Why does God let us suffer? – Ask the Rabbi
Q. How can God justify our suffering? We blame the enemy, but why don’t we complain about God Himself?
A. There is no easy answer.
We yearn for assurance (in the words of Levi Yitzhak of Berditchev) that the suffering was for God’s sake, that He mourns as we do. But if He too mourns, why didn’t He step in and rescue us?
It is strange that (in the words of Eichah) He seems to have acted like an enemy. We ask with Abraham, “Does the Judge of all the world not act justly?”
The Talmud says that Elijah the Prophet heard God weeping, “Woe is Me that I have destroyed My house and exiled My children.”
Nonetheless, the fact that Jews, Judaism and Israel have survived and flourished in recent decades helps us to believe that He has not forsaken us but loves us.
