"Moreover, Satan’s criticism of Iyov sheds light onto a fundamental truth. If the world functioned in a manner where every Tzaddik (righteous individual) is rewarded immediately and visibly and that every Rasha (wicked individual) was punished in an equally transparent fashion, righteousness would be inauthentic. In such a world one’s serving of G-d would stem from promise of reward; proper righteousness emerges from genuine awe and devotion towards our Creator."
- "Iyov’s Sufferings, The Holocaust and Medinat Yisrael – Part One" by Rabbi Chaim Jachter (2010)
אש קודש פרשת החודש תש"ב
Eish Kodesh, Parashat HaChodesh 5702
And it happens, when one is astounded by oneself, saying "I am broken" "I am almost always depressed, crying regularly, how can I ever learn Torah, and from where can I find the strength to offer fresh insights into Torah and Chassidut?"
And there are times when you attribute to you heart, saying: "this is just the organ of my mind within me, I can overcome it to learn despite my sufferings and the sufferings of those around me, which are great. And yet one may return to oneself, saying "I am broken and how my weeping increases and my whole life is depressed and dark." Such a person is embarrassed by themselves.
But as I have explained above, the Holy Blessed One is to be found in the places of heartbreak and weeping, and one who pushes themselves to come near Torah in such a state, they weep along with the Holy Blessed One and learn Torah with God. And this is the distinction: the tears and suffering that one suffers alone due to their suffering - sometimes they break and fall due to those sufferings until they cannot do anything. But the tears that one weeps with the Holy Blessed One strengthens such a person - by weeping, they are strengthened, then broken, then energized once again to learn and to serve.
Questions:
- Who is the Eish Kodesh? Write up a three sentence biography including when this dvar Torah was delivered (gregorian date) and what the Eish Kodesh might have been experiencing then. (Hint: use hebcal's converter tool https://www.hebcal.com/converter/)
- Who do you think he is writing for?
- Does his depiction of depression resonate with you? Why or why not?
הרבי מלובביץ'
... ובנוגע לעניננו:
דורנו זה, שארית הפליטה מהשואה שבה נהרגו על קידוש השם ששה מליון יהודים השם יקום דמם...
דבר זה חמור שבעתיים - כשהקטרוג על דורנו זה, "אוד מוצל מאש", נעשה תוך כדי חילול כבודם של הקדושים שנהרגו על קידוש השם, ע"י הצדקת השואה בכך שנתמלאה הסאה של העונות.
ישנם ענינים בלתי–רצויים שאינם באים בתור עונש על עונות, כי אם, מפני שכך גזר הקב"ה, ללא טעם והסברה כלל בשכל וחכמת התורה. ובלשון חז"ל (בנוגע להריגתו של רבי עקיבא שסרקו בשרו כמסרקות של ברזל, ועל–דרך–זה כל עשרה הרוגי מלכות) "שתוק כך עלה במחשבה לפני", "גזירה היא מלפני."
Lubavitcher Rebbe (Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson 1902-1994)
...And regarding our issue:
Our generation, the remnants of the refugees from the Holocaust in which six million Jews were killed for the Sanctification of the Name, Hashem will take revenge on their blood...
And this difficult thing that happens in our time - that this generation is being accused, this "ember saved from the fire", "firebrand saved from the conflagration", [this accusation] is done through the disgracing of the honor of the holy ones that were killed for the Sanctification of the Name, through a justification of the Shoah by stating that the measure of sins is filled [i.e. those killed had sinned].
There are matters which are totally unwanted which do not come as punishments for sins, but rather because this was simply God's decree without reason or any explanation in any intellectual way or in the wisdom of Torah.
Questions:
1. Who do you think the Lubavitcher Rebbe is speaking to?
2. Why do you think his (intended) audience might be inclined to blame the victims of the Shoah for their suffering?
3. Read the Talmudic teaching that the Rebbe ends by alluding to. Do you find this answer to unexplainable suffering helpful? Why or why not?
