The problem of evil
1) I thought about the idea that God does not intervene in the world, so this explains the conduct of the world in terms of scientific statistics, that there were no verified supernatural cases or any unusual intervention, but it still does not solve the idea of an entity that looks on from the sidelines and has the ability to prevent evil and yet does not do so. If God is defined as perfect good and is omnipotent (actually not exactly omnipotent because it is a paradox but can do many things), then why would he stand by and let such terrible things happen? Many can say that it is impossible to know the heavenly accounts, which is a bit evasive, or that it is impossible to know what God’s full plan is because we are like a person who comes in the middle of a movie and judges the characters negatively without knowing that they are the good ones, or like a medicine that may be bitter but is healing… As if I expect such a noble, good, and wise entity to solve in ways that will not cause suffering, or that evil is to teach us a lesson or punish or put a person through a trial… But in fact, it is an intervening entity, so that is out of the equation…
In short, no matter how you look at it, something is not working here, in both types of entities, whether they intervene or not.
2) And after all this, another question arises for me: given an entity that does not interfere, is it worthy of being worshipped? Religion is so complex and magnificent with laws, laws, prayers, holidays, and even beyond the practical level, a lot of soul power comes out of the common person. Religion is mixed with many emotions, no matter how much we try to ignore it. It is not a dry book of rules that are made up. It has to come from the soul. Therefore, many commandments require intention and all of this is what we humans do without any higher cause for an entity that created laws to create the world and does not interfere with its own creation?
How does the rabbi look at things?
1. I have answered this more than once. I do not have a complete and convincing explanation, but it should be noted that He would have to intervene in every evil action of man or nature. But if this were His policy, we would have had no choice and there would be no laws of nature. One can still argue that in extreme cases (the Holocaust) we would expect Him to intervene, the suffering of a single person is not fundamentally different from the suffering of tens of millions. For each of them, it does not matter that there are millions more like him. In short, it is difficult to draw a line here, and therefore the question is not strong. Assuming that He gives us a choice and operates the world according to the laws of nature, this is the expected result. The world is given over to our shadow and our choices, and we eat the fruit of our own shame (as humanity standing before God).
2. I have also referred to this more than once. The work is to do the truth because it is truth. What does this have to do with its involvement in the world? If you are a liar not for its own sake in order to receive a reward (see Rambam, p. 10, teshuvah), then this has implications for you. But as Rambam wrote there, this is the work of women (!?), the little ones, and other ignorant people.
I didn't say it was a condition in the pure sense of the word for his work, but I'm trying to understand how much credit can be given to a god of this kind, considering the terrarium around him and around his magnificent religion... not in the context of reward, exactly. In my opinion, expecting a god to prevent evil and suffering is reasonable. In my opinion, too (and this is a stronger argument, so I won't insist on it) a god who watches from the sidelines and doesn't act to prevent suffering when he can is immoral. It has nothing to do with expecting a reward. If I want him to prevent suffering, it's a moral act, not a rewarding act. It's also possible to distinguish between the evil of nature and the evil of man. The evil of man is fine to give a choice, but cancer? Is it so hard to eliminate this thing from the world? No matter what his goal is and what he wants us to be, I'm sure there are other effective ways to achieve the goal, whatever it may be.
*What, women are part of the group of "ignorant"?! It's really jarring, and as a woman reading such texts... I heard it was a bit more refined, but not really.
I don't see a question or difficulty here. What would have been answered.
The quote about women being senseless is taken from the Rambam, so I added my own symbols to express my relationship to it.
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