Hurricanes and Earthquakes

Natural disasters, by their nature, raise the question of Divine Providence. How can G-d let this happen? How can so many innocent lives be lost?

When we see a person or a group of people committing great evil, it appears we can understand how it happens: human beings have free choice, and that person chose to do something evil. The consequences, well, G-d will see to that. 

But hurricanes, earthquakes - the flooding of homes, the dispersal of people, the cost psychologically, financially, to say nothing of physical hardship, pain, suffering and loss - where is the Divine Justice in that?

Some so-called "modern" thinkers have posited that either G-d is not All-Knowing, or He is not All-Powerful, or He is not All-Just (and by definition of "just," All-Merciful). In other words, Divine Omniscience, Divine Omnipotence and Divine Justice cannot all be true and operative. Two of the three, maybe, but not all three.

I say "modern" because this is an old question in theodicy, the study of Divine Justice. It's one, if not the, central subject of the book of Job. And it's no coincidence that G-d answers Job out of the whirlwind. Maimonides in his Guide for the Perplexed analyzes at length the concepts in the book of Job. 

So the question really does not disprove the assertion that G-d is simultaneously Omniscient, Omnipotent and Just. (Indeed, is that not the definition of G-d?) All the question does is raise itself: confronted with the unknowable or the unanswerable, how do we respond? How should we respond?

In other words, one can reject the very basis for belief in G-d. Many so-called "rationalists" or "modernists" do. Or one can accept the limitations of the human mind and human intellect. In a semi-comic vein, Tevye asks, in the song "If I Were a Rich Man," "would it spoil some vast Eternal Plan?" The simple answer is, yes, as a matter of fact, it would.

When we put on a philosopher's hat or a theologian's coat, we can enter the world of paradoxes and debates. But we must always bear in mind the statement of Rabbi Yannai that "we are unable to understand either the well-being of the wicked or the tribulations of the righteous." When it comes to the true, inner, spiritual reality, what you see outwardly is not necessarily what you get.

Nevertheless, the question remains - if we can't understand the WHY of a natural disaster, how are we to respond? For that, there is an answer. When confronted with tragedy, with the suffering of another, our task is not to understand the Divine reasons or judge the moral and spiritual value of the sufferer. Our Divinely ordained task is to increase in acts of goodness and kindness. Our focus must be on deeds that civilize, correct, heal, restore and improve.

If a hundreds-year old bridge is washed away, if a library is flooded, if a family is dispersed, if an individual needs medical care, if a child needs counseling - our task is to do, to get it done, to make goodness and kindness happen, not because we're such wonderful people, though we may be, but because that's our job. And that includes fixing what can be fixed - preventive measures - and in both cases figuring out the cost afterwards. 

Asking Why and How Much both divert us from the essential question: What is the next act of goodness and kindness that I can perform, the act that will transform the world?