אמר רבא ואיתימא רב חסדא אם רואה אדם שיסורין באין עליו יפשפש במעשיו שנא' (איכה ג, מ) נחפשה דרכינו ונחקורה ונשובה עד ה' פשפש ולא מצא יתלה בבטול תורה שנאמר (תהלים צד, יב) אשרי הגבר אשר תיסרנו יה ומתורתך תלמדנו ואם תלה ולא מצא בידוע שיסורין של אהבה הם שנאמר (משלי ג, יב) כי את אשר יאהב ה' יוכיח.
Raba (another version : Rab Hisda) said : Should a man see sufferings come upon him, let him scrutinize his actions (to find a logical justification for his sufferings); as it is said, "Let us search and try our ways, and return to the Lord" (Lam. 3:40). If he has scrutinized his actions but found no justification, let him attribute them to neglect of Torah; as it is said, "Happy is the man whom You chasten, and teach out of Your law" (Ps. 94:12). If he attributed them to neglect of Torah but still found no justification, it is certain that his sufferings are sufferings of love; as it is said, "For whom the Lord loves He corrects" (Prov. 3:12).
יסורין של אהבה - הקב"ה מייסרו בעוה"ז בלא שום עון כדי להרבות שכרו בעולם הבא יותר מכדי זכיותיו:
Sufferings are chasttenings of love: God makes people suffer in the this world even if they are free of sin in order to increase their reward in the world to come - so that they will receive more than their actions merit.
The stories following this piece are of pious and scholarly rabbis who eventually say "I don't want the sufferings and neither their reward.
(ז) ואנחנו נאמין שכל אלה הענינים האנושיים הם כפי הדין והאלוה - חלילה לו מעול - לא יענוש אחד ממנו אלא המחויב והראוי לעונש. זהו הכתוב ב'תורת משה רבנו' כי הכל נמשך אחר הדין. ועל זה הדעת נמשכו דברי המון חכמינו - שאתה תמצאם אומרים בבאור "אין מיתה בלא חטא ולא יסורין בלא עוון" ואמרו "במדה שאדם מודד - בה מודדין לו" וזה - לשון ה'משנה'. ובארו בכל מקום שהמשפט מחויב בהכרח בחוקו ית' והוא שיגמול העובד על כל מה שיעשה ממעשי הבור והיושר - ואף על פי שלא צווה בו על ידי נביא - ושיענוש על כל מעשה רע שיעשהו האיש - ואף על פי שלא הוזהר ממנו על ידי נביא - אחר שהוא דבר שהשכל מזהיר ממנו - רצוני לומר ההזהרה מן העול והחמס. אמרו "אין הקדוש ברוך הוא מקפח זכות כל בריה" ואמרו "כל האומר קודשא בריך הוא ותרן הוא יתותרן מעוהי; אלא מאריך אפיה וגבי דיליה"; ואמרו "אינו דומה מצווה ועושה למי שאינו מצווה ועושה" - ובארו שהוא - אף על פי שלא צווה - 'נותנים לו שכרו'; - ועל זה העיקר נמשכו כל דבריהם. ובאה בדברי ה'חכמים' תוספת אחת שלא באה במה שכתוב ב'תורה' - והוא מאמר קצתם "יסורין של אהבה" - והוא שלפי זה הדעת אפשר שיחולו באדם מכות ללא פשע קודם אבל להרבות גמולו. וזהו גם כן דעת כת המועתזילה. ואין פסוק ב'תורה' לזה הענין; ולא יטעוך עניני ה'נסיון' "והאלוקים נסה את אברהם" ואמרו "ויענך וירעיבך וגו'" - כי הנה תשמע אחר זה הדברים בו. ולא נכנסה תורתנו כלל אלא בעניני בני אדם; אמנם ענין זה הגמול לבעל חיים שאינו מדבר לא נשמע כלל באמונתנו לפנים וגם ה'חכמים' לא זכרוהו כלל; אבל קצת האחרונים מן ה'גאונים' ז"ל' כאשר שמעוהו מכת המעותזילה ישר בעיניהם והאמינוהו:
(7) We, however, believe that all these human affairs are managed with justice; far be it from God to do wrong, to punish any one unless the punishment is necessary and merited. It is distinctly stated in the Law, that all is done in accordance with justice; and the words of our Sages generally express the same idea. They clearly say: "There is no death without sin, no sufferings without transgression." (B. T. Shabbath, 55a.) Again, "The deserts of an are meted out to him in the same measure which he himself employs." (Mish. Sotah, 1:7.) These are the words of the Mishnah. Our Sages declare it wherever opportunity is given, that the idea of God necessarily implies justice; that He will reward the most pious for all their pure and upright actions, although no direct commandment was given them through a prophet; and that He will punish all the evil deeds of men, although they have not been prohibited by a prophet, if common sense warns against them, as e.g., injustice and