Shalom Brother bright,

I don't want to misunderstand your thoughts.

Can you expand on your initial share of not believing (that YKW brought up) vs the end of your response that we can live with the questions?

It seems like the former is what you don't want or can't accept, while the latter is davka about acceptance, but you write very deeply and maybe I missed your point. 

Thank you and Kol Tov

Sorry but can you elaborate the specific question? The first paragraph was my understanding were YKW was coming from (Hogwarts of course). The second part was what, IMHO, is the response.

bright wrote on 16 Jul 2025 19:32:

I will try. 
You seem to be saying that the horrific suffering that we've endured appears to be over the top punishment for sins of people genuinely trying to do their best in tough situations. It doesn't make sense that we deserve that extreme of a response. In a moment of weakness, a good child stole a candy and so he got his hand chopped off. Or a child that did nothing wrong was raised in a dysfunctional/abusive home. It doesn't track, it’s unjust, and I can’t accept that this child should feel that the punishment fits his crime.

Did Bnei Yisroel deserve to suffer in Mitzrayim because they were bad, or was it a complex tikkun and there was a bigger picture necessitating that event for G-dly reasons?

I don’t know why bad things happen to good people, or how the degree of punishment and suffering is calculated. But that doesn’t mean it’s incorrect.

To say that I don’t believe it sounds like there is an error in the system itself, as opposed to living with questions which is acknowledging and accepting that there are errors (or missing information) from my perspective.

So to me it seemed like your response didn’t align with your original post. Which is why I was thinking maybe I misunderstood what you meant in one (or both) posts.

We are a living paradox, both a spark of the divine, higher than angels, and a spec of dust whose end is maggots and worms. I need to feel both. Ahavah and yirah. Maybe that’s what you elaborated on in your response, that there are multiple, seemingly opposite approaches that ought be mutually exclusive, yet both are parts of the same truth.

I don’t know if it entirely rests upon whether I deserve it or earned it. Hashem decided that it is fitting, and He wants me to reflect, but out of love and with higher purpose. He cares. Even when it hurts me, He still cares, probably even more.

Thank you for clarifying. Ill do my best to answer shortly now and clarify later, hopefully. I never answered the question of extreme suffering. I don't know there is an answer we will be able to understand now. The "anachnu chatanu" Jewish guilt piece was what I felt bothered by and I still am bothered by. Never answered it:) With regards to galus, the Nesivos Shalom in the maamarim on Pesach says that its not that our aveiros caused the galus it's that we really needed galus to shape us. We had a few watershed moments in history, such as the meraglim and Avraham by the Bris Bein Habesarim. Those moments could have created an alternative path that wouldn't necessitate galus. But the standard in the world is galus. And now that we missed those opportunities we are in galus for alternative growth. I feel it doesn't fully answer the question, but it at least helps.

retrych wrote on 16 Jul 2025 05:27:

Rabbeinu Saadya Gaon