Q I: It seems like there is a very fine line between acceptance and protest. We are taught to accept everything G-d sends our way, to rise above, become stronger, use tragedy and hardship for our own growth, yet we’re also told to scream, to protest, not to accept, to say “it’s enough”. When do we know which one to do, at what time? How do we justify G-d’s actions to people, yet accept and fight it off at the same time?
Q II: When someone dies are you supposed to be sad that they died or happy that they finished their job in this world? For example, the Holtzbergs?
Q III: No matter what G-d does, no matter what happens and how terrible things are, the answer is “it’s for the best”, or “that’s the way G-d wants it”, even if we don’t understand it. But G-d is getting away with murder. Why is that ok? Why should we accept that answer? What is motivating about G-d’s so called protection and guidance?
Q IV: In light of the events in India, how are we to understand 1) that G-d says He protects us and watches over us? 2) that we say that people on a mission to do good, are not harmed? 3) what happened to all the prayers and pure belief of so many people?
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I’m sorry I found this to be way over many of our simple heads. I ‘m a simple Jew… but obviously there is no simple answer to this tragedy. The one point I got from Rabbi Friedman was the fact that the world did change because of these people. Bottom line this is painful bottom line No more philosophical explanations….we need Moshiach.
me again. my response was to the writer’s tone, not his or her doubts/pain/etc… The unanswerable questions are a matter of bitachon. For that you have Tanya. But the chutzpa towards someone who is respected by many and the “amaleik”-style cynicism is just ugly. P.S. its funny that #1 says “some people can not say “I don’t know””, i wsa at a talk by R. manis in chicago recently where most of his talk was about how important it is to say “i don’t know”… Obviously, #1 knows very little about him.
labelling someone with valid reactions and unanswerable questions as bitter and cynical doesn’t make the feeble answers any stronger
thank you Rabbi mannis for healing my pain. the wound of the murder is still so painful- and i feel so left in the dark. Yet your words are healing comforting and lift my spirits- with a beutiful messege of “Emunah and betachon- ” You are exactly what we need to hear now- Thank you for posting this and sending it to my email.
it seems you don’t need Manis Friedman. you need basic Judaism and chassidus. Go learn Tanya Ch. 26 and stop being so cynical and bitter.
Rabbi Manis is irreplaceable in identifying clarifying and lighting up the darkness and confusion. where can we see the whole three hour talk –
Thank you SO much for posting this
so he thought and he coughed and he thought and he thought… and explains – they were honored by that gd orchestrated their murder, and skirted the question about shluchei mitzva, by saying good came of it, and pain is not promised not to come of it. But the phrase/promise is “they will not be harmed” “there is protection from pointless murder” and since hashem orchestrates it, it’s not pointless. uhm, so there never is pointless murder (since hashem orchestrates all).fot that matter he could ahve said, they weren’t damaged – damage is when bad comes, and bad doens’t come… Read more »