his world and how free choice can lead to beauty or horror. G-d chose Egypt to enslave the Jewish people, but the Egyptians chose to torture and murder us; the Nazis operated the crematorium, not G-d. Rabbi Schochet lays out the framework to understand G-d’s plan and how we can live with it.

Life is a series of events. Until we reach the end of the series, we cannot know or may never know the rest of the story. If we get angry with G-d during the process, he understands. We maintain the right to get upset and cry out to him, just as Avraham didn’t sit by at the destruction of Sodom.

Defining an event like Sandy Hook, or the Holocaust as a wakeup call or a punishment is arrogance and blasphemy. Only a true prophet, can make that call, and prophecy ended thousands of years ago. Every individual reserves the right to introspect at the time of a tragedy, but not the right to guess why it might of happened.

This inspiring video with Rabbi Schochet, with many stories and examples, clarifies how to live with events that don’t make sense to us.

This talk was delivered at the annual National Jewish Retreat in 2012, for more information please visit JRetreat.com.