Theodicy

Theodicy asks one of the most difficult questions of faith: how to speak of God in a world marked by suffering and injustice. Why do the righteous suffer, and where is God in moments of darkness? Too often, religious thinkers attempt to justify suffering by blaming the victims. Jewish thought, on the other hand, is unwilling to let God off the hook, and wrestles with evil, responsibility, and moral courage—insisting that faith matures not through certainty, but through struggle.

  • Our Struggle with God’s Goodness

    In The Kotzker Rebbe, Theodicy and Parashat Chayei Sarah by Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo

    To believe in God is to believe not only that there is ultimate meaning to our existence but also that this meaning is completely beyond our comprehension. We do not know why God created the universe and man; to know that, we would have to be God.

  • My Letter of Protest to God

    Response to Questions from Readers

    In Theodicy by Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo

    While other religious traditions may believe that questioning God is unacceptable, Judaism encourages them and Tanach is replete with such questions. Complaints of heresy are often rooted in the fact that we believe that God owes us a human answer.

  • The Idolatry of Theodicy

    In Theodicy by Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo

    By making God good by our standards, we are essentially making God into an idol, one who fits our standards and fulfills our needs. That is surely not the Jewish God.