Page 3 - The Jewish Voice - May '24

The Jewish Voice, Page 3
Why Bad Things Happen
to Good People
By Rabbi Dovid Vigler
It’s the question of all
questions that has thundered
throughout history: Why do
bad things happen to good
people? Though a famous
book of a similar title has
attempted to answer this
question, it failed to do so, as
it declared G-d as not being
Almighty. Is it possible for
us to reconcile G-d Almighty
with that bad things that happen to us?
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From the rabbi
difficult as one might think. The Torah lays out the answer act of creation, there cannot be a positive experience without
Though mysterious, the answer to this question is not as
it being preceded by a negative experience of some sort.
pretty clearly for us. It’s up to us to apply its lessons to enrich This profound mystical truth is made explicitly clear to
our lives and mitigate our anxieties. us in the writings of Rabbi Dovber Schneuri (1773–1827),
In the very opening verses of the Torah, G-d cryptically the Second Chabad Rebbe, known as the Mitteler Rebbe. In
notifies us that the day begins with nightfall. Ever since the his magnum opus, Imrei Bina, Pesach Hashaar Chapter 10,
Torah told us, “And there was night, and there was day, one he writes:
complete day” (Genesis 1: 5), the Jewish calendar never We observe the pattern reflected in the affairs of the
begins in the morning, but rather at sunset the night before. world, whereby individuals do not achieve growth — in
The lesson we learn from this curious chronological custom wealth, leadership, building a family, study, or any other
is that night must always precede the light. accomplishment — without first experiencing humiliation,
Indeed, the Kaballah (Etz Chayim Derush Igulim pain, loss and the like….
Veyosher 1:2) tells us that when G-d’s infinite light filled For example, individuals engaged in study will not arrive
all of existence, He first needed to conceal Himself before at a complete understanding of the subject without much toil
he was able to reveal His limited creative power to form and stress, feeling distant from understanding and feeling
this world. This contraction of Divine energy — known as tempted to despair from mastering the subject…..
tzimtzum — became the default template of existence. Ever Indeed the Talmud (Gittin 43a) states, “One does not
since that first state of darkness that preceded the awesome understand statements of the Torah without first being
mistaken.”
We observe the same in earning in a livelihood, whereby
we succeed only after putting forth great effort and enduring
much pain, even feeling despair. Only thereafter do we find
profit and blessing….
This is the way that G-d’s blessings in the Upper Worlds
and travel down to the Lowest Realm…..There is no light
without darkness that precedes it…. As it is stated (Ethics
5:21) “according to the pain is the reward.”
Armed with this awareness, we quickly learn to overcome
our natural fear of the dark. It soon dawns upon us that
darkness is nothing more than a stepping stone to the light
that will surely soon follow. It is with this enlightened
awareness that we can appreciate why the Hebrew word
for “night,” erev, also means orev, “sweetness.” Normally
darkness is something we’d recoil from, but the man of higher
consciousness sees the night as light, instead of taking fright.
When we open our hearts to this wisdom, we will discover
this truth in practice all around us: The towering tree will
never rise from the simple seed until it rots beneath the soil.
Health and fitness are never taken for granted — they can
only come to us after we have endured the pain of gym and
our exercise regimens. The troubles of pregnancy and the
pain of childbirth are vital predecessors before we can enjoy
the love and purity of a newborn baby. Only hard work leads
to success. This stunning sequence is subtly hinted at in the
Torah portion that speaks of G-d’s cloud descending upon the
Tabernacle — representing the concealment — just prior to
the Torah portion that opens with G-d’s revelation to Moses.
This is not by chance — it’s the template of existence, by
original Divine design.
The Talmud (Menachos 53b) doubles down on this secret
when it explains the reason for human suffering: Rabbi
Yochanan taught, “Why are the Jewish People compared
to an olive? To inform us that just as an olive provides its
oil only after being pressed and crushed, so does the Jewish
Nation return to the good path only through the suffering
they experience.”
The bad things that happen to us cannot be viewed
superficially as standalone negative experiences. We are
challenged to broaden our horizons as we view them as part
of a greater continuum, in which the challenge serves as the
appetizer before the bounty that soon follows — the entree.
It’s not by chance that you swing backwards before hitting the
golf ball forward — it’s the template of creation manifesting
in every detail of our human experience.
From the Rabbi on page 4
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