God did not cause Avi to die.

(Thoughts from the Siyyum the I conducted last Shabbat.)

God does not want bad things to happen to us. God does not tear children from their parents for the sake of some supposed "higher purpose."

I've heard every type of rationalization to attempt to explain the untimely death of innocents:

God thought the victim so good that God wanted him by God's side.

What?! God couldn't wait? God really wanted to inflict a lifetime of pain on parents and siblings?! Did God really intend to traumatize classmates?! I don't think so.

God is sending a 'wake-up' call to repentance.

The "wake-up call" doesn't do the deceased much good.

God is testing the surviving loved ones to build character.

What about building the character of the deceased?

Think of surgery. The surgeon causes deep wounds, but he will make the patient better than ever.

A surgeon explains to the patient and family prior to surgery what he is going to do.

Think of a farmer who rips up a field, but then sews seeds. After plants grow from those seeds, the farmer cuts them down. The farmer appears to be a destroyer until we see the end product - loaves of breads.

A human being is not a field.

God has a plan that we mortals are incapable of comprehending.

In essence, this is the answer that God gave Job. I will share my thought on the Book of Job in a future post.

We are simply the random victims of the evil and chaos (tohu vavohu - see Genesis 1:2) that persist in the incompletely-created and the yet-to-be-perfected parts of our world. As Rabbi Harold Kushner would say, catastrophe does not discriminate between good and bad people, the religious and the not-yet-religious, or Jews and non-Jews. God will complete Creation (Ma'ase Bereishith) and humans will someday succeed in helping God to perfect the universe (tiqun olam).

God does not desire the suffering of the innocent. Indeed in Hassidic lore, when human beings suffer, God suffers. God provides healing to the broken-hearted. God provides his people with strength to overcome catastrophe, as the very last line of the entire Six Orders of the Mishnah, quoting the Psalmist, says "The LORD will give strength to His people; the LORD will bless His people with peace."

(To be continued, with my thoughts on Isaiah 25:8, which concludes the Mishnaic tractate, Mo'ed Qatan.)