violence. Thus our Sages say: "God does not deprive any being of the full reward [of its good deed]" (B. T. Pes. 118a) again, "He who says that God remits part of a punishment;, will be punished severely; He is long-suffering, but is sure to exact payment." (B. T. Baba K. 50a.) Another saying is this: "He who has received a commandment and acts accordingly is not like him who acts in the same manner without being commanded to do so" (B. T. Kidd. 31a); and it is distinctly added that he who does a good thing without being commanded, receives nevertheless his reward. The same principle is expressed in all sayings of our Sages. But they contain an additional doctrine which is not found in the Law; viz., the doctrine of "sufferings of love," as taught by some of our Sages. According to this doctrine it is possible that a person be afflicted without having previously committed any sin, in order that his future reward may be increased; a view which is held by the Mu’tazilites, but is not supported by any Scriptural text. Be not misled by the accounts of trials, such as "God tried Abraham" (Gen. 22:1); "He afflicted thee and made thee hungry," etc. (Deut. 8:3); for you will hear more on this subject later on (chap. xxiv.). Our Law is only concerned with the relations of men; but the idea that irrational living beings should receive a reward, has never before been heard of in our nation: the wise men mentioned in the Talmud do not notice it; only some of the later Geonim were pleased with it when they heard it from the sect of the Mu’tazilites, and accepted it.
Up to the bold in Maimonides we have a general exposition of what can be called "Classical Theism" - that comes from Aristotle and is crafted by Jewish thinkers and Christians alike: God as the "unmoved mover" and containing perfections: all-powerful, all-knowing, all-goodness, all-present and all-just. To say that the rabbis in the Talmud accept this would be an error: the "sufferings of love" being a way of confronting the Biblical question: why do bad things happen to good people? You all know our fellow Job. The entire book of Job is dedicated to such an intractable problem.
ספר דעת תבונות של הרמבח"ל (סימן קסח)
ואמנם המאמין בייחוד ומבין עניינו, צריך שיאמין שהקב"ה הוא אחד יחיד ומיוחד, שאין לו מונע ומעכב כלל ועיקר בשום פנים ובשום צד, אלא הוא לבדו מושל בכל. לא מבעיא שאין רשות נגדו ח"ו, אלא הוא עצמו בורא הטוב והרע, כעניין הכתוב (ישעיה מה, ז), "יוצר אור ובורא חושך עושה שלום ובורא רע, אני ה' עושה כל אלה"; שאין אחר תחתיו שיהיה לו שליטה בעולם, דהיינו שאין שום שר ולא שום כוח שני, כמו שחשבו עובדי עבודה זרה. ולא עוד, אלא שהוא לבדו משגיח על כל בריותיו השגחה פרטית, ואין שום דבר נולד בעולמו אלא מרצונו ומידו, ולא במקרה, ולא בטבע, ולא במזל; אלא הוא השופט כל הארץ וכל אשר בה, וגוזר כל אשר יעשה בעליונים ובתחתונים, עד סוף כל המדרגות שבכל הבריאה כולה. ומעוצם יחוד שליטתו הוא שאין לו שום הכרח וכפיה כלל, וכל סדרי המשפט וכל החוקים אשר חקק - כולם תלויים ברצונו, ולא שהוא מוכרח בהם כלל. הנה כשרוצה - משעבד רצונו, כביכול, למעשי בני האדם, כעניין ששנינו (אבות פ"ג, יט), "והכל לפי רוב המעשה"; וכשהוא רוצה - אינו חושש לכל המעשים, ומטיב בטובו למי שרוצה, וכמו שאמר למשה רבנו ע"ה (ברכות ז, א), "וחנותי את אשר אחון - אע"פ שאינו הגון". וכבר נאמר (איוב לה, ו), "אם חטאת מה תפעל בו ורבו פשעיך מה תעשה לו"; ואז נאמר (ירמיהו נ, כ), "יבוקש את עון ישראל ואיננו וגו' כי אסלח לאשר אשאיר"; וכן נאמר (ישעיה מח, יא), "למעני למעני אעשה לי ואיך יחל"; (שם מג, כה), "אנכי אנכי הוא מוחה פשעיך למעני וחטאתיך לא אזכור". וכן נאמר (זכריה ג, ט), "ומשתי את עון הארץ ההיא ביום אחד". זאת נחמתנו בעניינו, כי לא על מעשינו יפקוד, ולא לזכותנו ימתין, או מחסרון מעשים יחליפנו ח"ו, אלא מפני השבועה אשר נשבע לאבותינו והברית אשר כרת. הנה אפילו אם לא יהיה זכות בישראל - כשיגיע עת מועד, יום נסתם בלבו, הנה על כל פנים יושיענו ודאי, כי אדון כל הוא, ויכול לעשות כן כשהוא רוצה.
