Thursday, November 01, 2012

Anything new? (Hurricane theodicy)

So, of course, self-appointed Jewish leaders have already figured out why the hurricane happened. Unfortunately, they can't come to any sort for agreement between themselves. One says it was generated  by NY's support for gay marriage (does NJ also support gay marriage?)  Another says it came because Obama has "enslaved" Israel (by sending them billions of dollars and unprecedented military support, I suppose.)

The only sensible rabbinic word comes from R. Yaakov Horowitz who tweeted in favor of legislation outlawing such insane pronouncements.

Unfortunately, the big money, plainly, is in being insane.So let me add my own voice to the madness. Here we go, employing the three basic steps of absurd theodicy:

Step 1: Find a verse, or rabbinic source, that can be stripped of context and employed for supporting my pet agenda

Rashi says that God only brought the flood in Noah's time because of robbery. 

for the earth has become full of robbery: Their verdict was sealed only because of robbery. — [from Sanh. 108a]  -- Rashi to Genesis 6:13



Step 2: Massage the facts to fit my purpose

The hurricane targeted Wall Street. 

Step 3: Make the smug pronouncement

Obviously, God sent the hurricane to punish the bankers for destroying the economy

See how easy this dumb game is?

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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

He sent it to NY and NJ because the government robs its citizens through high taxes.