Q&A: Why Does G-d Test Me With Such Difficult Challenges?

Rav Uriel Tuito of Beit El delivers an important answer to a series of similar but different questions on a critically crucial topic. 

Q. * Hello Rabbi, my mother was stricken with a very serious case of Covid-19. I was abroad before the onset of the pandemic, and was not allowed back into the country to see and help her on her sickbed, even though others with less important reasons to return to Israel received a permit to do so. Thank G-d, I was ultimately able to return, and my mother recovered completely. But I don't understand why G-d doesn't ensure that there be justice in His world? How can it be that He did not enable me to fulfill His commandment of honoring my mother, yet allowed others with far less important needs to enter Israel? 

* Shalom Rabbi. I am 15 years old and was born with a severe medical problem. I visited tens of rabbis who promised me, in vain, that everything would be OK. Every year on my birthday I undergo a crisis of faith as the same question again painfully arises: Why did G-d bring me into the world with such a defect? 

* From the standpoint of faith in G-d, why did the Corona plague come upon the world? Could it be that everyone is wicked? If so, then shouldn't the Redemption already have arrived, given that we know it is supposed to come in a generation that is either totally guilty or totally righteous?

* Hello, I own a business, and in the wake of Corona and the various lockdowns, I was unable to make a living for my family for over a year. My children saw me in total helplessness. Happily, things are now better – but why did G-d want me to suffer? For what reason? Or could it be that there is no reason…?

How Prophecy Guided Us To Modern-Day Israel

by Rav Zev Sultanovich, yeshiva.co, translated and adapted by Hillel Fendel

One of the unique and greatly significant phenomena during the times of the First Beit HaMikdash was that of prophecy. 

Throughout the long period from the inception of the People of Israel and up until the destruction of the First Temple, prophecy was that which characterized Jewish culture.

Tu B'Av: What is Love?

by Rabbi Eli Sheinfeld, translated and adapted by Hillel Fendel

The best and most up-to-date information on love and marriage exists in the Beit Midrash. Both the Written Torah and the Oral Torah provide us with guidance on how we should love. We should therefore take advantage and clarify this weighty issue from the Torah's perspective, not only via human insights.

Q&A: Isn't Aliyah from the U.S. wrong because Israel is more dangerous?

Q. Is moving from America to Israel considered going into a Makom Sakana [a dangerous place]? In America, there are a lot less DEADLY attacks on Jews, and generally Jewish areas are safe there. The Rambam famously left Israel when he was in danger. Is it proper to make Aliyah from safer places today?

Why is Tisha B'Av Called a Festival?

by Rav Moshe Pinhas Lipshitz, yeshiva.co, Translated and adapted by Hillel Fendel

Just before the somewhat sorrowful Tachanun prayer in our prayerbooks appears a small notation saying that we are not to say it on Tisha B'Av – because this day is a mo'ed, a festive day. 

How can it be that a day commemorating such a grave national calamity as the destruction of the Holy Temples and the exile of the nation could actually be considered, in any way, a festival? Let us look at the sources.

Q&A: Don't Israel's Secular Courts Invalidate the Creation of the State?

Q. When Israel was being created as a secular state, it was known that the state would have courts that wouldn’t be religious and would issue rulings, especially monetary rulings, that would go against the Torah. One of the main functions of a state is its courts, and it’s obvious that whenever you create a state, courts will also be created. How was founding a secular state not transgressing the prohibition of causing others to sin, when clearly you would be causing these secular courts to be created?

Q&A: How Can I Stay Strong When My Faith Is Shaken?

 

Q. Some of the events of recent months and years have, once again, sorely shaken my faith. Forty-five men and boys are trampled to death in the midst of a joyous religious occasion… A new convert on her way to study Torah is murdered by a terrorist… A long-awaited baby suddenly dies… etc. etc. I have read much about emuna and that "everything is for the best," but it's very hard to see and sense G-d through all this sorrow and pain! 

Rebbe Nachman [of Breslov] says that "G-d is most certainly found even within the hidden of the hidden" – but it's hard to see this! Every attack, every death shakes up whatever happiness and serenity I still have... I try to change and become stronger, but I am just a nothing compared to the Great and Awesome G-d! How can I, one little girl, hope to change what He decreed? How can I hope to help my people in its great suffering? Every tribulation it suffers slices through my heart, to the point where I fear that by the time the Mashiah comes I won't have a heart left! 

Can you guide me somehow in my pain and sorrow? I want to strengthen my emuna, not see it fall apart…

Q&A: Can G-d Break Scientific Laws?

Q. [ed. note: The question includes unfounded assertions]

It is known that the basic assumption of science is the concept of scientific determinism [the doctrine that the operation of natural laws determines all, including human choices]. Natural law determines the development of the universe, based on its particular state at a given time. According to modern science, G-d is unable to intervene and "break" these laws – otherwise they would not be laws. This leaves G-d only with the freedom to choose the "original state" of the universe – but there, too, it appears that there must be a law. Therefore, science declares that G-d has no wiggle room at all.

Accordingly, the Rambam was right in writing that even the miracles were determined during the first Six Days of Creation. It is his opinion that it is not proper to think that G-d would "change his mind" or His will. However, as is known, the Maharal of Prague totally did not accept this approach, and wrote, based on early Kabbalist rabbis, that G-d's will is not His essence, and therefore we have no problem saying that G-d might change His mind.

I am inclined to accept the Rambam's position, as G-d told the Prophet Malachi (3,6), "I am G-d, I did not change."  I would be happy if you could provide me with a clear explanation and resolution of this topic.