Daat Tevunot - Ramchal (Chapter 168) (Italy 1707 - Israel 1746)
Rather, one who believes and understands God's ways, he needs to believe that the Holy Blessed One is One, Unique and Alone in that that there is absolutely nothing that holds Him back or prevents Him from acting in any possible way, rather that He alone controls everything, ... there is no power against Him. He Himself creates good and evil, as it says "fashioner of light and creator of darkness, maker of peace and creator of evil, I am Ad-nai who does all these" (Isaiah 45:7) since there is no other power below Him that would govern the world, that is, there is no other ruler or other strength - rather, He Himself supervises His creatures (humans) with a personal providence, and nothing is born in this world without His hand and His will. There is no chance, or nature, or stars. He is the Judge of all the earth and all that it contains and He decrees all that is to happen On High and Below, until the very ends of all the levels of the entire Creation. And due to the uniqueness of His Being there is no forcing or coercing Him at all, and all of the orders of justice that he has set for, all of them are dependent upon his will and He is not bound by them at all. Rather, when He so desires He submits His will (so to speak) to human deeds, as we learned "and all is according to the majority of deeds" (Avot 3:19), and when He desires He does not pay attention to actions at all and He acts kindly to whoever He so desires as He said to Moshe (Bavli Brachot 7B) "And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious (Exodus 33:19) even if it is not fair." [follow proofs from verse from Job, Jeremiah, Isaiah and Zechariah]
This is our comfort, because God does not count our actions, nor does He wait for our good deeds. Alternatively, He will not leave us because of our bad deeds, God forbid. Rather, because of the oath that he swore to our forefathers and the covenant that he made with them he keeps us. Indeed, even if there were no merits in all of Israel, when the day of judgement arrives he will in any event definitely redeem us because He rules over everything and can do whatever He wants.
Ramchal has a different approach: God is generally consistent with justice and deeds, but God made a promise, and since God is able to be completely arbitrary, God will redeem us, even if our deeds are bad. Now with all that in, I want to present the response of the Piazeczno rebbe who was as we say "living it", that is, he was a rebbe in the Warsaw Ghetto[give tiny intro], and how the debate has continued today.
Inside the matter... the evolution of thought of the Esh Kodesh
From the Piazeczno rebbe (Esh Kodesh, Rebbe Rabbi Kalonymus Kalmish Shapira, Poland 1889-1943, based on notes of classes by Rav Tamir Granot, etzion.org.il)
1. No denial
There are calamities for which it is possible to accept consolation. A person may have had an illness from which he recovered. Although he had been in great danger and in tremendous pain, when with God's help he was healed, he was immediately consoled for all the pain he endured. Similarly, if money was lost, then when God restores the lost fortune, consolation follows quickly. But when lives are lost, it is impossible to accept solace. It is true that when the pain is due to the loss of family and loved ones, or to the loss of other Jewish people because they were precious and are sorely missed, it is possible to take comfort in other surviving relatives and different friends. But any decent person mourns the loss of others not simply because he misses them; it is not only his yearning for them that causes pain and distress. The real cause of his grief is the death of the other – the loss of life. (from Sacred Fire: Torah from the Years of Fury 1939-1942, translated by J.H. Worch [Jason Aronson], p.200, Shabbat Nachamu – August 9, 1941)
This clear existential position leaves no room for denial or suppression by invoking the World to Come or the like; it proposes that the evil of death be acknowledged and addressed directly. Any other reaction is false; either it is not being uttered honestly, from the heart, or it requires that one nullify the heart.