אמר רב יהודה אמר רב בשעה שעלה משה למרום מצאו להקב"ה שיושב וקושר כתרים לאותיות אמר לפניו רבש"ע מי מעכב על ידך אמר לו אדם אחד יש שעתיד להיות בסוף כמה דורות ועקיבא בן יוסף שמו שעתיד לדרוש על כל קוץ וקוץ תילין תילין של הלכות אמר לפניו רבש"ע הראהו לי אמר לו חזור לאחורך הלך וישב בסוף שמונה שורות ולא היה יודע מה הן אומרים תשש כחו כיון שהגיע לדבר אחד אמרו לו תלמידיו רבי מנין לך אמר להן הלכה למשה מסיני נתיישבה דעתו חזר ובא לפני הקב"ה אמר לפניו רבונו של עולם יש לך אדם כזה ואתה נותן תורה ע"י אמר לו שתוק כך עלה במחשבה לפני אמר לפניו רבונו של עולם הראיתני תורתו הראני שכרו אמר לו חזור [לאחורך] חזר לאחוריו ראה ששוקלין בשרו במקולין אמר לפניו רבש"ע זו תורה וזו שכרה א"ל שתוק כך עלה במחשבה לפני
§ Rav Yehuda says that Rav says: When Moses ascended on High, he found the Holy One, Blessed be He, sitting and tying crowns on the letters of the Torah. Moses said before God: Master of the Universe, who is preventing You from giving the Torah without these additions? God said to him: There is a man who is destined to be born after several generations, and Akiva ben Yosef is his name; he is destined to derive from each and every thorn of these crowns mounds upon mounds of halakhot. It is for his sake that the crowns must be added to the letters of the Torah. Moses said before God: Master of the Universe, show him to me. God said to him: Return behind you. Moses went and sat at the end of the eighth row in Rabbi Akiva’s study hall and did not understand what they were saying. Moses’ strength waned. When Rabbi Akiva arrived at the discussion of one matter, his students said to him: My teacher, from where do you derive this? Rabbi Akiva said to them: It is a halakha transmitted to Moses from Sinai. When Moses heard this, his mind was put at ease. Moses returned and came before the Holy One, Blessed be He, and said before Him: Master of the Universe, You have a man as great as this and yet You still choose to give the Torah through me. Why? God said to him: Be silent; this intention arose before Me. Moses said before God: Master of the Universe, You have shown me Rabbi Akiva’s Torah, now show me his reward. God said to him: Return to where you were. Moses went back and saw that they were weighing Rabbi Akiva’s flesh in a butcher shop [bemakkulin], as Rabbi Akiva was tortured to death by the Romans. Moses said before Him: Master of the Universe, this is Torah and this is its reward? God said to him: Be silent; this intention arose before Me.
"Is there any validity to the מפני חטאינו (mi-penei hata'einu), the Holocaust-as-punishment explanation on which various responses ... are based? Of course there is ...It is a theme found throughout the Prophets and the Talmud. And yet-I reject the cavalier invocation of this theme as a way of "explaining" the Holocaust. Indeed in these special circumstances of such unprecedented butchery and unequalled suffering and unimaginable danger to our survival, recourse to mi-penei hata'einu is massively irrelevant, impudent, and insensitive. Why so? First, there are many approaches to suffering ... and sin is not the only one. Indeed the whole brunt of the book of Job is to reject the simplistic recourse to mi-penei hata'einu in any and all circumstances: Job was not guilty of any sin-that is the premise of the whole book-and yet he suffered. It was the friends of Job who insisted he must he guilty of some hidden sin, who were rebuked by God. Hence, for us who live in comfort and security years after the event to point an accusing finger at European Jewry ... and castigate them for shortcomings of one kind or another ostensibly deserving of such horrendoussuffering, is an unparalleled instance of criminal arrogance and brutal insensitivity. How dare anyone even suggest that "any" sin committed by any significant faction of European Jewry was worthy of all the pain and anguish and death brought upon them by Hitler's sadistic butchers? How dare anyone, sitting in the American or British or Israeli paradise, indict the martyrs who were consumed in the European HeIl?"
- Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm, "The Face of God: Thoughts on the Holocaust"
Questions:
1. Does Lamm express understanding for blaming the victims of the Holocaust for their fate? Why?
2. What makes the Holocaust different, according to Lamm?
3. How does the Holocaust affect your own beliefs and theodicies? How does COVID-19 affect them?