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Jul 05, 2007 02:19 PM The Meaning of Suffering: Part IX by
Roundtable Index: Introduction | Part I: Roth | Part II: Palazzi | Part III: Pearl | Part IV: Yellin | Part V: Guimond | Part VI: Glazov | Part VII: Evanier | Part VIII: Kimball | Part IX: Roth | Part X: Palazzi | Part XI: Pearl | Part XII: Yellin | Part XIII: Guimond | Part XIV: Glazov | Part XV: Evanier | Part XVI: Kimball (Conclusion) |
Roth: It was interesting to read the views of individuals from such varied religious backgrounds. Some of their beliefs mirrored mine; for example, Jamie Glazov’s conviction that man, with his limited intellectual capacities, should not expect to comprehend the rationale of his Creator. This is why, like Judea Pearl, I try not to expend much time or energy, searching for the logic in or justification for undeserved suffering. From any angle it wreaks havoc with our deeply ingrained belief in reward and punishment.
What Rabbi Yellin propounds seems to allow little room for grief over the loss of a child. Actually, the Bible and Judaism’s Sages were extremely sympathetic towards bereaved parents.
When the first Biblical bereaved parent we encounter, Jacob, believes he has lost his son, Joseph, we are told that "...he mourned his son many days ...All his sons and daughters rose to comfort him yet he refused to be comforted and he said ’I will go to my son, to my grave, grieving...’
One commentator, the Malbim, wrote the following in the nineteenth century: "The way of the world is that a son goes to his father’s grave. That is why Jacob said "Is it fair for me, an old man, to have to go to my son’s grave? It is truly a blow from G-d and contrary to nature for a father to mourn his son."
The Eish Kodesh, the Chassidic Rebbe whom I mentioned earlier, wrote in 1943, the final year of his journal of sermons, having already buried one of his two children: "There are certain trials that we can be comforted for... but over the loss of lives it is impossible to be comforted... This is essentially why ’our heart is sad and our spirit cries’ for those souls that were taken in the prime of their lives. How can this be comforted, and how else can we be comforted if they are no longer alive? Only He can comfort us by reviving them hastily in the resurrection of the dead (Hebrew: techiyat hemeitim)."
The Medieval tome, "The Book of the Hassidim", exhorts parents not to walk with their young children in sight of someone whose own child has recently died because that would remind the bereaved parent of his pain. That book also relates the instructions one father gave his son not to kneel and kiss the father in the synagogue of a city they were visiting, as was the custom elsewhere. The reason given was that many inhabitants of that city had no children and the father wanted to spare them heartbreak.
Judaism acknowledges ongoing suffering while urging us to continue living meaningfully and engaging in "Tikun Olam" which translate as "repairing the world". To me, Roger Kimball’s comments about Stoicism seem to apply equally well to that Jewish approach: that it "tends to work best when the tests to which it is subjected are light" or when they are the tests of others.
Our outlook on life clashes head-on with the hedonism that rules in Western society where suffering cannot be fathomed. David Evanier demonstrated this well in his anecdote about the thirty-something screenwriter who described his encounter with a Gulag survivor as "cool".
It was a privilege to participate in this round-table. Thank you for the opportunity.
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