___ Essay __________________________________________________________________

IF GOD IS GOOD, WHY DOES SUFFERING EXIST?

Howie Fox*

“The Holy One, blessed is He, gave the Jews three precious gifts. Each was given only through suffering. They are: the Torah, the land of Israel , and the world-to-come” (Brachot 5a). These three divine gifts form the core of the Jewish faith. They give Jews moral direction and a sense of spiritual meaning. This basic spiritual tenet of the Jewish faith creates a myriad of additional questions. Was suffering necessary to obtain these three treasures? If so, why? Should not God, being a benevolent God, prevent His children from suffering and tragedy, even if the outcome is positive? In order to properly explore these questions, it is necessary to understand several concepts. The first element of comprehending this problem is to understand God's purpose in putting mankind on earth. The second element is understanding the reasons for human suffering, and how these reasons are compatible with a loving God. By exploring these ideas and their central importance to Judaism, one can comprehend the relationship between God, sin, and suffering, and begin to resolve the ancient problem of suffering under a morally just God.

Judaism teaches that God is an all-powerful and perfect being. Everything that God does is good; He does not commit evil against man. The Torah, the oldest and most sacred text of Judaism, forms the theological basis for these statements. In the book of Deuteronomy, Moses exclaims, “The Rock! His work is perfect, for all His ways are just; A God of faithfulness and without injustice, Righteous and upright is He.” (Deuteronomy 32:4). This verse comes from a poem, which God gave to Moses and instructed him to read to the people of Israel . This verse is an excellent description of the characteristics of the Jewish God. God is referred to by several names throughout the Torah; one of these titles, “El Shadday,” or “God Almighty” represents His absolute supremacy in the world.

The Book of Genesis, the first book of the Torah, recounts the story of creation. God used his omnipotence to create the heavens and the earth. Then there was light, which was divided into day and night. He created water, fruit, vegetation, and living creatures. Ultimately, He produced man, which He blessed and told to reproduce and multiply. After all these creations, “God saw all that He had made, and found it very good” (Genesis 1:31). God gave to mankind dominion on Earth. The control that God granted man over the animals is an early manifestation of free will, another important element in understanding sin and suffering.

A second important concept is that all of God's creations are significant and have a meaning in his plan. Man was put here to serve God and to appreciate his greatness. No two humans work towards this goal in the same way, and each must cultivate a personal relationship with God (Boteach 18). To do this, individuals must move closer to God and understand his works and his greatness. To accomplish this relationship, Jews must read the Torah, abide by the Commandments given to Moses, and practice according to the laws set forth by God (Boteach 42).

Though God does not present Himself to everyone in a physical manifestation, He does want mankind to find Him, and cultivate a personal relationship as described in the Torah. He does not hide His presence from humanity, and the Torah sets out explicit laws for humanity. It is the duty of Jews to seek a relationship with God, and the means by which such a relationship can be achieved are laid out in the Torah. While the laws are uniform for all Jews, the methods by which individual Jews seek out God and seek a relationship with Him inevitably differ – this is a result of the free will that God granted mankind. For example, consider the various sects of Judaism and their varying interpretations of God's law. Each Jew must find his own interpretation and live accordingly. During life, mankind will inevitably make incorrect choices and violate the law of the Torah; this is sin.

The third element vital to the understanding of God in the context of human suffering is that of His omnipresence and love for mankind. Psalm 139:7-10 characterizes God's being: “Where can I escape from Your spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; if I descend to Sheol, You are there too. If I take wing with the dawn to come to rest on the western horizon, even there Your hand will be guiding me, your right hand will be holding me fast.” God's omnipresence is difficult for mankind to comprehend, because mankind is limited in comprehension by time and place. Mankind is bound to Earth, and every human must eventually die. God, however, is omnipresent across all of space, and has always existed and will always exist.

The presence of God as a guiding force reflects the Jewish belief in God's goodness and benevolence (Boteach 1). In Deuteronomy 14:1, God told the Israelites “For you are a people consecrated to the Lord your God: the Lord your God chose you from among all other peoples on earth to be His treasured people.” God's love of mankind and His omnipresence are initially difficult to reconcile with the presence of evil and suffering in the world. How can the Jews, as the chosen people of God, suffer from worldly evils? The resolution to this problem lines in the relationship between man, sin, and punishment.

