[Avodah] Out of Hand Leads to Out of Our Hand

[Micha Berger]

On Fri, Oct 03, 2008 at 04:20:00PM -0400, Cantor Wolberg wrote:
: He said that if someone actually experienced the horrors of the  
: holocaust or had loved ones killed, then
: that person has every right to be angry at God or even not believe in  
: Him. The interesting twist on his
: thesis was that if someone was NOT in the holocaust and only knew  
: about it through others or history books,
: then this person was not entitled to be angry at God or to become an  
: atheist because of it.

I believe that we should suspend judgment. The bochein kelayos valeiv
doesn't have to. Such as Yosef Lampel who wasn't raised religious to begin
with, saw the Nazis kill his father, and spent his bar mitzvah hiding from
the liquidation of the Budapest Ghetto in a sewer. (Mr Lampel ended up
an MK under a different name, heading a party known for not doing the O
community any favors.) But "entitled" to be an atheist I think is going
too far.

I could also see making a biblical argument in the reverse: Abraham
accepted the Aqeidah without complaint. However, he gets argumentative and
(it would seem to me) angry when G-d told him about His plans for the
5 cities of the Sodom plains. "Would You even sweep away the righteous
person with the evil one?" (Bereishis 18:23)

Similarly, it's only when Hashem threatens the Jewish people that Moshe
cries "mecheini na misifrekha". His own tribulations... they are nisyonos
to spur further growth, not sources of anger.

But to return to the question... If anyone has pragmatic advice for
developing bitachon, please chime in.

Gut Voch and a GCT!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             "Fortunate indeed, is the man who takes
micha at aishdas.org        exactly the right measure of himself,  and
http://www.aishdas.org   holds a just balance between what he can
Fax: (270) 514-1507      acquire and what he can use." - Peter Latham