Elie Wiesel
This world is like a corridor
leading to the world to come. Prepare yourself
in the corridor so that you may enter into the inner chamber.
Pirke Avot 4:21
Rav Yehoshua ben
Nehemiah said: Have you ever seen it
happen that the rain fell on the field of one 'a' who was righteous, and not on
the field of 'b' who was wicked? Or the
sun shone upon
Pesachim Rabati 195a - 195b
Rav Aha said: God has made uncertain the reward of those
who perform the commands of the Law, so that they may do them in fidelity.
Yerushalmi Peah
1:15
Rava aid (although some attribute it to Rav Hisda): If a man sees misfortune befall him, he
should scrutinize his actions...If he searched and found nothing he should
worry about wasted time (that he should have spent studying Torah)...If he
worried and found nothing, he should realize that these misfortunes befell
him out of (Divine) love, for it says "He whom God loves he also
chastises."
Berachot 5a
I find that suffering befalls the
pious in this world in one of two ways...or, as a visitation from God in order
to test them, provided He knows that they will be able to endure it. Later he compensates them for their
sufferings...God is not wont to act this way with one who is unable to bear it,
since no useful purpose would be served in such a case, whereas the endurance
of the pious serves a useful purpose in that it enables mankind to understand
that God has not chosen them gratuitously...I say furthermore that it is
reasonable to suppose that even a blameless man should be tested and later
compensated since I find that suffering is inflicted even on little children...
Saadya, The Suffering of the Righteous and Innocent
It is
necessary to realize that the true cause of everything good, whether among the forces or their effects, is the light of
God's presence. The cause of all evil,
on the other hand, is the
absence of this light...with regard to the good however; God is considered its actual cause, both
in general and in particular. God is not
considered the direct cause of
evil, on the other hand, and we are thus taught that "God does not relate His name to evil." God is nevertheless still the
indirect cause even of evil, since its actual cause is the
absence of good.
Luzatto, The Way of God 1:8
At a recent Hillel seminar, when one of America's leading rabbis, a
past president of the Rabbinic Assembly, was challenged by a student to speak
about Jewish spirituality, of Jewish ways of relating to God, the rabbi
dismissed the question saying, "In Judaism we have a good relationship
with God, we don't bother each other too much.
Barton Lee