Deut. 7:12 - 11:25
Précis: Moses continues his recapitulation of the commandments to the people, reminding them to be obedient to God’s laws in their forthcoming struggle with the Canaanites. He describes in detail all of the blessings which God had already provided them, and reminds them to bless and thank God for the bounty they receive. On the other hand, if they should follow the rebelliousness of their fathers, including the incident of the Golden Calf, punishment will occur.
Deut. 9:6 “Know that it is not for any virtue of yours that Adonai your God is giving you this Land to own, for you are a stiff-necked people.”
Americans and Israelis alike are surrounded by stiff-necked people these days. Rashi tells us “They turn the stiff back of their necks toward those who would rebuke them and refuse to listen.” And the Sforno adds, “Hence there is no hope that they will repent, but follow the stubbornness of their hearts as before.” Evil deeds follow evil thoughts.
The concept of evil is discussed by Rabbi Shlomo Zuckier (MyJewishLearning.com). Philosophers call the issue “theodicy” and ask how an all-powerful God allows so much evil to continue in the world. This is especially troubling for Jews, whose belief rests upon the concept of reward and punishment. Yet the good suffer, and the evil prosper. One way Jews approach this problem is that suffering results from a specific sin (a retributivist approach). The other approach is that God works in "mysterious ways" so why even discuss the matter?
The early sages based their view on a literalist interpretation of the Torah. By the time the Book of Job was written, the cause of suffering became more inscrutable. The early Rabbis largely continued a retributivist approach, but ameliorated it by a promise of bliss for the good in the world to come. The olam ha-bah was the real scene for God’s justice.
Medieval philosophers continued to be unsettled by this problem. Maimonides acknowledged the potential retributionist idea, but added that some evil might have different causes, including free will to do wrong, or the result of privation. Kabbalists saw that God’s voluntary withdrawal from the universe (tzimtzum) left us with an autonomy to do evil. Rav Kook took another tack in modern times: since all things come from God, there must be a spark of good in everything, even if we cannot perceive it.
The Holocaust refocused the debate. Some more liberal Jews felt that God had withdrawn from His creation, and no longer cared about good or evil. Some traditional Orthodox doubled down on the retributionist point of view: the Holocaust happened because we deserved it. But a kinder voice came from Rabbi Soloveitchik, who suggested that the appropriate response to evil is not to understand it, but to respond to it with spiritual growth and help. In other words, as Zuckier quotes Soloveitchik, the “right question to ask about evil is not why, but what.”
Today, while there is little support for the idea that evil persists despite God’s beneficence, many still hold to the idea that those who suffer are somehow deserving of their fate. Zuckier concludes appropriately: “The great Jewish debate over theodicy, over how to square a perfect God with an imperfect world, rages on.” To be Jewish is to wrestle with God, and here is a matter when wrestling will never be ended.
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