Question:

It seems to me that G‑d is not fair. Children don't get to chose where or to whom they will be born. Some are born in affluent societies to parents who love them and shower them with G‑d's truths, while others are born in very poor countries to parents who abuse them. That is not fair.

Response:

How right you are. Life is indeed not fair. We constantly hear of bad things that happen to innocent people. Yet, at the same time, the wicked may prosper and have it all going their way. In a perfect world, one would think, the righteous should prosper and evil doers should suffer hardships, not the other way around.

For some perspective, let me share with you an incident I had with my 4-year-old son the other day. It was 7:30 PM, his bedtime, but instead of changing to pajamas and brushing his teeth, he wanted to stay awake and play with his older sister. As a parent, I had the foresight to know that staying up late would be the beginning of a vicious cycle: he would be extremely tired the next day and not in the best of moods. This would then impact his behavior and interaction with his siblings and friends.

But all he could think of was how unfair it was that he had to go to bed while his sister got to stay up a bit later. No matter how much explaining I did or how much sense it made to me, he simply refused to accept the unfairness of it all. I can only hope that one day, when he is a father himself, he'll see how, though unfair, dad was probably right.

The same can be said for our questioning G‑d:

We may not always understand G‑d's ways. We don't have insight into His motives, nor has He consulted with us for our opinion. All we know is that there must be a master plan, and from G‑d's perspective this is what's right. We might not get it or even accept it, but we know that a loving and kind G‑d only wants the best for His creations.

Is it easy? Of course it isn't. But we can rest assured that He knows what He's doing, even when we don't.

And we can hope and pray for the time when everything in the world will be only revealed good for all to see.

Looking forward to hearing from you soon,

Rabbi Eliezer Zalmanov

P.S. You may also want to read Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People? or browse through the many articles we have on this subject.