[Avodah] response to tragedy

[Micha Berger]

On Mon, Jul 16, 2018 at 03:20:54PM +0300, Eli Turkel via Avodah wrote:
: In the recent Torah TO-GO from YU R Willig quotes RYBS
: > Our Introspection is not for the purpose of determining WHY the national
: > tragedy took place but for the purpose of discovering WHAT we can do to
: > improve ourselves and what areas require our tesguva

RYBS says something similar in Qol Dodi Dofeiq
<https://www.sefaria.org/Kol_Dodi_Dofek%2C_The_Righteous_Suffer.11>:
    When the "Child of ‎Destiny" ‎suffers, he says in his heart,
    "There is evil, I do not deny it, and I will not conceal it with
    ‎fruitless ‎casuistry. I am, however, interested in it from a
    halakhic point of view; and as a person ‎who wants ‎to know what
    action to take. I ask a single question: What should the sufferer
    do to live ‎with his ‎suffering?" In this dimension, the emphasis is
    removed from causal and ‎teleological ‎considerations (which differ
    only as to direction) and is directed to the realm of ‎action. The
    ‎problem is now formulated in the language of a simple halakhah
    and revolves around a ‎quotidian ‎‎(i.e. daily) task. The question
    of questions is: What does suffering obligate man to do? ‎This
    ‎problem was important to Judaism, which placed it at the center
    of its ‎‎Weltanschauung. ‎Halakhah is just as interested in this
    question, as in issues of issur ‎and heter and ‎‎hiyyuv and p'tur. We
    do not wonder about the ineffable ways ‎of the Holy One, but ‎instead
    ponder the paths man must take when evil leaps up at him. We ask ‎not
    about the reason ‎for evil and its purpose, but rather about its
    rectification and uplifting. How ‎should a man react in a ‎time of
    distress? What should a person do so as not to rot in his affliction?‎

-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Zion will be redeemed through justice,
micha at aishdas.org        and her returnees, through righteousness.
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