Letters to the Editor: Responses to Shmuley Boteach column

To the editor (by Robert Lebowitz),

Rabbi Boteach’s recent column (“As bombs fall, it’s OK to ask: Where is G-d," June 20-26) raises an age-old question, and what his article most clearly conveyed to me is that our Jewish schools, including our rabbinical schools, need to provide a much better theological education.

With all due respect to R. Boteach and his many contributions to Jewish life in America, he is not a theologian.

For one, the question of “Where is G-d” is not one that emerges from the horrors of Oct. 7 or the current war between Israel and Iran. It is one that resounds in the travails and struggles of our daily lives, as we face all kinds of personal problems.

Were we to demand justice from G-d, as R. Boteach exhorts, we would soon be exhausted after our first few days of such action after not seeing the results we want to see. Yes, the Avot were able to make such demands upon G-d, but they were on a far higher plane than we are.

Confronting G-d in anger is dangerous — it might lead to an acrimonious relationship between us and Him as well as fuel our hubris.

The problem of theodicy is a serious one over which much ink has been spilled by many great minds, Jewish and otherwise. R. Boteach offers only one of many such approaches, and one which seems to only add to our sense of futility and hurt.

Is the world set up in such a way that G-d waits for us to cry out to him with demands and anger before He stops pain and suffering? Does that really paint a picture of a loving and caring G-d? To me, it conjures up an image of a sleeping giant who needs to be awoken with the cries of those who need his help.

It’s a question worth asking if we are to maintain an authentic relationship with G-d. But it’s a question that deserves a much more sophisticated and thoughtful response than that presented here.

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To the editor (by JJ Levine),

I find myself writing this with tears in my eyes. Rabbi Boteach has reached into my heart and mind and expressed everything I feel and fear.

As a child of Holocaust survivors what is going on around the world is even more disturbing. How can anyone imagine a world without Israel?

Rabbi Boteach has given me permission to question. Thank you.

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