The other possibility – the justification of suffering – was available to the Rebbe of Piaseczno, and he mentions it at the beginning of the war. But as the madness grows the Rebbe concluded that the suffering of the Holocaust could not be dealt with by justification, since no memory or tradition in teaching about punishment or repair for sins can account for what was going on.
2. No justification
a. [Note added by author on the eve of the holy Sabbath, Kislev 18-November 27, 1942.] No such torment as was endured until the middle of 1942 has ever transpired previously in history. The bizarre tortures and the freakish, brutal murderers that have been invented for us by the depraved, perverted murderers, solely for the suffering of Israel, since the middle of 1942, are, according to my knowledge of the words of our sages of blessed memory, and of the chronicles of the Jewish people in general, unprecedented and unparalleled. May God have mercy upon us, and save us from their hands, in the blink of an eye. (This coincides with the round up of the ghetto's children for transport)
b. Every Jewish person prays to God and cries out to Him, blessed be He, regarding any calamity [that it should not occur]. And when, God forbid, the trouble is even greater, he cries out even more, as it is written (Esther 4:1), "And Mordechai cried a great and bitter cry." Even when there is no impending calamity, we pray to God because prayer itself is closeness to God. When we pray, we pray with a full voice, as it is written in sacred literature, "The voice awakens the intention (kavana), the intention awakens the voice." But what can we do when they do not permit us to cry out, or even to congregate for prayer, and we are forced to pray in hidden places, and every Jewish heart must lament this alone? At least in the depths of his heart, every Jew must shout out to God about it. (p.124)
[Note regarding the force of community that praying together brings, and also, if the suffering means teshuvah, repentance, we can understand it. But later the Rebbe writes:]
c. [about Shabbat Shuvah] everyone can see that before the war, our prayers were louder and more passionate and offered with a greater outpouring of the heart than the prayers that were uttered during Rosh Hashanah this year. This is simply because our bodies are so weakened and Jews have no more strength. But, in addition, we observe that in general Rosh Hashanah and Shabbat Shuva, the Sabbath of Repentance, lack the trepidation and passion with which they were celebrated previously." [Now, as I am writing this, I can add that others have told me they agree: They have observed it too.]
What has caused this to happen? Firstly, as King David said (Tehillim 138:3), "On this day when I called, You answered me, and strengthened me with strength in my soul." When a Jewish person prays, and his prayers are answered, his subsequent prayers are even stronger and stimulated to greater passion. But when he prays and then sees that not only are his prayers not answered but his troubles actually increase, may the Merciful One protect us, a person's heart falls and he can not arouse himself to passionate prayer.
The second reason is, as we have already said, for anything to really happen, for faith and for joy, there needs to be a real person to experience the faith and the joy – but when the person has been wholly crushed and squashed, there is no one left to rejoice. (p. 230)
To pray, a person must still remain a "person." In order to be able to pray, one has to exist above a certain minimum level of healthy consciousness, with a sense of continuity, life-force, a desire to live, etc. When he is completely bent and broken, there is simply no person left to pray. The suffering therefore appears to be devoid of any purpose.
3. To weep with God
This is the very reason why God appeared to Moses for the first time from within the burning thorn bush. Rashi (Shemot 3:2) explains the choice of the thorn bush by quoting the verse (Tehillim 91:15) "I am with him in his pain."
So long as God has only "strength and rejoicing in His abode" (I Divrei Ha-Yamim 16:27) then prophets, too, can prophesy only when they also are be-simcha (joyous). But when God is, as it were, together with the Jews in their pain and trouble, then prophecy may also come to the prophet who is likewise in pain over the plight of the Jews.
In the Talmud (Chagiga 5b) we learn: "It is written (Yermiyahu 13:17), 'My soul weeps in mistarim (concealment).' Is there then any weeping on the face of the Holy Blessed One, as it is written, 'Beauty and splendor before Him; strength and rejoicing in His abode' (I Divrei Ha-Yamim 16:27)? There is no contradiction. One verse refers to the inner chambers, while the other chambers." Thus, we learn that while in the outer chambers of heaven there is always "strength and rejoicing" before God, within the inner chambers, God weeps in His distress, as it were, over the pain of the Jews.
