318. Complacent - Faith & Intellect

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Bringing Heaven Down to Earth

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(The Rebbe spoke about the suffering in the world, and when he came to these words, began to choke and sob:)

If He is truly capable of anything,
then why can't He provide good without the bad?

And if His Torah contains the answers for all questions, why does it not answer this one?

There could be only one answer:

He does not wish us to know,
because if we knew
we might consent.

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27 Comments Posted

From the wisdom of the Lubavitcher Rebbe; words and condensation by Tzvi Freeman. To order Tzvi's book, "Bringing Heaven Down to Earth, click here. Rabbi Freeman is available for public speaking and workshops. Read more on his bio page.

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Posted: Feb 22, 2009

knowledge of religion and other disciplines

i s it possible for a human being to ahve ultimate,absolute, virtuso knowledge in religion yet humanity has not gained such in the other disciplines?

Posted By Anonymous, CHIPATA, zambia

Posted: Dec 2, 2008

im sure Rabbi Freeman can explain it better - but the way i see it, the Rebbe is saying that generally, when we want to know an answer to something, we can look in Torah and find the answer ... However, when it comes to these types of famous question such as: "Why do bad things happen to good people" - or questions such as "Why did the Holocaust happen" - what he is saying is that since we cannot find the answer in the Torah, then it must be that G-d does not want us to know the real reasons behind these horrible events.

Why would G-d not want us to understand? We'd be happier, and be able to reconcile the bad things because we'd know the master plan behind it all... it is for this reason that we are not supposed to know. G-d doesnt want us "agreeing" with his plan, or thinking "yeah that makes sense - therefore suffering is ok or necessary" - On the contrary - G-d wants us to be angry and pissed and upset that our fellow brothers are hurting and are in
pain.... G-d wants us to fight for them and pray and demand He stop the exile etc.....

if we understood G-ds entire master plan, then we'd be complacent and accept the suffering .... i found this concept to be very comforting (as weird as that may sound) especially when tragedy strikes.... we cannot understand His (G-d's) methods or His motives but only do what we are taught, as difficult as that may be, we need to continue on fighting the darkness.

Posted By Duby Litvin

Posted: Dec 2, 2008

"We might consent"

Rabbi, help to understand this one better. "we might consent to what?" I feel there is great insight and I want to understand. Thank you for your time.

Posted By Anonymous, OK

Read All 27 Comments...

Faith & Intellect


	Understanding Wonder


	Ultimate Knowledge


	Beyond Understanding


	Omniscience and Free Choice


	A Little Smarter


	Reason & Faith


	Insufficient Understanding


	Complacent


	Questioning the Divine


	After the Holocaust


	How Could it Happen


	Objective Faith


	Cold Intellect


	Two Are One


	Faith & Experience

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