Why do bad things happen to good people ?

B"H

A few thoughts on Yom Kippur

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) 

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(Text from Yeshivat Aish HaTorah)