Mankind does not commit evil, or sin, because God forces him to do so. Such a God could not be considered morally good, and this interpretation is therefore impossible within the canon of Jewish thought. However, the logical converse of this statement is that God does not force mankind to commit good deeds either. Instead, mankind's actions are a result of the choices that mankind is free to make. (Boteach 151) “Behold, the man has become unique in the world, and there is no other species like him in this respect, that he by himself, with his own thought and intellect, shall know [to choose from] good and evil and he can do whatever he desires. Nor is there anyone to prevent him from doing either good or evil” (Genesis 3:22). One of the greatest gifts God gave to mankind is the ability to think and act freely. Free will is instrumental in developing a personal relationship with God. He gave mankind this gift so that relationships with his chosen people would be mutually voluntary; the laws set forth by God require mankind to follow a set of rules. Man is given the choice to break or follow these rules. Lacking free will, mankind could only follow the course that God pre-ordained for him. In such a system, faith in God and adherence to His laws would be irrelevant.

Free will defines human beings as individuals. In every situation man is presented with multiple choices, which fall into two basic categories. Maimonides, a famous historical philosopher describes them well. He says, “If he [anyone] desires to lead himself along the righteous path and to be a tzaddik , the choice is in his hands, and if he desires to lead himself along a path of wickedness and to be a wicked person, the choice is in his hands” (Shloshah Asar Ikkarim 1:3). Jews know that God wants them to choose the correct path, according to Talmudic law, and to be good. However, mankind is often tempted with the “incorrect” path, i.e. that path which violates God's laws, in order to achieve gratification. Mankind knows right from wrong because of free will: without the possibility of choosing bad, humans could not truly choose to be good, and could therefore not be moral beings.

In order for a choice to be genuine, each outcome must have consequences. When humans make bad choices, i.e. choices which oppose the laws of God, mankind must always suffer ramifications. The causal relationship between choice and consequence is a basic element of human behavior, and a basic element of the Jewish faith. When accepted rules are broken, it is important that we take sole responsibility for our actions. Free will dictates that while humans are free to choose their path, they are also accountable for their actions. It is therefore difficult to simply “blame God” for negative consequences to negative actions. As In Genesis 4:7, God explains to Cain the relationship between right/wrong and sin: “Surely, if you do right, there is uplift. But if you do not do right sin couches at the door; its urge is toward you, yet you can be its master.”

Ancient Jews and many modern Jews believe that suffering occurs because of “not doing right” and committing sin. Suffering is a direct result of violating the laws of God as laid out in Jewish holy texts, or by simply making poor choices. Howard Aiken, on page 24 of Why Me, God? states “Although we often assume that God makes us suffer, we bring most suffering on ourselves.” It impossible to blame God for suffering in the world – mankind's ability to choose freely led to the existence of evil, sin, and therefore to the existence of suffering. Aiken offers a contemporary example of the choices which mankind is given. A great deal of human suffering is the direct result of poor personal habits. For example, smoking tobacco is the single largest preventable cause of death. Carcinogenic tobacco is responsible for one out of every six American deaths (Mayo Clinic Family Health Book). Maimonides stated that “Most of the world's misery is due to poor eating habits, too much alcohol, excessive sexual indulgence, and wasting energy trying to acquire unnecessary things instead of reserving it for important and meaningful pursuits” ( Guide For The Perplexed ch. 12). Though Maimonides wrote this interpretation of suffering over a thousand years ago, his observations are equally valid and relevant today.

Suffering is also governed by a basic theological relationship with God. When mankind does good deeds and obeys the laws of God, God rewards the faithful. By contrast, when mankind commits bad acts, and disobeys Him, He punishes the trespassers. Both the rewards and punishments issued by God serve to educate mortal souls on how to live a faithful life, and to establish a closer, more intimate connection with God. Punishment is not pleasant, but God never punishes from spite – such would not be compatible with the loving God of the Torah. “His system of justice is His way of showing interest and investment in us, not a way of getting even with us when we misbehave” (Aiken 18). There is significant value in punishment and suffering. However, the moral value in punishment is not always immediately clear. God punishes mankind in ways that will allow him to learn from mistakes and to better live in accordance with God's laws. Yet, it is difficult to reconcile the idea of suffering as punishment with the notion of a benevolent God. But humans need not understand the reason for suffering, since God is omnipotent and omnipresent. Humans are limited by their lifespan and limited view of reality; God is not. He is therefore an infinitely greater judge of sin and teacher of moral lessons.

