Timeless Torah

“All affairs of this world are severe and evil and wicked men prevail...” (Tanya ch. 6).
Cruelty, violence and pain present no difficulty for atheists or pagans. But Jews believe in a loving, merciful, and just Creator. There are no ultimate answers. Chassidus, however, offers insights that recast the questions.

The Rebbe spoke about the suffering in the world. At these words, he began to choke and sob:
If He is truly capable of anything,then why can't He provide good without the bad?
And if His Torah contains the answers for all questions, why does it not answer this one?
There could be only one answer:
He does not wish us to know, because if we knew we might consent. (Aha!)

King David bewails his suffering. But it is not suffering itself that pains him. Rather, he is saddened by its disturbing his Torah study. For man's days are few, “and if not now, when?” (Psalms, Chapter 39)

The book of Job is surely the most shocking book of the Bible.
Job is righteous. There is “no one like him on earth; pure, straight, God-fearing, and does no evil.” (Job 1:8). He is wealthy, accomplished, respected, and the father of ten children.
G-d tests Job; his children die and his wealth is completely obliterated.
Job's answer: “Naked I left my mother's womb and naked shall I return. G-d gave and G-d took back. May the name of G-d be blessed.” (Job 1:21) It seems as though Job's faith is unshakable.
G-d ups the stakes. He covers Job's entire body with horribly painful blisters. Again, his response is incredible. His wife asks why he is still blessing G-d. He responds, “We have accepted the good from G-d, shall we not also accept the bad from Him?” (Job 2:10)
His three friends come to visit. They are speechless. They sit with Job for seven days without a single word passing between them. At the end of the seven days, for no apparent reason, Job snaps. A more drastic turnaround could not be imagined. He complains, and curses. “Why did I not die in my mother's womb?" and "Never did I feel secure, never quiet, never at peace and now torment?” (3:10)
Later on, "Even if I were to call and He were to answer me, I don't believe He would listen to my voice; For He has shattered me in a tempest for no good reason.” (9:16-17) “I am disgusted with my life.” (ibid. 9:21). "My days are so few - leave me alone, distance Yourself from me so that I can find some respite. Before I depart, never to return, to a land of gloom and of death's shadow.” (10:20-22) “His anger slashed me; He hates me.” (ibid. 16:9)
I could go on; Job certainly does. His friends try to comfort him. They are not ordinary. All are prophets, men of spiritual greatness. Each tells of G-d's goodness and ultimate justice. And to each, Job's arguments back are scathing, sarcastic, and bitter.
The oral tradition struggles with Job. On the question of when he lived, there are no less than 15 different opinions.
The moral: Only G-d is perfect. When mere human beings go through pain - as we all do – we can be overwhelmed.
G-d understands. As much as He does get frustrated with Job (and after 35 chapters of ranting and raving, we are all pretty frustrated with Job), at the same time, G-d takes the time to comfort Job's troubled heart, and in the end, turns him around.

WHY DO BAD THINGS HAPPEN?
The answer is simple: Bad things simply don't happen.
Two possible explanations: Define happen. They are here for a reason; as a punishment, to purify man for the next world, to protect our freedom of choice, etc.
One example: Sages liken the Galus (exile) of Israel to pregnancy, and the Messianic redemption to birth.
Our Galus is a double exile - the imprisonment of the soul in the body, and the dispersion of Israel amongst the nations - and involves three types of suffering: a) normal suffering, comparable to normal pains of pregnancy, b) the harsher suffering, comparable to labor pains, and c) specific suffering of the passage from exile to redemption, comparable to birth itself.
All these approaches have a valid basis in Judaism. However, that is not our answer.

The question of why bad things happen is not new. “It is not in our hands; neither the suffering of the righteous nor the comfort of the wicked.” (Ethics of the Fathers, 4:15)
Suffering “is not in our hands.” It's like a hot coal. From afar, you can understand why it is; but you cannot pick it up and feel comfortable with it.
If we are able to distance our emotions from the issue from which we are suffering, we will be able to deal with it and understand it. But we can never hold it.
Answers will always seem callous in the face of human pain. We cannot merely "explain" to someone why their child died. The pain is tangible and the explanation is theoretical. The person is suffering, experiencing real pain, and we are merely parroting words. Answers don't take away the horror. They don't soothe; they irritate. We can understand them, but never find comfort in them.

Define bad:
For most, the working definition of bad is pain.
If pain defines bad - be it emotional, physical, or spiritual pain - then the question of why bad things happen to people is fairly well unanswerable, as pain happens to every human being, righteous or evil. And if pain is bad, then G-d has clearly made a bad world.

Let's re-examine our assumptions: A BROKEN LEG. Good or bad?
Obviously, it’s bad. But there he meets his future wife. Pain is not always bad. (Example from Yosef).
I don't just mean physical pain. The exact same points could be made for emotional pain.

We might be tempted to redefine bad as "pain that brings no positive results." But then it would be impossible for us to ever decide whether something was good or bad. For who is to say what good might come in ten years or twenty, or perhaps not even in this world, but in the next one? Such a definition of "bad" would be of no use to us whatsoever.
All we can say is: Pain is neutral.
But why should G-d create “painful”?

THE JEWISH DEFINITION
Good is something that enables you to become more G-dly. Conversely, bad is something that makes you a less G-dly person. Torah is good. Mitzvos are good. Moving away from G-d - the source of all goodness - is bad.
Let's take a look at pain in this context.
As a rule, does pain and difficulty in life make it easier or harder to rise spiritually?
Greatness is not usually found among those who spend their days lying on beaches. Greatness is much more often found among those who struggle through difficult situations and build their character in the process. Talmud: “Be careful of the children of the poor, for from them Torah comes.” (Nedarim 81a)

Let's revisit the man with the broken leg, the one who did not meet his future wife due to it. Is the event good or bad? The Jewish answer: neither.
It could be good, or it could be bad. It all depends on what this man does with it. A broken leg can make him angry and upset and take him away from G-d. Or it can push him to evaluate where he can mend his ways and bring himself closer to G-d. The choice is entirely his. 50 years later he says the broken leg enabled him to employ his free will to lift himself to new levels of personal greatness.
Bad things don't happen to good people. But neither do good things.

Mishnah: Abraham was tested with ten tests - to show how much God loved him. (Ethics of the Fathers, 5:3) Is this how you show your love someone?
Precisely. Through these challenges, Abraham was able to come closer to G-d, and bring the rest of the world closer. His pain was short-lived. His greatness remains forever.
Be brutally honest - what are you in this world for? To be comfortable? To avoid pain? To live out 120 years of life with the least challenge possible? If this is your aim, then many bad things will happen along the way.
Story: Previous Rebbe and gun.
If however you believe, that we are here to lift ourselves into G-dliness, then all that happens to us is a golden opportunity - and the more challenging it is, the greater that opportunity.
Mishnah: “According to the pain is the reward.” (Ethics of the Fathers, 5:23) It doesn't say effort, it says pain.

Side benefit: With this attitude, pain passes quicker. But the way we choose to face that that pain will remain with us for eternity.
Achieving misery requires effort. The first step is CLING TO ENTITLEMENT. Contemplate the inherent unfairness of anyone having something you want. Strive to see compromise, accommodation, patience, and responsibility, as somehow relevant only to "the other guy." In general, be aware that life owes you and that you were put on this planet to collect.
(More on this next week’s lecture: In Pursuit of HAPPYness.