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RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:JEWISH RENEWAL:JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL:THROWING ROCKS AT GOD
RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL: IF GOD LIVED ON EARTH, MEN WOULD THROW ROCKS AT HIS WINDOWS
RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL: IF GOD LIVED ON EARTH, MEN WOULD THROW ROCKS AT HIS WINDOWS
Shalom: A wonderful Kabbalistic, Rabbi Weiman asked me the following question the other day:
" Are we allowed to be angry with God? Is it ok to scream angrily "Why are you doing this to me?!" "
I answered him:
Dear Rabbi W:
There is an old Yiddish expression: IF GOD LIVED ON EARTH, MEN WOULD THROW ROCKS AT HIS WINDOWS.
In my humble opinion this is NOT in line with Jewish teachings.
The Talmud teaches us that when bad things befall us we are to look inside ourselves and ask what did we do to help bring this bad event onto ourselves. This wisdom of the sages is advice for us as individuals as well as a people.
Further the Talmud teaches that if we honestly do a chesbon [inventory] and we cannot find a defect of our character or our behaviors that could have set the bad event into motion, then we are to ask ourselves what lessons we can learn from the negative event.
Without giving Gordon Liddy philosophical credit with his quote of : "that which doesn't kill me, makes me stronger," Dovid Melech (King David) calls the above negative events ''afflictions of love'' by God.
We need to always remember that we are here to do God's will and that He is running the universe, which includes our lives. It does not show belief, faith and trust in God to "angrily scream" at God when things do not go our way. We can meditate, bless and do tephelah (literally self judgement) and ask God why something untoward occurred and how we can change our behaviors do better do His will, but we do not yell at God telling Him that we know better than He does for us.
Psalm 145 summarizes our faith in leading a life with God: '' 8 -God is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. 9 -God is good to all; He has compassion on all He has made.14- God upholds all those who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down. 15- The eyes of all look to You, and You give them their food at the proper time. 16 -You open Your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing. ''
As a 56 year old I can give witness to the fact that when I lived by God's will things always went well for me, and when I strayed and did my will, invariably things did not go well. Note that I am not saying that God punished me. What I am saying is that God gave us a way to live at peace with ourselves and with our fellows. When I was younger and ate the wrong foods, I did damage to my pancreas and two years ago I became a diabetic even though my bad behaviors stopped many years ago. When I was younger I worked on Shabbat and cared about my profession, more than I did about my wife and my God. My wife left and took half the assets and I had no spiritual connection. During those times when I was younger, I blamed God, and at the same time, denied God. And I blamed everyone else, everyone except me.
While it is ok to be angry at anyone, even God, (as anger is a human emotion), as long as we don't take angry actions, we need to work on releasing that anger, with God's aid, as soon as possible, so that it doesn't turn into a resentment and a grudge, which only harms us. This is why by the time of funerals, a day after the death of a loved one, we must be able to bless God and call Him the ''true judge.''
Shalom,
Arthur
RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL
JEWISH RENEWAL:
JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, SC
BLUFFTON,SC
SAVANNAH,SC
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