Suffering as punishment reminds mankind of his duty to God. In order to deepen man's understanding of duty to God, God may also create what is, in a human perspective, a tragedy. However, mankind must seek God's help to overcome the problems which God has presented, and in doing so, better understand his/her relationship with God, and understand how to live more righteously. Suffering as an expression of God's love for mankind is best expressed in the Book of Job. God's love for Job is explicitly expressed in 1:8: “The Lord said to the Adversary, Have you noticed my servant Job? There is no one like him on earth, a blameless upright man who fears God and shuns evil!” Despite this declaration of Job's goodness, God challenges Job with suffering. However, throughout his numerous ordeals, Job remains faithful to God and develops a deeper relationship with Him. In Job 42:3-5, Job replies to God: “…Indeed, I spoke without understanding of things beyond me, which I did not know./Hear now, and I will speak; I will ask, and You will inform me. /I had heard You with my ears, but now I see You with my eyes.” Job's suffering was not without cause, nor was it a malevolent act by God. On the contrary, his suffering deepened his faith and understanding of God, and reinforces the perception of God as a benevolent and loving being.

God's punishments are not intended to merely punish mankind for our sins but rather to educate mankind on how to better live and serve God. Maimonides said that “If we dismiss communal punishment as merely coincidental, or as a natural phenomenon, we are terribly cruel to ourselves” (Hilchot Taanit 1:3). According to this interpretation of the role of suffering in the world, human suffering is one of God's ways of enlightening humanity. Tragedy, whether personal or shared, is an indication from God that humanity's, or an individual's, conduct does not agree with the Torah, and serves to instruct believers on how to live better. Instead of becoming angry with God for our punishments and suffering, humans must look to Him for insight, so that they may understand the cause behind the suffering, as well as the effects. In Psalms 23:4, King David says “Your rod and your staff – they comfort me.” Though individuals, or humanity, may suffer at God's will, God's will is not malicious. Rather, it is the opposite, and this understanding comforted the Hebrews under David when they were faced with the problem of human suffering. Man must be willing to suffer for God, and to grow closer to God from the experience.

While understanding the cause and effect of human suffering is the ultimate goal for humanity, this is not always possible. Some suffering is incomprehensible to mankind. For example, when good people, who live by the laws of God, suffer without committing a clear sin, it is often difficult to reconcile their trials with the concept of a loving God. The resolution to this problem is based on perspective and faith. God has a plan for everyone. Even though mankind may never know what our exact purpose is, we know the best way to serve it is by being close with God. If a good man, who has lived by the Torah as best he could, suffers greatly during his lifetime, man must trust that it is for the best and is according to God's great plan. The same goes for a man who lies, cheats and steals, but suffers very little in his lifetime. Judaism's definition of God states that he is all-seeing and all-powerful, unlimited by time and space. Humans, on the other hand, are limited by mobility and mortality. Humans do not have the resources of God, and only God may judge good and bad. It is therefore impossible to make accurate distinctions between “good” men and “bad” men, as only God has the ability to do so, and the ability to cause suffering, or to prevent suffering, accordingly.

The belief that God is the only judge of good and bad, and that God is good, requires faith. Faith is an effective admission by mankind that humans are not capable of understanding God's decisions, simply because they do not share the same perspective as God. Abraham did not necessarily understand the good in sacrificing Isaac, or comprehend the reasons that God had for asking him to do this. But Abraham's faith in the supremacy of a fundamentally good God allowed him to offer the sacrifice despite his non-comprehension. As a result of his decision, God blessed Abraham, and the covenant between God and the descendants of Abraham was formed. When suffering is described as “senseless,” it is simply for lack of understanding. Faith in God requires that all suffering be regarded as good and necessary; humans must leave judgments of value and of good and bad to God, who is the ultimate arbiter of these matters.