So it is possible that at a time of hester panim (concealment of the Divine Face), which is to say, when God hides Himself within the inner chambers, a Jew may also enter and be alone with God there, each Jew at his own level. There, within the inner chambers, Torah and worship are revealed to each person who enters. We have already spoken about how the Oral Torah was revealed primarily in exile, in Babylon, and how the holy Zohar was only revealed to Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and his son Rabbi Elazar when they were living in a cave, fleeing the Romans government, afraid for their lives. (ibid., p.315)
The Holocaust as a Christian problem
Ronald Modras, Post-Holocaust Jewish and Christian Theologies of History, in: 44th Convention of Catholic Theological Society of America, 2013
a. The Holocaust requires us to rethink some of our most traditional theological categories. John C. Merkle, ... in his paper, "Redemption: Human and Divine," Merkle cited Heschel's provocative description of faith as the beginning of compassion for God. ...
b. God is not responsible for evil like that perpetrated at Auschwitz or anywhere else. Evil results from defiance of God's will. For the world's redemption, God requires human cooperation. As Heschel puts it, "God is waiting for us to redeem the world." Even for Christians who accept Jesus as Redeemer, Merkle noted, we need not think of redemption as the work of Jesus alone. The gospel, like the Torah, calls for human participation in the work of redemption. Heschel held that "the Messiah is in us." He lamented that Christians had become' 'less and less messianic,'' by focusing on otherworldly personal salvation instead of the universal redemption that Jesus the Jew preached as the reign of God. Divine omnipotence means not infinite control but an unending love that has created us free and requires us to be partners in redemption. God was not responsible for the Holocaust. If God was absent from Auschwitz, it is because God was expelled. We return God to the world and serve as vehicles of redemption, when we do acts of justice and compassion. Heschel's theology rejects any indictment of God for human failures but also undermines the naive belief that all things will necessarily turn out for the best.
I want to say that what we call Classical Theism, as we talked generally above, cannot hold such a description of faith. We talked here how God, as portrayed in the Bible, is passionate, suffers, rejoices and repents. God in the Bible is not perfect in the sense of the classical view of God, a God that is aloof and immutable. God, for Heschel - and for the Piazeczno Rebbe, can suffer and change. This does not mean that God thereby becomes more perfect. Mutability does not mean imperfection, just as immutability does not mean perfection.
c. [Professor Harry James Cargas, in the presentation of a paper entitled "Process Theology and the Suffering of God, said] If the Holocaust raises a host of disturbing questions, we can take comfort from the mystics who tell us that, while answers change in the course of history, good questions are eternal. ... All is related to all in interdependence. God relates to the world not by controlling but persuading, loving and therefore risking, not knowing how things will turn out. God is responsive to our needs, affected by our actions. "But then there was Auschwitz," Cargas repeated throughout all this like a litany. Jews ask, Where was God at Auschwitz? Cargas asks, Where was Jesus? He cited Elie Wiesel to the effect that the Holocaust did not mark the end of Judaism but of Christianity. "Every killer of Jews during the Holocaust was a baptized Christian; it takes a lot of these proclaimed followers of Jesus to murder over 5 1/4 million Jews. And probably 500 million other Christians stood by as onlookers."
If we take seriously that our beliefs and values are fundamental to what we are, we will change the world. We will not just wait for things to get better. Our failures as human beings can lead to terrible things. We cannot expect, as if we were five-year-olds, that God will show up and fix everything. The idea that God is out there, ready to judge and fix and punish entire nations, makes no sense after the Holocaust. If when you feel suffering upon yourself faith means that you will become a better human being, than faith will work. But to look at others and expect them to be you, and feel your faith, and love God as you do because you feel you are right, this is preposterous.
According to Heschel, the only thing that we can learn about God with the holocaust is that God never felt more alone and impotent than then.
הרב ש"ך יתד נאמן י"ב טבת תשנ"א
ברצוני להציב שאלה, מחשבה שמנקרת אצלי הרבה שנים, היתה שואה לפני עשרות שנים, בשואה זו הושמדו ששה מליון יהודים, עד השואה גם לא היתה רגיעה בעולם, ממלחמת העולם הראשונה, אין מנוחה בעולם, גם ברוסיה סבלו מליוני יהודים. בכל רחבי רוסיה נהרגו יהודים, ועדיין לא נראה הסוף.
השאלה הניצבת לפנינו עם כל הכאב על אבדן ששה מליון מאחינו בני ישראל. אין משפחה שלא סבלה מהשואה, אין הורים או אחים, צאצאים, וסתם קרובים, כולם נפגעו מהשואה הנוראה שנגזרה על עמנו, הלא דבר הוא, אנו לא נעצרים לרגע לשאול, מדוע זה קרה, וכי ח"ו הקב"ה נוהג באכזריות הרי הוא מלך רחום וחנון, מה זאת עשה השם לנו הלא דבר הוא, האם זה בחינם? האם יש בכוחו של בשר ודם פרא אדם כהיטלר ימ"ש, להשמיד ששה מליון יהודים? אם אנו סוברים כך, לוקים אנו באמונה בהשגחת בורא העולם על ברואיו.
