Challenging God in the face of tragedy

The Fed-Up Man of Faith: Challenging God in the Face of Tragedy and Suffering by Shmuley Boteach, Gefen Publishing House, Jerusalem, New York;  ISBN 978-965-229-606-1 ©2012, $24.95, p. 340, plus addenda

By Fred Reiss, Ed.D.

WINCHESTER, California — World-renown Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, in his latest book The Fed-Up Man of Faith, continues on the path of confronting God’s earthly actions, which Judaism’s first patriarch Abraham began when he challenged God’s decision to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, asking, “Must not the judge of all the earth do justly?” (Gen. 18:25). Jacob, too, and Moses each strove with God, the former wrestling with His angel and the latter questioning God’s decision to obliterate the Hebrews for worshipping the Golden Calf. Even Job challenged God to provide reasons for the terrible suffering inflicted on him. In modern times, Rabbi Levi Yitzchok of Berditchev, the Klausenberger Rebbe, Elie Weisel, and Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson standout among many others for their oral and written accusations about God’s silence in the face of indescribable death and destruction.

There is something inherent in the Jewish nature that demands a full accounting of God’s relationship with humanity.

Unlike many religious people, Boteach sees no value in suffering, it is not a blessing: one can learn compassion, moral conduct, and spirituality without pain and anguish. He also distinguishes himself from writers like Rabbi Harold S. Kushner author of When Bad Things Happen to Good People, who according to Boteach presents a minimalist God, a God who creates the laws of nature, but has no subsequent power over them. On one hand, Boteach refuses to let God off-the-hook for his continued silence in the face of mass murders and natural disasters and on the other, he does not hold humanity blameless for its crimes against humanity.

Judaism plays both sides of the philosophical fence saying that God is the final judge and the ultimate redeemer. There is no death without sin, says the Talmud (Tractate Shabbat, 55a). Boteach ponders: did all six million Jews who died in the Holocaust commit such heinous crimes that they deserved death? If so, does that make the Nazis nothing more than the tools of a vengeful God? How about those who died in the World Trade Center or those who perished in the Christmas Day Tsunami? If the religious and the secular die the same way, does practicing the orthodoxy of any religion make one a better person?

Religion is important to Boteach. He argues that nations that prosper have a religious foundation, even if a majority of its citizens are secularists, and from that underpinning he wants a global commitment to alleviating human suffering and a universal pledge to fight evil. Boteach’s beliefs in these tasks are so strong that he puts God on notice that He shouldn’t let the innocent suffer; it is criminal to believe that God only gives us burdens that we can bear or that all events, good and bad, are for the best.

The Fed-Up Man of Faith is a thoughtful book, which challenges the conscience of people from a broad spectrum of religious beliefs. Boteach concludes that confronting God for the anguish He causes is not a contradiction of faith—at least not Jewish faith—rather “it enforces the belief that everything emanates from and is dependent on God.” The Fed-Up Man of Faith reminds me of the words spoken by John Kennedy in his inaugural address, “With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds… asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God’s work must truly be our own.

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Dr. Fred Reiss is a retired public and Hebrew school teacher and administrator. He is the author of The Standard Guide to the Jewish and Civil Calendars; Ancient Secrets of Creation: Sepher Yetzira, the Book that Started Kabbalah, Revealed; and Reclaiming the Messiah. He may be contacted via fred.reiss@sdjewishworld.com.