is it just me
an earthquake where 18, 000 people die?
a hurricane where an entire city is destroyed?
TWO hurricanes?
a tsunami?
IS IT JUST ME OR IS THE ENTIRE WORLD FALLING APART?
everyone tells me the same thing. 'G-d is trying to tell us something.' WHAT? and what am i supposed to do about it? i am not a prophet and not a tzadeikess. what is going on? i don't understand death and destruction! if there's something i should know, please send me an email!
a hurricane where an entire city is destroyed?
TWO hurricanes?
a tsunami?
IS IT JUST ME OR IS THE ENTIRE WORLD FALLING APART?
everyone tells me the same thing. 'G-d is trying to tell us something.' WHAT? and what am i supposed to do about it? i am not a prophet and not a tzadeikess. what is going on? i don't understand death and destruction! if there's something i should know, please send me an email!
posted by fudge at 8:08 PM
7 Comments:
you should know that a thunderstorm cut off all power to ohio for a day earlier this month. also, studies show that sharks are getting hungrier and leon is getting larger.
Lesson number one: stop watching/listening to the news. It is routinely depressing.
Lesson number two: No one can know why things happen as they do. All we can do is continue(or start, in my case) to do the best we can do in following his word. However, there is a creeping suspicion in the back of my mind that global warming or stuff we are doing to the planet is having some sort of affect. On the other hand, you can take solace in what Hashem told Noach after the flood- that day will follow night and summer will follow winter, it will not stop, meaning that not only will Hashem not again bring destruction to the world, but also that he will not allow it to be destroyed and the cycles of nature to stop. A little faith in this world goes a long way.
kovi: give it up.
dilbert: thanks for the reminder. believe it or not, i had forgotten that...it is a comforting thought.
Gotta go with dilbert on this one. Here's the Hertz translation of a few words from sefer B'reshit, parshat B'reshit, Genesis chapter 1, verses 28-30: "u-r'du . . . and have domininion . . . over every living thing . . .I have given you every herb yielding seed . . . every tree in which is the fruit . . .to you it shall be for food" (Too late at night for my feeble brain to do any more transliterating.)
If we have dominion over the animal kingdom, and if plants and trees have been given to us as food, does it not stand to reason that we're also *responsible* for the animal and plant kingdoms? So if we pollute the air, the soil, and the water on which plants and animals depend, and further mess up the ecological balance by chopping down half the Amazon rain forest, shouldn't we *expect* the climate to be seriously messed up? If we worship the false gods of greed and selfishness, and fail to concern ourselves with the natural world with which Hashem has gifted us and on which we depend, ". . .avad'tem m'herah me-al ha-aretz hatovah asher Hashem noten lechem, you [we] will soon be banished from the good land/earth that Hashem gives you [us]."
As for earthquakes that destroy mountain villages and cause tsunamis, we can only work toward the day when lives will be saved by scientists who can predict them and/or architects/engineers/builders who figure out how to build quake-proof buildings. (Baruch chonen ha-daat.) In the meantime, all I can say is the same prayer (now part of the Avodah Service) recited by the Kohen Gadol in the Bet HaMikdash on Yom Kippur : "V'al anshei haSharon, concerning the inhabitants of Sharon, he would say, 'May it be Your will, Hashem our G-d and G-d of our ancestors, that their homes not become their graves."
i think it is within my rights to 'give up' depressing you when and how i see fit. if i couldn't make you miserable, where would be the joy in life? am i supposed to just sit around, not bothering you at all, and be happy? you can be so inconsiderate sometimes. what if i started treating you like a heap of chopped liver, or a blamanche? actually, never mind. that seems to be right up my alley.
i don't know. shira, i suppose you are right, but the enormity of that task is simply too much for me. i've known a few people who can tackle world-scale issues, but to me, realistically, a tragedy of this magnitude is something i can do very little about. you know, not being a scientific genius or millionare. i try to participate in the food drives and all the little things people do to raise money, but that is more or less all i do.
"i try to participate in the food drives and all the little things people do to raise money, but that is more or less all i do."
What do you mean, "that is more or less all?" That's just about all that *any* of us can do--it's by putting our small efforts together that we can make a cumulative difference.
"Rabbi Tarfon . . . hu hayah omer: Lo alecha ha-m'lachah ligmor, v'lo atah ben chorin l'hibatel mimena. Rabbi Tarfon . . .he used to say: You are not required to complete the task, and you are not free to withdraw from it."
In other words, you're doing exactly what you're *supposed* to do--which is what you *can* do. Each of us plays a part. Together, we can bring some tikkun to this olam.
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