The application of this philosophy of human suffering is particularly relevant to the thinking and faith of modern Jews. During the twentieth century, the Jewish people faced the greatest example of human suffering in modern history: the Holocaust in Europe . Many Jews found it difficult to comprehend the Holocaust as a punishment for sin, and found it even more difficult to resolve a loving God's treatment of his “chosen people” with this extraordinarily severe period of human suffering. The suffering endured by the Jewish race at the hands of the Nazis posed a significant problem to Jewish theologians and philosophers. The suffering of the Holocaust can be reconciled with the concept of a loving God through a logical process, based on a series of assertions already set forth about suffering. All human suffering comes from God, and is at best partially comprehensible by mankind. Mankind can comprehend suffering when it originates from one of the following sources: suffering as a punishment of sin, suffering as an education by God, or suffering to bring mankind closer to God. Humanity can, in the context of Judaism, best explain the horrors of the Holocaust by the third “category” of human suffering.

In his 1982 work To Mend the World , rabbi and philosopher Emil Fackenheim contends that the Holocaust was a result of God's will that the Jews, as God's chosen people, must struggle for their existence. When considering the Holocaust as a device by which God brought the Jews closer to Him, it is helpful to consider the direct and indirect historical ramifications of the Holocaust. In 1948, the Jews established the state of Israel , which has developed into an economically successful nation and a formidable military power. Israel is also the first Jewish state in centuries, marking a new beginning for Judaism and Jews around the world.

Following the Holocaust, Jewish survivors did not lose their faith in God – instead, survivors and Jews from around the world came together to affirm Judaism in the state of Israel . The nation of Israel can be considered a device by which God has brought his chosen people close to him, thus reaffirming the covenant made with Abraham in Genesis 15:18. “On that day, the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, ‘To your offspring I assign this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river of the Euphrates .'” The Jews, who had been scattered across the world, were unified by the creation of a Jewish state, and regarded this as an affirmation of their covenant with God. The nation of Israel deepened Jews' personal relationships with God by reaffirming their ancient covenant. This affirmation was facilitated by the severe persecution and suffering of the Holocaust, just as Job was able to better understand his relationship with God after his suffering. The plight of the Jews during the Holocaust was inexcusably arbitrary on a purely human, temporal plane. It was impossible for Jews of the time to comprehend its meaning, as they did not have the omnipresence and omnipotence of God. Only now, after the formation of a strong Israel , is it possible for humans to comprehend at least part of God's plan and reason for the Holocaust.

All human suffering originates from a morally good and just God. In order to comprehend how this apparent contradiction-in-terms is resolved in Jewish theology, it is necessary to divide human suffering into categories, and to realize the limitations of mankind. It is not always possible to comprehend God's reason for human suffering. However, it is neither possible nor necessary for mankind to do this – faith in God is the understanding that man can never fully comprehend. Humans are limited in their vision, whereas God is unlimited. Apparently senseless suffering is part of God's plan for humanity. Insofar as it is possible to grasp this plan, humans must divide the causes of suffering into three categories. The first category is suffering as punishment for sin, in which humans, because of their free will, violate the laws of God and bring suffering upon themselves. The second category is suffering as corrective education, in which God attempts to guide humanity through suffering. The third category is suffering as a way of deepening mankind's relationship with God, in which humans gain insight into their rapport with God as a result of their troubles. In this context, human suffering is congruous with the Judaic idea of a loving God.

Works Cited

Aiken, Lisa. Why Me, God? A Jewish Guide For Coping With Suffering . Northvale , NJ : Jason Aronson, Inc., 1995.

Boteach, Shmuel. Wrestling With The Divine . Northvale , NJ : Jason Aronson, Inc., 1995.

Cohn-Sherbok, Dan. Holocaust Theology, A Reader . New York :   New York University Press,  2002.

Fackenheim, Emil L. The Jewish Thought of Emil Fackenheim: A Reader . Detroit : Wayne State University Press, 1987.

Fackenheim, Emil L. To Mend the World . New York :  Schocken Books, 1989.

Maimonides, Moses. Guide for the Perplexed . University of Chicago Press, 1963.

Learman, Oliver. Evil and Suffering in Jewish Philosophy . New York :  Cambridge University Press,  1995.

Levine, Robert N. Where Are You When I Need You? Befriending God When life Hurts . San Francisco , CA : Harper Collins, 1996.

Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures . Philadelphia : The Jewish publication Society, 1985.

* J.D. Candidate, May 2009, Florida State University College of Law. B.A., University of Delaware .

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