Hamas War

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Divine Punishment? Not In This World

This A7 article editorializes at bit too much.

I don't go for all those "divine punishment" announcements, since we don't know G-d's accounting system. All we know is that there are two "payment centers," This World and The World To Come, עולם הזה ועולם הבא Olam HaZeh v'Olam HaBa.

Three years after Disengagement the "head" of it was fired. OK, that sort of job doesn't last all that long. To say that he lost his job because of how he ordered the police/army to throw people out of their homes. I wouldn't agree.

No matter what happens to Uri Bar-Lev and his loved ones, while alive can't be attributed to his behavior during Disengagement. This world is the "small change." Next World is the real thing.

That's what we have to focus on. There are two basic categories of mitzvot and sin, between man and G-d and between man and man. It's much easier to repent our man to G-d sins than the man to man ones. Also, since we don't always realize that we've hurt another person, we don't know that we must apologize and try to repair secondary and tertiary damage.

Today's the 2nd of Ellul. Let the cry of the shofar into your soul.

11 comments:

Hadassa DeYoung said...

Shalom!
How should we relate to the fact that all of the "major players" in the expulsion crime are one by one being outsed or fired from their posts?
Hadassa

Ehav Ever said...

I agree with you on this. Whether or not there are direct correlations to things like this, it is not something that we can say with 100% knowledge of such. I believe that the people involved are facing some of the natural results of their actions. Yet, we are all suffering in it one way or the other.

I am a firm believer that there are some things that happen directly from the hand of Hashem, and there are things that happen as a natural result of action itself. In either case Hashem is in control of all things, but some things are simply results of what happens based upon things built into the divine equation. So the expulsion, for example, has an affect that may be divine or a part of the divine equation, but regardless the results affect everyone.

Israel Beat said...

Hi GoysheRebbe, this is Ben, I interviewed you at the Jewish Bloggers Conference. You can listen to it here. Feel free to post the link. Thanks. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/127385

Israel Beat said...

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/127385

Batya said...

Hadassa, they're still alive. Maybe G-d wants their tshuva.

ee, thanks. It's complicated for sure.

Ben, I'll pass your note to goyish

Hadassa DeYoung said...

Shalom!
Batya, of course sincere tshuva will be accepted, in accordance with halacha. Doesn't G-d want everyone's tshuva? My question related to whether or not it's a coincidence that the "major players" are being removed from office, which for them is a punishment. (For us it's a blessing.) Several respected rabbis have stated that it is divine retribution. And it does seem to be at least a bit more than coincidence.
Also the timing of Sharon's stroke is a matter worthy of thought - and not just concerning divine retribution. If it had occurred five months earlier, the Negev would almost certainly be a much different place today. Did the doctors treat him properly during the months before the expulsion? Was he encouraged to work when he should have been hospitalized? Very few are interested in either the questions or the answers.
Hadassa

Batya said...

Don't you wonder if Sharon is really still alive?

G-d accepts tshuva for the bein adam l'makom, man-G-d sins, but not the ones between man and fellow man.

Hadassa DeYoung said...

Shalom!
OK Batya, you don't like the rabbis' lists of no-goodniks and their punishments. I won't ask again.
I was referring to all tshuva, some of which requires acts, like rebuilding destroyed houses.
Rav Schreiber gave us a talk on what the expelling soldiers must do before we are ALLOWED to forgive them. An officer has to gather all of the soldiers in his command and tell them that he and they were wrong. Every soldier that went to a house has to go to the family and personally request forgiveness. And there's more. The houses and communities must be rebuilt as a final stage.
Hadassa

Batya said...

Yes, exactly, it's a lot more complicated than loosing a job.

Hadassa DeYoung said...

Shalom!
I get it. You thought that I was being simplistic. Have no fear. Ask anyone in my family. I have never been even close to simplistic. I've been convoluted at times, but never simplistic.
(But it would be nice to see a few more of these guys out of office.)

Perhaps Elul will provoke a few more of the expelling forces into tshuva - even the first step would be good for all of Am Yisrael.
Hadassa

Batya said...

G-d willing