What Are We To Think?
An Introduction by Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb
Executive vice president of the Orthodox Union

It is now a full two weeks since the Tsunami catastrophe struck. The Orthodox Union has expressed its sorrow, condolences and empathy with the victims through many channels. We have urged our synagogues to include the victims of this tragedy in their prayers, thoughts, and actions. We are guided by the wise and compassionate words of Rabbenu Yona of Gerondi in his commentary to the third chapter of Avot. There, this great medieval ethical teacher urges Jews to include gentiles suffering misfortune in their prayers.

We have opened a special relief fund through which contributions can be channeled to the American Joint Distribution Committee for direct assistance to the victims (see details on this website.) We have already collected tens of thousands of dollars for this purpose and acknowledge the generosity of all those who have responded.

This tragedy needs to be seen from the perspective of our faith. It is always difficult to understand God’s ways in moments of such suffering. We accept His judgment through the traditional “Tziduk haDin”, in which we testify that no matter how little we understand certain tragedies, we are confident in the ultimate justice of the Dayan haEmet, the true Judge. Nevertheless, we struggle to find some meaning in events such as this. To assist in this struggle for meaning, we have put together a number of responses from prominent Jewish leaders which help give some theological perspective to these horrific events from our traditional hashkafah. They include pieces written by the Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks; Rabbi Benjamin Blech, noted rabbi, author and speaker; and Rabbi Avi Shafran, of the Agudath Israel of America. We also invite you to send in your own suggestions of other meaningful responses to the Tsunami catastrophe and will consider posting them on a special bulletin board, here on our website.

No matter how we understand this tragedy philosophically, our hearts go out to the victims; we include them in our prayers, and are committed to do whatever we possibly can to assist them.

We pray for that time when, indeed, the world will know of no further tragedy, sorrow, or war.

www.ou.org