Finding God in Haiti:
Finding God in Haiti: Compassion and Justice
By Rabbi Joshua Levine - Pasadena Jewish Temple
Jan 22, 2010 - 4:33:27 PM
In teaching my 6th grade class this morning at Weizmann Day School, I decided to talk about Haiti and theology. In searching for answers about why such a terrible thing happens to innocent people, there is a tendency to blame God, challenge God and question what good is religion or prayer if such horrible things can come to bring such destruction to some of the poorest people on the planet. Is this a punishment? Many of our unevolved ancestors would have thought so. Reward and punishment, classic theology in many traditions, is how we understood God and the world around us for generations.
My class was not comfortable with that theology, although some of them said, from the innocence of their beings, that perhaps God brought the earthquake so that the world would now pay attention and help the people of Haiti. Perhaps God brought the earthquake so that those horribly suffering from abject poverty would be put out of their misery. Whenever I teach, I let kids share from their hearts, even if I disagree with them, for that is how we learn, how we grow; the fact that they could think about this at all was impressive to me. Yet, as adults, we often ask the same questions, raise the same quandaries and wrestle with belief in a God who watches over a planet with so much pain without doing anything. Or so it seems.
Bad things happen in our world but it is not always our fault. There is randomness built into the fabric of our lives, a randomness that God has to allow to exist in order for us to have free-will and live as humans. God doesn't give children leukemia; God doesn't send earthquakes to destroy; God doesn't permit drunk drivers to kill innocent people; God doesn't operate that way in our world. That is not the kind of God I believe in. Many clergy are offering these thoughts today and I am grateful to them and add my voice.
Where is God? God is in the response of the community, showering the family with love and support; God is in tears that are shed, in the silences shared, in the hugs given, in the pain felt. And, when the time is right, God is in the healing that comes and in hope that can be found in moving forward with life. God is the eternal love that we feel in these moments of great pain. There is a time for text, a time for words, and there is a time for silence, a time for tears and the flowing of human empathy. That is God.
The people of Haiti are suffering so greatly now and our hearts are with them in their struggle to overcome the enormity of the destruction. God is crying with them, suffering with them. And, what did we see after the destruction from many of the Haitian people? We saw people singing to God, thanking God for the miracle of surviving. We heard people praying and praising God. We heard the beating of their hearts crying out in gratitude for what they had, not what they lost. God was their strength, their rock. What an inspiration! God is with the thousands of people who rushed to help, stepping into the destruction to try and lift others out; God is with the millions of people who are generously pouring out their wallets, in this horrible economy, to help those in need; God is with the young boy who survived a week in the rubble, to be saved and brought back into life; God is comforting all those whose relatives were not as lucky, and who are among the 200,000 or more dead, and 2 million homeless.
God doesn't desire destruction, God doesn't relish in the pain of others. Yet, in order for us to live as free human beings, making choices and living our lives, God can't intervene and stop tragedy. If God did that every time, we would be robots; if God only did it some of the time, that would be a capriciousness that we couldn't survive. There is randomness in the world and God is there to help us survive that reality. Altruism, compassion, love and hope are God's gifts to the world.
A preacher who told stories from town to town, once spoke of a little girl who was sent by her mother on an errand. The girl was gone longer than her mother thought proper. When she finally returned, the mother asked for an explanation. "Oh," she replied, "I met Ruthie on the way and her doll was broken, so I stopped to help her." "You mean you helped her to fix the doll?" "No, Mother, I don't know how to fix dolls. I stopped to help her cry." In this time of suffering, let us all stop to help the people of Haiti cry and mourn for the great loss of life in their midst. Let our compassion roll down like the might streams. And, when the time is right, when our mourning period ends, let us continue to do God's work and bring the work of our hands to the aid of the Haitian people.
Earth Changes Media
By Rabbi Joshua Levine - Pasadena Jewish Temple
Jan 22, 2010 - 4:33:27 PM
In teaching my 6th grade class this morning at Weizmann Day School, I decided to talk about Haiti and theology. In searching for answers about why such a terrible thing happens to innocent people, there is a tendency to blame God, challenge God and question what good is religion or prayer if such horrible things can come to bring such destruction to some of the poorest people on the planet. Is this a punishment? Many of our unevolved ancestors would have thought so. Reward and punishment, classic theology in many traditions, is how we understood God and the world around us for generations.
My class was not comfortable with that theology, although some of them said, from the innocence of their beings, that perhaps God brought the earthquake so that the world would now pay attention and help the people of Haiti. Perhaps God brought the earthquake so that those horribly suffering from abject poverty would be put out of their misery. Whenever I teach, I let kids share from their hearts, even if I disagree with them, for that is how we learn, how we grow; the fact that they could think about this at all was impressive to me. Yet, as adults, we often ask the same questions, raise the same quandaries and wrestle with belief in a God who watches over a planet with so much pain without doing anything. Or so it seems.
Bad things happen in our world but it is not always our fault. There is randomness built into the fabric of our lives, a randomness that God has to allow to exist in order for us to have free-will and live as humans. God doesn't give children leukemia; God doesn't send earthquakes to destroy; God doesn't permit drunk drivers to kill innocent people; God doesn't operate that way in our world. That is not the kind of God I believe in. Many clergy are offering these thoughts today and I am grateful to them and add my voice.
Where is God? God is in the response of the community, showering the family with love and support; God is in tears that are shed, in the silences shared, in the hugs given, in the pain felt. And, when the time is right, God is in the healing that comes and in hope that can be found in moving forward with life. God is the eternal love that we feel in these moments of great pain. There is a time for text, a time for words, and there is a time for silence, a time for tears and the flowing of human empathy. That is God.
The people of Haiti are suffering so greatly now and our hearts are with them in their struggle to overcome the enormity of the destruction. God is crying with them, suffering with them. And, what did we see after the destruction from many of the Haitian people? We saw people singing to God, thanking God for the miracle of surviving. We heard people praying and praising God. We heard the beating of their hearts crying out in gratitude for what they had, not what they lost. God was their strength, their rock. What an inspiration! God is with the thousands of people who rushed to help, stepping into the destruction to try and lift others out; God is with the millions of people who are generously pouring out their wallets, in this horrible economy, to help those in need; God is with the young boy who survived a week in the rubble, to be saved and brought back into life; God is comforting all those whose relatives were not as lucky, and who are among the 200,000 or more dead, and 2 million homeless.
God doesn't desire destruction, God doesn't relish in the pain of others. Yet, in order for us to live as free human beings, making choices and living our lives, God can't intervene and stop tragedy. If God did that every time, we would be robots; if God only did it some of the time, that would be a capriciousness that we couldn't survive. There is randomness in the world and God is there to help us survive that reality. Altruism, compassion, love and hope are God's gifts to the world.
A preacher who told stories from town to town, once spoke of a little girl who was sent by her mother on an errand. The girl was gone longer than her mother thought proper. When she finally returned, the mother asked for an explanation. "Oh," she replied, "I met Ruthie on the way and her doll was broken, so I stopped to help her." "You mean you helped her to fix the doll?" "No, Mother, I don't know how to fix dolls. I stopped to help her cry." In this time of suffering, let us all stop to help the people of Haiti cry and mourn for the great loss of life in their midst. Let our compassion roll down like the might streams. And, when the time is right, when our mourning period ends, let us continue to do God's work and bring the work of our hands to the aid of the Haitian people.
Earth Changes Media
Comment
Welcome to
iPeace.us
Latest Activity
© 2024 Created by David Califa. Managed by Eyal Raviv.
Powered by
You need to be a member of iPeace.us to add comments!
Join iPeace.us