God designed us in such a way that we seek to assign meaning to even the most mundane of events. I believe that God did this as a kind of “tuner” to help us tune in and observe his activity all around us. God is not some far-off deity. He is involved. He is active. He is here.
The Talmud includes this account of men seeking to understand the involvement of God in their midst;
A ruler said to Rabbi Abbahu: “There is a drought in the country now on your account, since it is written in your Torah, that when you disobey God, he shuts off the rain. We should fall upon you Jews and slay all of you, so that we may not suffer on your account.”
Rabbi Abbahu replied: “But is it not your evil decrees against us which cause us to sin?”
The ruler answered: “Nay, if you did not sin, God would not prompt our hearts to persecute you.”
Rabbi Judah remarked: “Well has the ruler spoken.”
Do you agree with the interpretation of Rabbi Judah? Had the ruler spoken well? In recent years there have been a number of catastrophic events to which prominent religious leaders assigned guilt to “sinners”. However, according to this Talmudic interpretation it is actually believers that bear the greatest burden of responsibility.
What do you think?
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