Tish B'Av and evil

Last night I received a post from a friend dealing with the upcoming Jewish holiday of Tish B'Av, which remembers the destruction of the Temple and the loss of life that followed.

To my surprise the post (it wasn't my friend's post -- he was reposting) suggested the sufferings were caused by faithlessness:

"However, experience has shown us that sometimes HaShem withdraws his protection and as we know regarding Titus and so many others - it happens and the results are horrific.

However, just as we know about the Titus', the Hitlers and the Hamans of the world, we also clearly know what it is that we have done that causes Gd to abandon us.

We know that the reason these things happen is because we do not treat each other correctly. We foolishly hate each other, we speak against each other, we fight among ourselves and we are insensitive to the pain of Jews in need even in our own backyard."

This view is not without precedent. Satmar leader and Holocaust survivor Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum writes:

"Because of our sinfulness we have suffered greatly, suffering as bitter as wormwood, worse than any Israel has known since it became a people... In former times, whenever troubles befell Jacob, the matter was pondered and reasons sought--which sin had brought the troubles about--so that we could make amends and return to the Lord, may He be blessed... But in our generation one need not look far for the sin responsible for our calamity... The heretics have made all kinds of efforts to violate these oaths, to go up by force and to seize sovereignty and freedom by themselves, before the appointed time... [They] have lured the majority of the Jewish people into awful heresy, the like of which as not been seen since the world was created... And so it is no wonder that the Lord has lashed out in anger... And there were also righteous people who perished because of the iniquity of the sinners and corrupters, so great was the [divine] wrath."

My problem with this analysis is that it blames the victim. Who is to blame for the Holocaust? Answer, the sinful Jews. No, I much am inclined to the thoughts of the Lubavitcher Rebbe who wrote, responding to the view that the Holocaust was a result of religious falling away:

"What greater conceit and what greater heartlessness, can there be than to give a "reason" for the death and torture of millions of innocent men, women and children? Can we presume to assume that an explanation small enough to fit inside the finite bounds of human reason can explain a horror of such magnitude? We can only concede that there are things that lie beyond the finite ken of the human mind. It is not my task to justify God on this. Only God Himself can answer for what He allowed to happen. And the only answer we will accept, is the immediate and complete Redemption that will forever banish evil from the face of the earth and bring to light the intrinsic goodness and perfection of God's creation."

And this poses the broader question of evil and suffering in the world -- for every day there is unnecessary cruelty and suffering (look at the women murdered in Kingston a few days ago) -- the scale of the Holocaust is breathtaking but a murdered victim is murdered whether alone or among millions.

The words "It is not my task to justify God on this. Only God Himself can answer for what He allowed to happen " repeat in my mind.