It is a question people have been asking since time began. Why do bad things happen to good people? Rabbi
Harold S. Kushner tackles this perplexing subject in his Book of the same name originally published in 1981. when his son dies at the age of 14, Rabbi Kushner re-examines all he has ever believed to find meaning for his tragic loss. Why is it necessary for a child who has barely begun living to die? As many do, Kushner believes it is the will of god. When his son’s brief life ends, he finds the reasons, justifications, and rationales that seemed to explain why terrible things happen to good people no longer of comfort. Where does one find solace for the inexplicable? Are the bad things that happen tests? Are we being punished for not appreciating the good in our lives? What should we do or say to others to whom tragedies happen? How can we find comfort for ourselves when bad things occur? Is there a reason or are the worst circumstances just a part of life we must accept before we can heal? Is comfort possible?

In other publications, Harold Kushner has explained God to children, examined how we can better handle disappointment and written about why what we have seems never to be quite enough.

Unlike most religious theologians, Kushner deals with the real problems experienced in the every day lives we all live. In a world filled with angst and dissatisfaction, we hesitate to raise one more question not wanting to ad one more log to the fire of discontent that seems to burn so brightly. Rabbi Kushner reminds us that in this life we have deep and searching questions that merit consideration. It is only in examining such painful issues and the reasons for them that we can go on to live once again. If you are searching for answers, this is a discussion which will begin to unravel some of the doubt and perplexity that fills your every hour.

Below is information about Rabbi Harold Kushner and a short review of When Bad Things Happen To Good People from Amazon. The book can be found on audible.com and bookshare and is available on cassette or web Braille from the National Library service. You will find cassette and Braille catalogue numbers below.

WHENN BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE BY HAROLD S. KUSHNER. Web Braille br 16801
cassette: rc 48900.

An honest, probing Reconstructionist examination.
December 18, 2003 By Augustus Caesar, Ph.D.

Rabbi Harold Kushner takes a hard look at difficult issues in "When Bad Things Happen to Good People." Written out of his own personal grief and struggle with spirituality, this book is an important and groundbreaking reassessment of what it means to believe in a god and how to reconcile that belief to the cold fact that horrible things happen in this world on a daily basis. This is the fundamental tension of religion, and Kushner approaches it from an original and profound perspective.
Kushner is a Reconstructionist Jew and a former student of Reconstructionism's founder, Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan. Reconstructionist Judaism examines spirituality from a metaphorical perspective, seeing God as the impulse in us that brings out our best traits and leads to live honestly and ethically. It does not see God as an all-powerful father figure in the sky, interfering in people's lives and letting things like the Holocaust happen for a "reason." It is, in other words, a religious worldview that takes a more mature, probing approach to divinity than the standard "God controls everything and we cannot understand His ways" religious line. There are numerous precedents for the Reconstructionist view in Jewish history.

Thus the negative reviews here from fundamentalist Christians, who believe every word of the Bible literally (though they can't be bothered to actually read it) and are unable to consider the thought of a more abstract god because their entire intellectual and spiritual house of cards would collapse. This sort of "God-is-my-protective-daddy" view inevitably forces people of this mindset into a state of denial, obfuscation, and pretzel logic when they try to explain or defend their faith--even to themselves.

"When Bad Things Happen to Good People" is an enormously powerful book which offers a vital glimpse into a more humane and compassionate view of God. I recommend it to everybody.

Host: Ruth Ann acosta
E-Mail: ruth1244@gmail.com