Nitzavim-Vayeilech—the Hiding of God’s Face and Suffering

The horrific events of October 7 have, once again, triggered the age-old question: why do good people suffer? In my comments below, I do not intend to review the vast literature that has been written on this subject but to offer one insight into this question that emerges from the Torah portion, Parashat Nitzavim-Vayeilech, that we read this week.

Last week, in Parashat Ki Tavo, we read a very long section describing the curses that will befall us if we violate the terms of the covenant with God. The Torah tells us, in graphic and excruciating detail, that God will inflict upon us pestilence, drought, defeat at the hands of our enemies, madness, blindness and a range of other maladies (see 28:15-68). Throughout this section, the text states repeatedly that it is God who will be the direct cause of our pain and suffering (see vs. 20-22, 24-25, 27-28, 36, 49, 59, 60-61, 63-65, 68). Our parasha, however, tells a very different story:

“The Lord said to Moses: You are soon to lie with your fathers. This people will thereupon go astray after the alien gods in their midst… they will forsake me and break My covenant… Then My anger will flare up against them, and I will abandon them and hide My countenance from them. They shall be ready prey; and many evils and troubles shall befall them. And they shall say on that day, “Surely it is because our God is not in our midst that these evils have befallen us.” Yet I will keep My countenance hidden on that day, because of all the evil they have done in turning to other gods (Deuteronomy 31:16-18).

According to this text, since we will abandon God, God will abandon us in turn. Thus, unlike the section in Ki Tavo, God will not be the direct cause of our misfortune and suffering but rather, by withdrawing His favor and protection, we will be exposed to, and victims of, the forces of nature, and the ill will of our enemies, with nowhere to go and no one to turn to.

If so, the Torah in these two parashiyot offers two radically different explanations for human suffering. According to the first, God, in His anger, inflicts suffering on those who deserve it but, according to the second, God, in His anger, withdraws His divine Presence, thus allowing the winds of the world around them to dictate the course of events. According to the first, the cause of suffering is God, whereas according to the second, the cause is the other forces at play in God’s absence.

If we seek to interpret the events related to October 7 in light of the above (for reasons that are beyond the scope of this article, the above texts may be irrelevant to these events) then both explanations would agree that we bear a certain degree of responsibility for our own suffering. According to the first, however, God can be seen as empowering Hamas to act as it did, whereas according to the second, it is Hamas and Hamas alone that bears responsibility for its cruel and barbaric actions. Thus, according to the first, if we seek to eliminate Hamas and all the other forces of evil, we must turn to God, but according to the second, it is up to us and us alone.

Let us, therefore, both pray to God, as well as strengthen the spirits of our courageous military leaders and soldiers, so that with their help this war will end swiftly and decisively.