The devastating hurricane that
visited the eastern part of the United States last week spawned terrible loss
of life, enormous property damage and some soul-searching as to the real non-weather related cause of this
disaster. Judging from the emails I have received and reading the
pronouncements that have appeared especially in Jewish publications, it is
apparent that many people feel themselves expert enough to know God’s mind, so
to speak, in this matter. Well, I must confess my inadequacy regarding this
subject for I have no theory to advance as to why all of this devastation and
loss of life occurred and was justified in Heaven’s eyes. I take the Torah at
its word “that no living human being will see or understand me.” The absence of
prophecy in Israel is sorely felt at occasions such as this. The prophets of
Israel were able to identify the spiritual and human behavior causes of
otherwise seemingly natural disasters. I am therefore bewildered that that
there are so many who do insist that they know why this hurricane struck the
area that it did and that it is Divine punishment for certain sins committed
there. The seemingly natural disasters that befell the people and Land of Israel
in biblical times – hailstorms, locust invasions, droughts, etc. were explained
by the prophets of the time and their redemptive or punitive purposes were
delineated. But we have no prophets today that can deal with and explain to us
tsunamis in Bangladesh or hurricanes in Long Island. That is a very humbling
experience for many because we are somehow taught and raised to be know-it
–alls, especially in understanding how God runs our world. We are to believe
that there are those amongst us that know everything. And here comes another
event that proves us to be puny, ignorant and powerless (no unfortunate pun
intended.) Therefore I feel almost resentful as to the communications being
broadcast by those who explain spiritually the causes of the hurricane. These
explanations may or not be correct but my question always is – how does one
know that that is the correct explanation?
In the midst of the current
political campaign that is consuming the Israeli media – much more than it is
affecting the average Israeli voter’s equilibrium – we are again faced with a
plethora of know-it-alls. The pundits daily tell us what will occur, who will
and should be elected and who will not, what the future holds for us and other
assorted bits of smug certainty and clucking wisdom. I ask myself the same
question mentioned above – how do they know? Especially since the track record
of all of the wise men and pundits, soothsayers and political experts here in
Israel is very spotty at best. Since humility is hardly the trait of “experts”
and the media here in Israel is blaringly loud and sensationalist in the main,
always claiming objectivity while advancing its own political agenda and
favorites, many of us here just ignore the whole scene until called upon to
actually vote on the appointed election day. Many of us are permanently
undecided voters because we feel that there is really no viable choice since
who knows what will happen when one actually assumes office. Ariel Sharon’s
disastrous betrayal of Gush Katif –“what one sees from here in office is not
what one saw from there while campaigning” – has certainly made the Israeli
voter a wary and suspicious being when it comes to political promises and
policies. Again, it is prophecy and its ability to enlighten us as to the real
meanings of people and events that is certainly lacking.
The major unanswered issue in my
opinion that still overhangs our Jewish society is the Holocaust and the
destruction of European Jewry. What was the real
cause for that unspeakable tragedy? There Heaven is hidden from our
understanding completely. Nevertheless, there have been reasons advanced to
“explain” the event – in a spiritual and societal vein. The actual facts of the
Holocaust are known and documented for all to see and study. What the Heavenly
causes for allowing such an event to occur is not known. There are those who
blamed it on Zionism and those who blamed it on anti-Zionism. There are those
who blame it on the forces of modernism and others who claim that exactly the
opposite is true. Yet the true answer may never be known to us in this world.
So those who do advance explanations and the certainty of knowing Heaven’s will
do so only at their own peril. Silence and acceptance, rebuilding and
revitalizing, staying the course and being humble about all matters is the
wisest course for believing Jews to take.
