Why Does God Let Us Suffer? (Part 1 of 6)

Why does God let us suffer? Why does God let bad things happen? To truly find peace with loss and suffering, we need to face this difficult question. 

In this course, Rabbi Fohrman grapples with the unsatisfying answers often given to the problem of evil -- and offers a new approach based on a passage in the Book of Isaiah. This fresh approach to an age-old question will deepen your Tisha B’Av experience, and may just hold the key to accepting loss as part and parcel of living a full and good life.

Discover other great Tisha B’Av videos at Aleph Beta, including ‘Shir Hamaalot”, “Sinat Chinam: What is Baseless Hatred ” , “Shabbat Nachamu” and other Tisha Ba’v videos here!

A personal note from Rabbi Fohrman about this course:

A word of caution -- although this is a video about loss, and how, to some extent, we might find peace in the face of it – this isn’t designed as something to be watched during shiva, or when one is wrestling with the searing pain of fresh grief. That pain, unfortunately, probably needs to be felt in an untrammelled way, I think, until we somehow re-emerge and feel ready to face the world again. This video, by contrast, is probably something to be watched after the passage of some time, when we are more at a distance from grief – but still confronting an aching sense of disquiet and unfinished business. For people who are there, I hope this video might provide a path to some peace or solace. So, please, bear that in mind, when choosing to watch this or engage with it.

Loss, of course, is among the most personal of things any of us experience. I don’t know that my own reflections on it will resonate with your own – but I hope that in some way, they will.