אני שואל, איך וכיצד צריך יהודי לחשוב לנוכח שואה נוראה כזו, בודאי שיש חשבון לכל זה, הרי מאות בשנים לא קרה מקרה כזה כהשואה הנוראה הזו.
ברור הוא שהתשובה ברורה עד למאד. הקב"ה ניהל חשבון אחד לאחד. חשבון ארוך המשתרע על פני מאות שנים. עד שהצטבר לחשבון של ששה מליון יהודים וכך התרחשה השואה, כך צריך יהודי להאמין, ואם היהודי לא שלם באמונה זו, הוא כופר בעיקר.
ולאחר השמדת הששה מליון מתחיל חשבון חדש עם עם ישראל, אין לנו מושג כלל על כמה שנים ישתרע חשבון זה, מתי תתמלא הסאה, אם שנה או שנתיים ואולי עשר שנים. הרי נוכחים אנו לדעת שהקב"ה גבי דיליה ומשלם את מה שנגזר, א"כ צריכים אנו לחשוב, אמנם כעת אנו רגועים וטוב לנו, כי עדיין לא נתמלאה הסאה, אבל שתתמלא הסאה והחשבון של הקב"ה יראה שנתמלאה הסאה אז יהיה חשבון חדש, האם זה לא כך? האם יש מישהו שיכול להכחיש דבר זה, הרי לא יתכן אחרת, ואסור לומר אחרת
ומה שאנו רואים שהרשעים שולטים, זה כל עוד שלא התמלאה הסאה, אנו עדים לכך שהמצב הרוחני נהיה יותר גרוע, זה ממלא את הסאה, וזה עלול להיות עוד שנה או עשר שנים, או אפילו מחר. לפני השואה חיכו מאות שנים במצב של רגיעה עד שהתמלאה הסאה.
כאן, בבתי הספר החילוניים מתחנכים אלפי ילדים יהודיים, האם הם יודעים משהו מיהדות? ומה יהיה עם הדור הבא. האם הילדים שלהם יידעו מה זה משה רבנו ע"ה, הרי אלו שלומדים היום בבתי הספר הממלכתיים לא יודעים מי זה משה רבינו, ומי זה אברהם אבינו. ואחרי עשרים שנה גם יהיה אותו דבר. אז גם יהיה ח"ו נתמלאה הסאה.
לכן יש עצה. "שובו אלי ואשובה אליכם", יש לזכור כי דברי חז"ל הם קדוש! קדוש! קדוש! דבריהם הקדושים לא נאמרו ח"ו כבשיגרא בעלמא, או מליצה ח"ו, דבריהם הם אמיתיים וקיימים בל נסוב מדבריהם, ואז יש לנו תקווה.
An extreme view, and one answer
Rav Shach (Elazar Menachem Man Shach (Lithuania 1899- Israel 2001)
Yated Neeman December 29,1990
I would like to put forward a question, a thought that has gnawed at me for many years. Decades ago there was a Shoah [destruction]. In this Shoah six million Jews were destroyed, and even until the Shoah there was no calm moment in the world, [there was] the First World War, there is no rest in this world, also in Russia millions of Jews suffered, in all of Russia's open spaces Jews were killed, and the end is not in sight.
The question that stands before us, with all of the pain and loss of our six million brothers, bnei Yisrael, there is not one family that did not suffer from the Shoah. Parents, brothers, children, and even distant relatives: everyone suffered because of this horrible Shoah [destruction] that was decreed on our people, is this not the case? We don't stop and wonder for a moment: Why did this happen?
Is it possible, God forbid, to think that God is cruel? [No!] He is a merciful and compassionate king! What has God done to us? Did this happen for no reason? Does a wild human being like Hitler (ymach shmo, may his name be erased) have in his power to annihilate six million Jews? If we think this is true then we are lacking in out faith in divine providence in the Creator of the World and his creations.
I ask, what and how should a Jew think regarding this terrible Shoah [destruction], obviously there is accountability for all this, behold in hundreds of years there was never such an event like this Shoah [destruction].
