Rabbi Harold S Kushner’s name and fortune were assured when this gem of a book was published in 1983 and gone through many printings ever since. The book became a first of several best-sellers for the Rabbi. It made him a household name. There have even been parodies written of it (which is a high form of compliment, in a way). However, I think the Rabbi would have preferred not to have written it. This book was written in the deep torment he went through after the death of his son from progeria. In looking at the myth of Job, he was able to find some light at the end of a tunnel that didn’t turn out to be a train.

Isn’t This A Religious Book?

Although When Bad Things Happen To Good People is often filed under “Judaism” or “Theism” in libraries and bookstores, it is not necessary to believe in God in order to gain comfort and stress relief from this book. It also does not claim to know all of the answers as to why we suffer. Things that aren’t said in this book help make it to be a universal comfort for readers of any walk of life.

Everybody is Job

If you aren’t familiar with the myth of Job, don’t worry — it’s reproduced in the book. Job is Everyman and lots of tragic things happen to him at the whim of God in a bet with the Devil. Although Rabbi Kushner doesn’t exactly get into Job’s head (and doesn’t pretend to get into God’s head), he is like a close companion of Job’s, perhaps like the unnamed servants who survived a catayclsm from God and had to give the bad news to Job, ending with: “and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.”

There aren’t any pat answers in the book, but it does help making your own decisions about why bad things happen to good people a lot easier.

Please let us know what you think about this post. No time to comment, Nothing in particular to say? Just click a star or stumble us

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...

Stumble Us