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Irwin N. Graulich is a well known motivational speaker on ethics, religion and Judaism. A child of Holocaust survivors, he has been successful in showing religious and secular people the need for God-based ethics. Irwin considers himself a multi-denominational, serious Orthodox, Conservative and Reform Jew.
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By Irwin N. Graulich
October 12, 2005
Now let me get this straight. The Shas Party spiritual leader, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef declares that, "Katrina was God's retribution for (American support of) the Gaza withdrawal," and no one in the Knesset has him committed to a treatment center?
Hey Rabbi. Why were there hurricanes before Katrina and other natural disasters before 1948? No wonder so many Jews in Israel are secular. I would not want to be associated with a religious crackpot like this so-called "Rabbi."
If this rabbi is spewing narishkeit (stupidity), then what is the reason for the most recent earthquake in Pakistan? How about this for an answer: because tragedies can happen randomly in life, so that we can learn to appreciate our blessings. That is the kind of world that God created.
The real reason that this hurricane disaster damage occurred in the first place is because New Orleans was built between two bodies of water, below sea level and on the Gulf Coast, which is prone to hurricanes. That is the answer in a nutshell.
The Torah is not a place for predicting why or when natural disasters will occur, although it is a place to tell you the practical side of what to do to cope and who is responsible for preventing damage from occurring. Coincidentally, it was in a recent Torah portion, Ki Taitzay, where this issue was clarified.
This comes as quite a surprise to most Jews who unfortunately were at the mall, attending a sporting event or sleeping late on that particular Shabbos morning. And the small number of Jews who were attending a shul were much too busy discussing the stock market or
politics with the person seated next to them, as the reading was being chanted by the Baal Korei (Torah chanter), and therefore, missed the explanation.
So for all those Jews and the rest of humanity, the biblical explanation can be found in Deuteronomy, Chapter 21, showing the concern one should have for the possessions of another person. It is specifically forbidden to ignore the potential loss of another person's property.
Yet the explanation goes on to be even more specific with regard to the New Orleans flood. The Talmud in Baba Metziah, chapter 31A, expounds on this concept further by discussing a flood on a neighbor's property and the concept that a person is actually responsible for taking steps to "prevent" a flood from doing damage, if at all possible.
When individuals are responsible for trying to prevent a flood disaster on a neighbor's property, then local government officials becomes even more responsible. That is how we apply religion to life. Not making silly predictions or trying to shift the blame to God.
Pulpits throughout the Arab and Muslim world ring with Allah's praise for bringing Katrina to the infidel occupiers of Iraq and supporters of Israel, while some Christian extremist groups have shown photographs proving that the hurricane was shaped like a fetus, thus the Lord's punishment for abortion in America.
Any Rabbi, Priest, Minister, Imam, Cleric or Pastor who dares to blame God publicly for a natural disaster is committing a very serious sin. They are breaking at least 2 of the 10 Commandments with such accusations.
Why does the very first commandment in The Torah immediately begin with, "I am The Lord your God who took you out of Egypt." After all, when the commandments were given 3350 years ago, those same people who were presented with these laws had just been taken out of Egypt, and already knew Who actually did it. And there is page after page in the Torah describing the details of the Exodus for those of us today.
So why is this simple statement of fact the leadoff declaration and is important as, "Thou Shall Not Murder?" Simply, because it teaches us that unless God spells out what He has done in written form, do not necessarily assume that He did it. That is the reason why one of the most important themes in Judaism is, "Remembering the Exodus from Egypt (zecher l'tziyat mitzrayim)," because Jews know for certain that God was involved. After all, Hakadosh Baruch Hu specifically admits His role in this particular event.
The third commandment is even more relevant to this matter in stating, "Do not take the Lord's name in vain." How does such a pronouncement pertain to what the clergy has done recently? The reason many people are probably scratching their head right now is because the translation above, which is found in most Jewish and Christian Bibles, is a totally incorrect translation of the sentence.
