Folks, I am being compared to Pat Roberston on some websites because of what I wrote in my post, The expulsion of Jews from Hebron and Sharon’s health. Are they related? Here’s my reply, with thanks to Rabbi Levi I. Brackman:
For those of us who believe in G-d the question is: how could He have done this to Sharon, or to Dick Clark or to FDR (all stroke victims)? (For those who do not believe in G-d, this type of event just reinforces their skepticism.)
Asking “why” is not only acceptable but it is part of Jewish tradition. So, by asking, “why?”, we allow ourselves to be comforted by the answer G-d never gives us. When someone is the recipient of good luck, one asks, “What did I do to deserve this?” However, not having a good answer to this question does not usually trigger a crisis of faith.
When something bad happens however, one needs to know why and ask, “Why did this happen to me? What did I do to deserve this?” Knowing that there is a satisfactory reason for why we suffer – a reason that is beyond us at this moment but nonetheless known by a power greater than ourselves, is a source of comfort. At least we know that we do not suffer and die in vain.
Ok, enough theology.
Let me propose this layman’s question: how is it that Jews and Christians are able to believe that angels appeared, frightening the arabs, causing them to flee and abandon their tanks during the Yom Kippur war, but these same Jews and Christians are unwilling to believe that equally Divine Intervention is just as possible now when the same lands given to the Jews in the Torah and during this war are now being given away to Israel’s enemies?
Regarding my earlier post, Sharon is incapable of making any decisions and as of this writing, 11 Jewish families are STILL living in Hebron. They have not been expelled or deported. I am no prophet and I do not claim to be. They might still be deported. But there was Divine Intervention and Jews are still living in Hebron as of this writing.
Comparisons of me to Pat Robertson, I suppose meant as an insult, does not preclude the distinct possibility that in this particular instance, Pat Roberson and like-minded Jews like me, may have been right on as borne out via G-d’s own promises to His people in the Torah: Genesis 12:3, Genesis 27:29, Numbers 24:9 and Joel 3:2.
So, folks, go on with your finger-pointing but you better argue with G-d, not me. I’m a follower and a believer. Where the rest of my critics stand, is between themselves and HaShem, Our Lord and King.