G-d’s Justice Validated
Some commentators, such as the Abarbanel, explain that both the belief in the Messianic Age and the belief in the Resurrection of the Dead are basic beliefs because without them there remains an unanswered question about G-d’s sense of justice and fairness. What follows is Abarbanels’s thesis with added commentary based on Chassidic sources.
When we survey Jewish history and witness the untold misery the Jews have been through, it raises a question about G-d’s promises to us, the chosen people.
When we look around and witness how the righteous have suffered and the wicked have prospered, it raises a question, similar to the question Abraham raise when he proposed that G-d should spare the city of Sodom if there were ten righteous people there. Abraham demanded “Will the Judge of all the world not do justice?”
When we look at the Holocaust, there is no logical explanation that can justify the brutal murder of over a million innocent children. Indeed one would be hard pressed to justify the murder of the other five million adults. Where they all evil that they deserved such a horrible fate? And if one will cite their imperfections, does that make G-d’s system of justice make sense?
Can anyone in their right mind declare that the system that considers the horrible deaths of six million justified in light of their imperfections, is a logical system? Do any of us teach their children to react this way? Does anyone think that a non-religious person will hear this explanation and say, “You know, I didn’t think of it that way. Now it makes sense to me.”
Now, to be sure, G-d does not have to make sense to every one of us. In fact, He doesn’t even have to make sense to anyone of us. Even Moses could not comprehend the torturous murder of Rabbi Akiva that he was shown prophetically. And when he questioned G-d about it, G-d’s reply was “Be silent!” (Talmud, Menachot). But, if G-d’s system of logic and fairness will never be validated by our minds, it will forever encourage those who will mock our belief in G-d. Can this possibly be what G-d wants?
But, on a deeper level, there is something far more troubling than just the prospects of some people who might be “turned off” by the appearance of divine injustice. If there is one aspect of G-d’s truth – a very basic one at that – that will never be reconciled with our minds, that means that a formidable part of our existence – our human logic – will not be permeated with the truth and justice of G-d. There would then be a gaping hole in the otherwise G-dly objective of getting this world to accept G-d.
To elaborate by way of analogy. If people would accept G-d merely because of their ability to submit to a Higher authority, but could never get their minds to absorb G-d’s existence, that would mean that G-d’s unity would be compromised. After all, the most important creation – the human mind – is not receptive to G-d. How than can we say that G-d’s unity is absolute, when a formidable part of creation does not accept Him.
Similarly, if G-d’s justice, fairness, and consistency would not be validated by our logic, that would mean that G-d is not totally and inherently consistent. In the realm of logic G-d would then not be totally consistent. When something is only partially consistent it is not really consistent.
Thus, the belief in the Messianic Age is a belief that declares that a time will come and the challenges to G-d’s justice will be removed. The righteous will be rewarded. All the wrongs will be righted.
Moreover, not only will the righteous no longer suffer, but we will finally be able to understand why the suffering was necessary. And despite the fact that presently there is no logical explanation that can justify the suffering, in the Messianic Age G-d – who is not limited by the rules of logic and the parameters of nature – will allow for that which is essentially unknowable to become knowable. In the words of the prophet Isaiah “I shall thank you G-d for having shown your wrath to me.” This does not mean that we will thank G-d in spite of His wrath, but because of it!
This is why we need the Messianic Age. And this is why it is a principle of faith. Without the Messianic Age G-d’s justice and consistency would always be compromised. Thus, our very basic appreciation for G-d, depends on our belief in the Messianic Age.
The Messianic Age itself would not suffice, however, to completely validate G-d’s justice. How would G-d recompense the millions of good people who had died before the Messianic Age when al the wrongs were righted? To reward them, it is necessary for the dead to be brought back to life, so that they too will reap the rewards they so justly deserve. They too will experience a revelation of G-dly light that will totally transform the woes of the past and make them intelligible to all.
From the book Safe Kabbalah, Part Three: Journeys of the Soul by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.