Most individuals who read the translation, understand it to mean that we should never mention God's name without a good reason. For instance, it is wrong to say, "Oh God. I missed the bus and I am going to be late for work." This commandment has absolutely nothing to do with mentioning God's name "in vain." In fact, why would that even be so important as to make it into The (big) 10 Commandments? So let us go to the original source for clarification and a truly eye-opening experience.
The original Hebrew says, "Lo Tisah Ess Shaim Adoshem L'shav." The key word is "Tisah" which does not mean "to take" or "to say" God's name. Tisah is Hebrew for "to carry," meaning the commandment is telling us, "Do not CARRY God's name in vain." Who carries God's name in vain? Religious people who wear (carry) the garb and claim religiosity, but act despicably in what they do or say.
Whether it is the Ayatollahs in Iran, Osama bin Laden, The antisemitic Neturei Karta extremist pseudo-Jewish sect out to destroy the Jewish state or the so-called leaders of the Presbyterian and Episcopalian churches who have singled out Israel as the most evil country in the world, suggesting its financial strangulation.
When a secular person breaks the law, he dishonors himself and possibly his family. However, when religious people, especially leaders, say or do the wrong thing, they bring shame and dishonor to God and to other religious people. They represent God and are embarrassing Him and His followers.
As a Jew, I am ashamed of Rabbi Ovadia and other so-called rabbis like the Satmar Ruv-Rabbi Weiss, Rabbi Mordechai Atiyah, Rabbi Chaim Grodzinsky, Rabbi Eliezer Dessler, Rabbi Avigdor Miller, all supposed Torah luminaries who actually pinned The Holocaust on God, for the very sick reason that Jews were not religious enough in pre WWII Europe.
Imagine, one and a half million Jewish babies were put into gas chambers because someone from my father's shtetl in Dobromil, Poland ate something non kosher. To even think that way is the ultimate in arrogance and stupidity. I blame The Holocaust on Nazis, not on Jews whose tefilin were left in the drawer after their bar mitzvahs.
God created the world just like General Motors made the automobile. Yet, one cannot simply blame GM for all the automobile accidents, perhaps some. That is how we are supposed to think as Jews.
Many religious leaders become full of themselves and actually start to believe they are prophets, when all they are actually doing is generating "false profits." It is up to religious lay people who take their religion seriously, to cut these people down to size and remove them from power.
There is bad religion and good religion, just like there are bad medical practices/practitioners and good medical practices/practitioners. Whenever human beings are involved, virtually every discipline will have flaws. Yet, it seems like religion is the only one where perfection is expected; so that when one priest molests a choir boy or a rabbi is involved in a crime, it somehow shows that everyone in that religion is horrible.
Religion is not only what the various Bibles say and profess. It is more often what its adherents do with those verses to bring honor to their religion and goodness to the world. As Rabbi Akiva taught, "ethics and morality are what the whole thing is all about," of course, within the framework of identifying, fighting and destroying evil. The line between a decent civilization and barbarity is a very thin one, which is why good religion is absolutely necessary in this world.
Every religion has verses that, if taken out of context, can be misconstrued as evil and used as evil. Just like we can use or abuse any document from The Constitution to the Declaration of Independence. There are lawyers who can prove The Constitution has a pro-choice position and lawyers who can show an anti-abortion stance.
There is no doubt that every human being needs religion, just like we need oxygen, food and sex. When people drop religion, they make secular ideologies into their new religion like liberalism, environmentalism, marxism, communism, feminism, etc., generally becoming somewhat fanatical without the balance of religion in their lives.
It was the great Jewish scholar, the Vilna Gaon who said that, "The Torah/religion is like rain. It can make beautiful flowers grow and poisonous weeds sprout." We are seeing that happen today in all religions, but especially in the Muslim world. It is our job as serious religious lay people to pick those weeds out of our own religious gardens.
Since my garden is the Jewish one, I personally call out to Rabbi Ovadia Yosef: You disgust me, and if we ever meet...watch out!
Views expressed by the author do not
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