Thoughts on Parashat Vaera

I was born in Poland, in a country where many fundamental human freedoms were taken away for 45 years by autocrats who believed that the historical progress of humanity gave them knowledge and awareness of the ultimate causes of all injustices in the human world. This awareness was supposed to give them a never ending mandate to rule the country and the society, as they believed to be ‘saviors of the world’ opposing the inhumane, imperialistic and evil capitalism of the Western World. One of the reasons their reign lasted so long was that no one was able to question, or even to[…]

Thoughts on Parashat Shemot

Why did the Israelites go down to Egypt and got enslaved there? The reason for it is not stated, neither does the Torah deal with the subject of God’s absence from Israel’s history for a period of four hundred years, suggesting by its silence that such was the mysterious plan of God. The human aspect of oppression is told but briefly; the main focus is on the divine aspect of redemption. Additionally, the Book of Exodus sets the scene not for a human struggle between[…]

Thoughts on Parashat Vay’chi

The brethren of Joseph could never have done him so much good with their love and favor as they did with their malice and hatred.
-Thomas More

There are at least several answers to the problem of human suffering in Judaism. They can be broadly divided into two groups: the first includes basically one concept (although it has some variations), namely the deuteronomic doctrine of retribution (or ‘of a just punishment’), according to which there is no suffering that is undeserved. In other words, all suffering is the result of some sin, which means that if you suffer, you must have[…]