I’m struggling with faith after the Bibas tragedy. How do we reconcile a kind G‑d with the killing of innocent babies? I know this atrocity was committed by human beings (if they deserve to be called that), but how does G‑d allow it? It just doesn’t make any sense.

Answer

No one can answer that question. No matter how smart we think we are, some mysteries are beyond our human comprehension. Even the wisest of all men, King Solomon, could not fathom the suffering of innocents.

In his deeply pain-ridden book of contemplations, King Solomon spoke of “the tears of the oppressed, with no one to comfort them.”1

The Zohar, an ancient kabbalistic work, explains what King Solomon meant by “tears of the oppressed.” The Zohar is commenting on last week’s Torah portion, the week our nation experienced the unfathomable loss of Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas. The words sound eerily relevant to the tragedy.

The Torah portion discusses the laws of justice and fairness. In that context, the Zohar questions G‑d’s fairness, explaining that this was King Solomon’s painful question. The Zohar says:

The “tears of the oppressed” refers to those children who die in the bosom of their mothers. They cause a flood of tears from all people of the world. There are no tears from a broken heart like these tears.

The Zohar goes on to express the ultimate question, why?:

All people of the world wonder and say: The laws of G‑d are truth, and they go in the path of truth. Why did these poor innocent infants die? Where is the true judgment that the L-rd of the world makes? If they are cut off from the world because of the sins of their fathers—why?

These questions remain unanswered. The Zohar quotes King Solomon:

Surely there is no one to comfort them.

Having established the fact that we have no explanation for G‑d’s system of justice, the Zohar reveals that nevertheless, the death of these children is not in vain:

The “tears of the oppressed” also refers to those infants’ tears in heaven, which protect the living. For we know, there is a place set aside for them in heaven that even the most righteous cannot reach. And G‑d loves them, holds them close, and establishes His high residence with them.

These pure and innocent souls have a reserved place in heaven, closest to G‑d. And they continue to cry there - not tears of pain, but tears of prayer, prayer for the living. And those prayers protect us. As the Zohar explains:

About these souls it is written: "From the mouth of babes and sucklings You have established strength.”2 What benefit do they achieve there (by crying), and why do they go up there? The Psalm continues, “for the sake of those who afflict you, to destroy the enemy and to avenge them."3

We have no answers, and we have no explanations. But we have our prayers, and we have our tears. There is no more powerful prayer than the tearful request of these holy souls. Their prayers protect us, and their prayers will vanquish the enemy and bring peace.