8/4/2019 Reflections on Irene

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Reflections on Irene: Is there a Connection Between

Nature and Morality?Parshat Shoftim 5772

By Rabbi Mark Greenspan

This was hardly the first time we witnessed the destructive power of nature. In 2004 a tsunami killed150,000 people in eleven Asian countries. In 2006 Katrina destroyed a large portion of New Orleans.

In 2010 an earthquake left two million people homeless in Haiti and killed 300,000. Last spring we

witnessed the destructive power of an earthquake that nearly caused a nuclear catastrophe. For most ofus, these events were far away and affected strangers. So when an earth-quake and a hurricane struck

our East Coast in one week, it's not surprising that we were more than a bit rattled.

For most of us, this was a new experience. It certainly was the first time we were ordered to evacuate

our homes. While some left for safer locations, others hunkered down to weather the storm. Some of us

are still drying out. But what was most disturbing about Irene was how unpredictable it has been. Thedire warnings for New York and Long Island turned out to be unnecessary while areas of New Jersey,

Connecticut and Vermont were devastated by flooding and destruction. This storm reminded us how

unpredictable nature can be. Mother Nature is an equal opportunity destroyer, devastating rich and

poor, the good and the bad, alike.

It's no wonder, then, that we are disturbed when we read the Bible and even our Prayer Book. In ourmost ancient traditions, there appears to be a connection between the natural order and the moral order

of the universe. One affects the other. Good people are rewarded with bounty while those who betray

God are punished with natural disasters and famine. This theme appears again and again in Sefer

Devarim, in the book of Deuteronomy.

And in our liturgy. Twice a day we recite the Sh'ma. The Sh'ma is made up of three passages: Deut. 6,"You shall love the lord your God," Deut. 11 "You shall earnestly heed My commandments," and

Num. 15, the commandment to place fringes on your garments. The second of these paragraphs is

especially troubling - so much so that we hardly ever recite it aloud. It begins: "If you heed My

commandmentsthen I will favor your land with rain in the proper seasonyou will have ample

harvest" It then goes on to say, "Take care lest you be tempted to forsake GodHe will close the

heavens and hold back the rain; the earth will not yield its produce.." and so on.

According to this passage, there's a connection between the natural and moral order of the universe.

But we know that this is not the case. Nature is indiscriminate in the way it treats us. Earthquakes dont

choose which homes will stand and which will collapse, or which community they strike. Wind blowsdown trees - where they fall is a matter of dumb luck. Where's the moral order in that? For that matter,

where's the moral order in the fact that some people are stricken with cancer and others aren't? The

second passage of the Sh'ma so disturbed Reform Jews that they removed it from their liturgy. AsConservative Jews we continue to recite it, but we're just as troubled by its theological implications.

In just a few weeks we'll mark the Yamim Noraim, the Days of Awe. One of the high points of theservices is the Unetaneh Tokefin which we say: "On Rosh Hashanah it is written and on Yom Kippur

it is sealed: Who shall live and who shall die? Who by fire and who by water?" Do we really believe

8/4/2019 Reflections on Irene

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that there is a cosmic strategy book in which it is determined months in advance who and how we shallmeet our end?

It is natural in times of adversity to ask, "Why?" "Why me, God?" More often than not this question isa cry of anguish rather than a search for answers to the existential questions of life. In quieter

moments, we wonder and express our doubts - as people through the ages have. What does the Bible

have in mind in connecting the natural and the moral order of the world?

I'd like to suggest another way of reading these passages. Deut. 11 and similar passages are not

theological statements about God as much as they are descriptive statements about moral order of theuniverse. For our ancestors, and for many of us, there is a moral order to the universe. We want to

believe that there are laws which teach us to distinguish between right and wrong. Sometimes it's hard

to discern what they are and sometimes we're unsure what is expected of us but we believe that there isa right way to live. All actions are not the same. When we see human evil and cruelty we recognize it

as such. Just as storms and earthquakes can destroy life, so moral disorder and anarchy can destroy the

fabric of society. The passages in the Bible which speak of God closing the heavens, of famine and

disease, then, are metaphors. Our ancestors assumed that if we can chose the moral order of the world

then maybe God can choose the natural order of nature as well.

Just as nature has the power to reverse the orderliness and the goodness of creation, so moral evil can

cause the world revert to a state oftohu va-vohu, of disorder and anti-creation. It was natural, then, for

them to see a connection between natural catastrophes and moral evil.

So what can we learn from this connection between the natural and moral universe? Can we think of

anything more dreadful than an earthquake or a tsunami or a plague? These catastrophes reverse thenatural order of the world - they destroy the world that God so lovingly created. Similarly, from the

perspective of our faith, cruelty, violence, hatred and greed can easily reverse the moral order that is at

the very heart of creation. They are no less devastating. Genocide is a moral tsunami. Greed can cause

a social earthquake. Human indifference is a wild fire. We tend to minimize our individual actions butif the Torah teaches us a single lesson it is that our actions have cosmic implications no less

devastating than a famine or a plague.

There is a concept in Jewish mysticism: "That which happens below affects the world above and that

which happens up above affects the world below." In ways that we cannot always see, the moral and

natural order of all things is connected. That doesnt mean that bad behaviorproduce hurricanes and

earthquakes (sorry Ms Bachmann) but it does mean that evil is a human and even a cosmic catastrophe.

There is, of course, one main difference between the natural order and the moral order of the universe.

We ultimately have no control over the natural order of the world - bad stuff just happens - but we do

control the moral order of the world. The choices are always ours. We cannot stop earth-quakes and

hurricanes from playing havoc with our world, but we can respond to them by reaching out and helpingothers, by repairing broken lives, and rebuilding the world when it is upset by nature. The world is

what it is - natural disasters arent bad but they do demand our attention and response.

Irene is now gone; the rebuilding is just beginning. It's an opportunity to support others, to help those

in need and to properly plan for the next big 'event.' And who knows maybe next time we'll be the ones

turning to our neighbors seeking help.

Shabbat Shalom.