When Bad Things Happen to Good People
The Book: When Bad Things Happen To Good People. Author: Rabbi Harold S. Kushner
This is not a book review. These are the words I'm inscribing in a tombstone of a long post on this book that will never live to see the bloglight.
I read "When Bad Things Happen to Good People" and for the first time I turned pages with the back tip of a highlighter stuck in my mouth. This book was so thin, easy to read and written right home, I 'had to' underline almost every sentence.
The author, Rabbi Kirshner, a father of a very sick child that died at 14 due to early aging, confronts struggles with divine providence while still maintaining belief in God. When a tragedy strikes a blow, like it did him, a believer must re-examine the atypical belief in three major religious factors:
1. God is all-encompassing. He is powerful, and everything that happens is through his order.
2. God is just and fair, and stands for getting people what they deserve.
3. We are good human beings.
How could a good, powerful Lord punish a good human being? Trying to make sense of it, it is popular habit to eliminate the third leaving God's stance in tact. We blame ourselves. We hurt ourselves more than the hurt already inflincted.
Having been through these emotionally-entangled questions myself, this book took apart my doubts with amazing clarity. Gathering bits and peices, I composed a collection of arguments the book makes against believing in just 1 & 2. It was an impressive list of strong arguments.
After my husband read it, he said it was good. Good, you may need to know, is not a positive adjective in my lexicon. "You're saying it's really bad?"
"Yes, eh, No" he answered quickly, trying to be busy with something else.
Yes-eh-no! The kind of feedback that doesn't especially come with a standing ovation. After probing a bit further, he admitted that he didn't appreciate the context. "s'z bittereh, frecheh, smack-in-the-face kafira". If you'll eat kafira, you have to do it all the way, hot sauces poured over it, expensive side dishes and fine wine. But sour, boring kafirah? Nisht yiddish.
On second thoughts I'm not publishing the post. I realized the book doesn't especially make it necessary for me to do so. If you feel like reading it, or if fate has urged you to confront those question--- then please share your thoughts.
This is not a book review. These are the words I'm inscribing in a tombstone of a long post on this book that will never live to see the bloglight.
I read "When Bad Things Happen to Good People" and for the first time I turned pages with the back tip of a highlighter stuck in my mouth. This book was so thin, easy to read and written right home, I 'had to' underline almost every sentence.
The author, Rabbi Kirshner, a father of a very sick child that died at 14 due to early aging, confronts struggles with divine providence while still maintaining belief in God. When a tragedy strikes a blow, like it did him, a believer must re-examine the atypical belief in three major religious factors:
1. God is all-encompassing. He is powerful, and everything that happens is through his order.
2. God is just and fair, and stands for getting people what they deserve.
3. We are good human beings.
How could a good, powerful Lord punish a good human being? Trying to make sense of it, it is popular habit to eliminate the third leaving God's stance in tact. We blame ourselves. We hurt ourselves more than the hurt already inflincted.
Having been through these emotionally-entangled questions myself, this book took apart my doubts with amazing clarity. Gathering bits and peices, I composed a collection of arguments the book makes against believing in just 1 & 2. It was an impressive list of strong arguments.
After my husband read it, he said it was good. Good, you may need to know, is not a positive adjective in my lexicon. "You're saying it's really bad?"
"Yes, eh, No" he answered quickly, trying to be busy with something else.
Yes-eh-no! The kind of feedback that doesn't especially come with a standing ovation. After probing a bit further, he admitted that he didn't appreciate the context. "s'z bittereh, frecheh, smack-in-the-face kafira". If you'll eat kafira, you have to do it all the way, hot sauces poured over it, expensive side dishes and fine wine. But sour, boring kafirah? Nisht yiddish.
On second thoughts I'm not publishing the post. I realized the book doesn't especially make it necessary for me to do so. If you feel like reading it, or if fate has urged you to confront those question--- then please share your thoughts.
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Please share title suggestions here.
3 comments:
Could you please take a look at the books posted (they are all downloadable for free) at lulu.com/reuven? I would especially like your perspective on the Bigdeh Shesh essay "Forks" on Chassidus vs. Misnagdus and on R' Aryeh Kaplan's Age of the Universe pamphlet.
a few great books to read:
"The fountainhead" - by ayn rand ..
talk about not being conventional..
"A tree growns in brooklyn "
"man's search for meaning" - Victor Frankel
I am an avid reader, I read almost all the books mentioned on this blog. Most of them are great. This book however I did not like. Rabbi Kushner has an interesting outlook upon God, life and religion. He utilizes many verses and portions of the torah to support his thesis but he ignores numerous other verses that totally contradict it.
From a logical standpoint there are many unanswered questions to his theory. Just as an example; according to Kushner God is finite and almighty but he doesn’t control the world and its inhabitants, EVEN when they are wrecking the place. WHY? Why wouldn’t he control them if he has the power? Why would he let them wreck his show?
I was very disappointed after reading his book many years ago (it has been a while, I hope you will understand why I don’t bring any examples) after being told that this book has all the answers. I felt that I was left with more questions than before I read this book.
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