The Shabbat portion of Mishpatim contains the fourth Haftarah of consolation that follows the 9th of Av. The prophet Isaiah tells us not to be afraid of terror. Our enemies are mortal, and they will die. G-d, on the other hand, is Eternal, and He will bring the complete redemption and we will have peace.
However, to those of us who live in the material world of the 2000’s, this level of faith might seem unreachable. The prophet’s words are dramatic and might appear offensive, particularly if taken literally.
Whether we have catastrophic events in our personal lives, or we hear of catastrophes across the world, we question:
- Why do good people suffer?
- How might we see G-d’s Providence through the distractions of Netflix and Facebook?
- What is the relevance of the Biblical prophets in today’s world?
If you’re reading this, you are probably adding your questions to my list.
Some folks like to answer life’s big questions. Other folks believe that answers only work for those of us who are fortunate enough to have avoided true suffering, or who function on a level of denial from suffering.
In this week’s Torah portion, Ki Teitzei, chapter 21, verse 22, the Torah talks about the death penalty: “ If a man commits a sin for which he is sentenced to death, and he is put to death, you shall then hang him on a pole.”
Rabbi Josh Gordon, in his Monday parsha podcast, retells the eulogy of the Ari Zal (Rabbi Gordon says that it was either the Ari Zal or one of his students who was thus eulogized):
“If there will be within a human being a חטא sin…” The word for sin can be understood as a derivative of the word חסרון, which means something lacking. If a person will lack something, what will he be lacking? How do we explain the death of a righteous person? It isn’t because that person sinned or was lacking something. On the contrary, many good people die young. If a person will lack the completeness of his life, when he dies prematurely, how do we explain that? We take the Torah’s words: ותכלית על העץ you should hang the reason that he dies on the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden. Since the sin of Adam and Chava, the world has been in a state of confusion, where righteous people suffer, and bad people prosper. We don’t understand why, and until the Moshiach comes, life won’t be perfect.
Sometimes it’s just better to tell a story than to make up answers to questions that have no answers.
May G-d redeem us from terrorists and all possible suffering, and bring the ultimate Redemption now!
Resources
- This is a link to the fourth Haftorah following Tisha Be-Av: http://www.sefaria.org/sheets/43061
- Rabbi Gordon passed away on February 8th, 2016. He was 66 years old.
- Here is a link to Rabbi Gordon’s Torah portion podcast where he gives over the story of the eulogy: http://www.chabad.org/multimedia/rabbigordon_cdo/aid/970859/jewish/Rabbi-Gordon-Ki-Teitzei-2nd-Portion.htm
- For more about the Ari Zal and his contemporaries: http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/361878/jewish/The-Arizal.htm