It is clear that the answer is very obvious. God kept count of each and every sin, in a running count over hundreds of years, until the count amounted to six million Jews, and that is how the Shoah occurred. So must a Jew believe, and if a Jew does not completely believe this, he is a heretic, and if we do not accept this as a punishment , then it is as if we don’t believe in the Holy One, blessed be He.
After exterminating the six million, He began counting again regarding the people of Israel. We have no idea whatsoever for how long this account will run, when the measure will be full, a year, two years, maybe ten years. We know that the Holy One Blessed be He does not skip and completes what He decrees, therefore we need to think maybe at this moment we are in peace and quiet, this is because the measure is not full yet, but as the measure is filled the count begins again, isn't it so? Is there anyone who can contradict this? Behold there is no other logical explanation, and it is forbidden to say otherwise.
And what we see that the evil people are reigning, this is still because the measure is not completely full, we are witnesses that the spiritual state will become even worse, and this continues to fill the measure, and this is probably going to be the case for another year or ten, or even it will end tomorrow. Before the Shoah [destruction] people stayed two thousand years in the state of contentment until the measure was filled up.
Here, in the secular schools, thousands of Jewish children are taught, do they know anything about Judaism at all? And what will be with the next generation? Will their children even know what Moses our teacher, of blessed memory even is? Behold, those who study today in the national schools don't know who Moses our teacher was, and who Abraham our father was. And after twenty years it will continue to be the same thing. And then the measure will, God forbid, be full.
And therefore here is the advice: "return to me and I will return to you", to remember that the words of our sages are sacred! Sacred! Sacred! Their sacred words were not uttered, God forbid, just willy-nilly, and they are not a metaphor, God forbid, their words are true, and stand without being undone, and if we do not turn from them there will be hope for us.
הרבי מלובביץ' תגובה להרב ש"ך (התוועדיות שנת תשנ"א ב)
ובנוגע לעניננו:
דורנו זה, שארית הפליטה מהשואה שבה נהרגו על קידוש השם ששה מליון יהודים השם יקום דמם, הוא בבחינת "אוד מוצל מאש, "כאוד שניצל משריפה". וחלילה וחס לקטרג עליהם, ועאכו"כ בקטרוג חמור, שהנהגתם עלולה להביא שואה נוספת, ר"ל היל"ת, "לא תקום פעמיים צרה"
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 (ולא נאמר על זה "מי חשיד קב"ה דעביד דינא בלא דינא"). ואבוהון דכולהו – גזירת ברית בין הבתרים, כמו–שכתוב "ידוע תדע כי גר יהיה זרעך בארץ לא להם ועבדום וענו אותם ארבע מאות שנה", שאין זה בגלל עונות, אלא שכך גזר הקב"ה.
ובנדון–דידן: השמדת ששה מליון יהודים באכזריות הכי גדולה ונוראה – שואה איומה שלא היתה (ולא תהיה רחמנא–לצלן) דוגמתה במשך כל הדורות – לא יכולה להיות בתור עונש על עונות, שכן, אפילו השטן עצמו לא יוכל למצוא חשבת עונות בדור ההוא שיהיה בו כדי להצדיק ח"ו עונש חמור כזה, אין לנו שום הסבר וביאור כלל וכלל על השואה. אין לנו שום הסבר וביאור (ע"פ חכמת התורה) כלל וכלל על השואה, כי–אם רק ידיעת העובדה ש"כך עלה במחשבה לפני", ואשר "גזירה היא מלפני" … ובודאי ובודאי לא ההסבר דעונש על עונות.
