A theology of Suffering
This post was originally written on November 21st, 2015 and posted on my Facebook timeline. It is posted below with minor stylistic changes. the original post and comments can be viewed at: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1146255068735429&id=100000528402588 November 21, 2015 What has the world come to?! An 18-year-old American citizen studying in yeshiva murdered in cold blood! 5 people killed in 2 separate terrorist attacks in one day! 18 people murdered since October 1 st , 2016. While I never met Ezra Schwartz and am not part of the Maimonides High School community, the sense of loss is palpable among the many YU students who knew Ezra. The Talmud says that shlukhei mitzvah, those on the way to perform a mitzvah, will not be harmed. Yet recent events make it impossible for me to find this statement theologically tenable. The unpleasant truth of the matter is that recent events have made the concept of a...