Tsunami: An Act of G-d?

I received this week a letter from a survivor of the Tsunami who was deeply shaken by his experience. He asked me what can best be described as a number of theological questions. Although I am currently on vacation, the questions are so significant , and are so widely relevant, that I have decided to respond right away. Below you will find both the original question and my reply, although to protect his privacy I have changed his name to Netanel.

Please remember what I wrote last week: understanding all the theological responses in the world doesn't excuse us from doing what we need to do both as individuals and as governments. To give support and to lend a hand. Governments also need to do all that is humanly possible to ensure that this kind of disaster doesn't happen again.

Should you wish to respond to this article, please scroll down to the end and click on the word Comment.


Dear Rabbi,

Just thought I would let you know that 6 hours before the tsunami struck I was at Patong beach and left at midnight to go to my hotel on the eastern side of Phuket island so by sheer luck I survived. Why was I not killed? Why was I staying on the east of the island away from the disaster as opposed to the west where there was so much carnage? Why did this happen? What do we as jews do with such an event in terms of our beliefs? Did others deserve death and not me?

Perhaps what happened to me was a miracle so there are some positives to come out of this tragedy. I don't know . I simply write to you to say I am alive but very shaken.

My love to the family,

Netanel

Dear Netanel,

Wow, thank G-d that you were one of the "lucky" ones who managed to escape the devastation.

But was it really luck?

Why indeed did you decide to stay on the east of the island? Was it really your decision based on perhaps the quality and availability of accommodation or nearby tourist spots? Or did it merely seem like your decision?

According to Judaism, "Everything is in the hand of Heaven apart from Fear of Heaven". This means that every decision that we make that doesn't have a moral or religious dimension is not really ours at all. Human beings are certainly autonomous - but only in the moral and religious sphere. All other decisions are made by G-d and are merely implanted into our minds. Where we decide to live, the kind of career we pursue, or even where we vacation - these are all decided by G-d. As the prophet says, "From G-d, the footsteps of man are directed."

Therefore there was no luck at all involved in your decision to stay on the other side of the island. It was G-d's plan.

You ask whether others deserved death more than you. Your question is based on a false paradigm. It implies that people who die deserve to die as some form of punishment. This is clearly not the case. It is decided at the time of birth, and confirmed each Rosh HaShana, how long a person will live in order to fulfill his life's purpose. It is possible through one's actions to lengthen or shorten this time, but this requires either extraordinary good behaviour or extraordinary bad behaviour on the part of the individual. For the most part, people live as long as it was determined that they are going to live. It may appear to be unjust to us puny human beings who judge everything on the scale of our lifetimes here on earth - but on G-d's scale where our life on earth is only a small part of our spiritual existence, and where even human history on earth is not viewed from the perspective of one generation, justice takes on an entirely different meaning. There are souls for whom just a few short years is enough to achieve their life's purpose, perhaps because they were here before and are only tying up loose ends, while there are others who require entire lifetimes.

Belief that life and death are from G-d does not excuse us from reacting with deep emotion. From our part, we must mourn the great loss of life, and even cry out to G-d in great dismay at His actions, just as Moses did when faced with the sufferings of the Jews in Egypt. This is what G-d wants us to do. He doesn't want us to merely accept His decrees, because although from His perspective it may be understood, from ours it is extraordinarily painful, and we must give vent to that pain. Indeed we are told that if a person doesn't cry when hearing of a death, he is considered cruel and callous.

Nevertheless, G-d's response was that it was due to Moses' limited vision that he didn't understand - this in spite of the fact that he was the greatest of all prophets. How much more so when it comes to us. This is similar to a young child who cries when he perceives that his parents are unfair to him. Even after all of all his parents' explanations as to why their actions are really for his own benefit he is not consoled. Both the parent's actions and the child's reaction are understood; they are not contradictory but are operating on different planes of knowledge and experience.

Therefore just as no good luck was involved in your decision to stay on the opposite side of the island, no bad luck was involved in the decision of those who were on the west side. It was all Divinely ordained.

The same applies to thousands of villagers who perished around the Indian Ocean rim. Although it may be difficult for us to understand, each one of those people were where they were because that is where they were meant to be. Whether it was the person swept out to sea, or the person who survived by clinging onto a log.

There was no general disaster, although it may appear that way, but rather as we say on Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur in Unesaneh Tokef: G-d is like a shepherd who counts his sheep individually. Each person is observed and led by G-d in a unique way - according to that person's individual destiny.

Earlier this week I read in the Sydney Morning Herald that a rabbi agreed with a Christian cleric that G-d had nothing to do with Tsunami. He was further reported as saying that to think differently causes unnecessary theological problems. Apart from being in conflict with Jewish thought - even Maimonides who says that Divine Providence does not apply (and this too needs elaboration) to individual animals, agrees that it applies to individual humans - I find this notion appalling. It implies that G-d has no control over what happens in His world. Rather than let G-d off the hook, this view leads us to conclude that on the individual level there is no judge and no justice. If you chance to be in the way of the Tsunami, your number is up and not even G-d can help you. There is no significance in your death, and no significance in the lives of those who were saved. In fact there is no significance in anything. Now that is a serious theological problem.

It is as a clever man once said: for one who believes in G-d, evil may be a problem; for one who doesn't everything is a problem. We need to remember that every person, and every family that faces what appears to be a premature death is facing it's own individual Tsunami. Are we to say that these deaths too are just random occurrences? It just happened that his heart gave way. It just happened that she contracted cancer. It's just statistics that a certain proportion of the population will contract these diseases - too bad it had to be him or her. There is no real meaning behind either their lives or their deaths.

G-d forbid!

I don't have to believe that the Tsunami was punishment for me to believe that it came from G-d. I also don't have to understand the Divine reason behind the Tsunami to believe that it came from G-d. As another wise man once said - I wouldn't want to believe in a G-d Who is so shallow that every Tom, Dick and Harry can understand Him.

I really don't know what G-d had in mind when He unleashed this Flood. What I do know is that, on balance, there is far more order in the world than disorder; that in spite of the inevitable hickups and backsliding, the world is steadily becoming a better place.

We human beings tend to take good and order for granted, and are shocked by what appears to us to be evil and disorder. In a godless world we should be accepting of evil and disorder and be amazed when confronted with good and order. This seemingly irrational response is itself testimony to the deep and innate belief in a Divine Being which all human beings have.

Or to quote Einstein: I cannot believe in a G-d who plays dice.

Unfortunately, it is only when confronted with apparent evil and disorder that we stop taking the good and order for granted, and realize how appreciative we ought to be. And because there is so much order, we ought to understand that even when we are struck by what appears to us to be disorder - that is all that it is - it's appearance to us.

In your individual case, I would suggest that you take note of the fact that G-d made a decision uniquely pertinent to you. He chose you to live because Your life here on earth has great significance to Him. And if He chose you to live, it is because He has expectations of you which you are yet to fulfill. Don't squander the great gift of life that has been given you. Study G-d's Holy Torah, His Guide for Life, and learn what still remains to be done.

May Hashem protect you always,

With best wishes for a G00d Shabbos,

Rabbi Benzion Milecki

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