Why do bad things happen to good people ?

B"H

Yom Kippur in Israel is always something special and there is no other country in the world which can compete with the atmosphere in the Holy City. No Boro Park and no Golders Green.

One can feel the atmosphere already at noon. People are busy running to the Machane Yehudah Market and buying fruit for the Se'udat Mafseket. At 2 pm, shops close and buses stop running. The streets are empty and most people are at home getting prepared for the 25 hours fast. Others are rushing to the Kotel (Western Wall) where they intend to stay overnight. I saw many religious Jews carrying blankets under their arms down to the Kotel. People just slept everywhere, even next to the shops in the Jewish Quarter.

As usual, I participated in the Aish HaTorah Program run by the Yeshiva, the Heritage House and Jeff Seidel's Jewish Student Information Center. The participants were mostly young Americans from all backgrounds and Rabbi Yaakov Marcus was explaining the Yom Kippur service and, additionally, gave Shiurim (classes).

Although Mincha is a very important prayer on Yom Kippur, I decided to skip it and go with a few friends down to the City of King David instead. This was a mistake, as it was quite hot and when we came back for the next Shiur, we were completely exhausted. Nevertheless, we made it but were glad getting something to drink at the break fast.

At the Shiurim, veryone was free to ask questions and there were some great questions. One of the most interesting one I would like to share with you. It is a subject everybody is interested in and here is the Jewish approach to the issue:

Why do bad things happen to good people ?

If G - d is good, then He wouldn’t want bad things happen to good people, and if G - d is omnipotent, He could prevent bad things from happening to good people. Therefore, when bad things do happen to good people, we wonder if G - d is really good or omnipotent, or whether He exits at all.

Ten Explanations

1. We can predict that more intelligent beings will often to things that less intelligent beings won't understand.

2. The suffering might not be caused by actual evil, but a perfectly fine circumstance which this person is responding to irrationally.

3. The circumstances might not be a punishment but rather an opportunity to grow (a test).

4. The difficulties might be just a means to push someone towards a wonderful circumstance.

5. In many cases, what seems like evil at the hand of G - d might be evil at the hand of man.

6. We might not appreciate the value of a kindness or the seriousness of cruelty.

7. Since the only fair reward is based on effort, not on objective accomplishment, then a good G - d might send obstacles to maximize our effort and consequent reward.

8. A person might be given to stimulate them to rethink their plans or past behaviour -- as sort of wake - up call.

9. There are times when progress towards history 's - successful - conclusion necessitates supernaturally limiting the success of the righteous. When they are supernaturally handicapped, that allows forces of evil to become more manifest. People then realize more clearly what it means to live with evil, and choose good -- not out of fear of punishment, but out of clarity about the difference between good and evil. In the end days, in order to accelerate us the final outcome (of man choosing good), G - d thus accentuates the choice.

10. Reincarnation (Gilgul)

(Text from Yeshivat Aish HaTorah)