[Posted in the YWN Coffee Room:] I am having a lot of trouble processing this terrible tragedy. In my opinion, the main job of a religion is to provide answers to the key question troubling mankind, which is actually two questions, the second of which is often ignored:

1) Why do bad things happen to good people?

2) What can be done about it? I.e., how to prevent it before it occurs.

My feeling is that even if one claims to know the answer to the first, that is really not the part that bothers people. The only thing people really want is relief from current pain and prevention of future tragedies. So the first question is really not the main question.

I feel now like we have totally failed. Maybe we didn’t daven well enough in the past, or weren’t concerned enough about our fellow humans or whatever.

I do not understand why this happened to Haiti. If this would have happened to Nazi Germany, I don’t think anybody would be feeling bad. Same with Communist Russia or the evil Iranian rulers, etc. But Haiti was a poor, impoverished country that didn’t seem to be bothering anybody else. And even if some person will make the claim that they were punished for XYZ, then I would tell that person, I think you have a lot of audacity to say that. Since if it was true, why didn’t you go there and warn the people ahead of time to change their ways, as Yonah did to the Anshei Nineveh. So obviously you had no foreknowledge, and your theory is bogus.

I am in a lot of pain and wondering how we can sit down to a Shabbos meal and sing songs (what right do we have) knowing that thousands of people are in mourning now.

If anybody has any thoughts, please share.

Pashuteh Yid.

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