[Avodah] Rav Sharki on university students

[Akiva Miller via Avodah]

R' Micha Berger wrote:

> A world without Nazis is a world of robots, not people. There would
> be no moral agents for good to happen to. And thus no real good in
> the universe at all.
>
> But it only explains suffering that is caused by the evil people do.
> Not congenital birth defects and other such naturally caused suffering.

I would respectfully offer a different opinion. I am not trying to change
anyone's mind on this -- after all, Pirkei Avos puts these topics
categorically outside our understanding -- but if anyone *wants* their mind
to be changed, perhaps my ideas will be helpful.

RMB's reisha is full of mussar. It focuses on a person's mind. Is he
free-willed, or is he a robot? If there's no path to choosing evil, then
whatever one does is automatically good by default. Such goodness is not
the sort of good that builds character. It is a worthless good, and hence
not a real good at all. But suppose we leave the world of mussar, where my
goal is to grow spiritually by becoming a better person, and improving the
relationship between myself and Hashem.

Instead, let's focus on getting more social. It's not that I want to
improve myself, but that I want to do things that other people will benefit
and get pleasure from.

In a world where people are busy interacting, but the laws of nature
prohibit Nazis, the problem is not that good doesn't *exist*. The problem
is that good isn't recognized or appreciated. Everyone is always doing nice
things to everyone else, so much so that the beneficiaries don't notice it.
Not because they are ungrateful, but because they literally don't notice it
-- they have nothing to compare it to. This is how the world runs. What
else might one expect? And THAT's why there is "no real good in the
universe at all."

Ad caan, RMB's reisha. But this only explains suffering that is caused by
the evil people do. Evil -- or at least the potential for it -- is
necessary so that we can appreciate the good. What about congenital birth
defects and other such naturally caused suffering? My first reaction is to
give the same answer as above: No one will appreciate good health unless
bad health is a possibility.

And then I feel ashamed of my insensitivity, my hardheartedness, my
callousness. How can I not cry for the babies struggling in pain, just so I
can score some points in this discussion?

But, truth be told, that insensitivity reared its head many paragraphs ago,
when we first contemplated "a world without Nazis". Are the victims of
"naturally caused suffering" entitled to more consideration than the
victims of Nazi-caused suffering? I don't think so. My heart goes out to
both of them, to all of them, and I feel guilty, wondering about where my
heart is when I thank G-d for the good He has given me.

I don't know if I've gone off topic or not. I guess my point has been
merely to illustrate that there's little or no difference between a world
where there are no Nazis, and a world where there are no birth defects.

Akiva Miller
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