ואדרבה: כל אלה שנהרגו בשואה הם קדושים (כפי שנקראים בפי כל ישראל) כיון שנהרגו על קדושת השם (בגלל היותם יהודים), והשם ינקום דמם (כפי שמוסיף כל יהודי שמזכיר קרבנות השואה), ובנוסח התפלה ד"אב הרחמים": "קהלות הקודש שמסרו נפשם על קדושת השם . . וינקום נקמת דם עבדיו השפוך, ככתוב בתורת משה . . כי דם עבדיו יקום . . ובכתבי הקודש נאמר . . יודע בגוים לעינינו נקמת דם עבדיך השפוך", היינו, שהקב"ה מעיד עליהם שהם "עבדיו" (שמציאותו של העבד היא מציאות האדון), ומבטיח ש"ינקום נקמת דם עבדיו השפוך", כיון ששפיכת דמם הוא היפך חפצו…
ועד כדי כך גדלה מעלתם מצד הריגתם על קדושת השם [אפילו לולי עבודתם בקיום התומ"צ, ועאכו"כ בהוספה על גודל מעלתם בקיום התומ"צ, שהרי (בעיקר) מסלתה ומשמנה של היהדות התורנית ניספו בשואה ע"ד מרז"ל בכיו"ב "אין כל ברי’ יכולה לעמוד במחיצתן"
ומושלל מלהשתמש בשואה בתור הפחדה בנוגע לעונש על עונות, ובפרט בנוגע לדורנו זה, "אוד מוצל מאש", שארית הפליטה מהשואה הנוראה, אשר, בהנהגתו בחיים ע"פ הוראת תורת–חיים ממשיך בדרך החיים של דור הקדושים לאורך ימים ושנים טובות, בבחינת "זרעו בחיים אף הוא בחיים". ובודאי שדברי שטנה אלה לא יעשו שום רושם כלל וכלל.
Lubavitcher Rebbe (Menachem Mendel Schneerson (Russia 1902 – US 1994; given at a Farbregen 1991, eventually compiled in Dvar Malchus Vayechi, p. 19 ff., complete version available at http://dvarmalchus.org/Download/20.pdf)
Response to Rav Shach, 1991
And regarding our issue:
Our generation, the remnants of the refugees from the Shoah in which six million of Jews were killed for the Sanctification of the Name, Hashem will take revenge on their blood, [that generation] is "an ember saved from the fire" (see Zecharia 3). And God forbid one should blame them, all the more so with a strong accusation, that their behavior would bring another Shoah/destruction, God will not permit this, "a disgrace will not happen twice" (Nachum 1:9).
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 Destruction by stating that the measure of sins is filled.
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. In the language of chazal (regarding the death of R Akiva, whose skin was scraped with iron combs and in the same way with all the Ten Martyrs of the Roman Empire) "Be quiet, this is what I thought to do", "it is a decree that I have made." (and it is not said "who suspects the KBH to have done judgment without justice") - and the primary/father one of all - the decree of the Covenant between Parts, as it is written "you shall surely know that your seed will sojourn in a land which is not theirs, and they will be slaves and will be oppressed for four hundred years" that these things are not because of sins, but rather because thus has God decreed.
An regarding the present thing being disputed: the destruction of six million Jews in the greatest and most horrible cruelty, a Shoah [destruction] whose likes we have never seen in any generation (and will never happen again, the Merciful One to our rescue) cannot possibly be a punishment for sins, since even Satan himself could not find sins so great in that generation to justify, God forbid, such a punishment: we have no explanation and interpretation at all for the Shoah. We have no explanation in light of the wisdom of the Torah at all for the Shoah, only the knowledge of the fact that "this is what I thought to do" and "this was a decree that I made" ... and most definitely there cannot be an explanation that this is a punishment for sin.
And on the contrary: all those who were killed in the Shoah they are kedoshim (as they are called in the mouths of all Israel) since they were killed sanctifying the Name (due to the fact that they were Jews), and the Name will revenge their blood (as every Jew adds when one remembers the ones killed in the Shoah), and as the text of the prayer "Av Harachamim": "the holy communities that gave up their lives for the sanctification of the Name... and He will take revenge on the blood of His servants that was spilled, as it is written in the Torah of Moshe... because He will take revenge on the blood of His servants that was spilled... and in the holy writings it is written ... make known in the peoples, in our eyes, the revenge of the blood that was spilled from Your servants" - that is, the KBH Himself is witness that they are "His servants" (that the reality of the servant is the reality of the master), and He assures that "He will take revenge on the blood of His servants that was spilled" since spilling of blood is the opposite of His desire...
And the level of those who were killed due to the sanctification of the Name is so high [even without any regard to their observance of Torah and mitzvot, and all the more so if added to a great observance of Torah and mitzvot that behold (particularly considering that) the best of the observant Jews were added to the Shoah, that through the sayings of our sages "the entire Creation cannot stand in their partition [between this world and the next]"
And the worst use of the Shoah is it as a deterrent to sin, [saying it is a] punishment for sin, especially in our generation "an ember saved from a fire" the remnants of the refugees from the horrible Shoah, which, as they live life according to the ways of the Torah of life, continuing the ways of life of the generation of the holy ones, for many days and good years, they act in the aspect of "if his seed is alive then he is still alive". And it is clear that these inciting words will have no impact at all.