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January 5, 2006
Orthodox
Jewish Leader Criticizes Rev. Pat Robertson for
Ascribing Rationale to Illness
Striking Prime Minister Sharon; “No Person Can Know G-D’s
Reasons”
This
afternoon, as Jews, alongside all people of good will, around
the world prayed for the health and welfare of ailing Israeli
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Rev. Pat Robertson stated on his
“700 Club” television show that the illness struck Prime
Minister Sharon because, citing the biblical book of Joel, “He
was dividing God’s land.” Rev. Robertson went on to state: “And
I would say, Woe unto any prime minister of Israel who takes a
similar course to appease the E.U., the United Nations or the
United States of America. God says, ‘This land belongs to me.
You better leave it alone.’”
In response, Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, executive vice president
of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America – the
nation’s largest Orthodox Jewish umbrella organization, issued
the following statement:
Rev. Robertson’s remarks, as reported to me, are deeply
troubling. The thrust of his remarks is that Prime Minister
Sharon’s life-threatening illness is a punishment for the
disengagement from Gaza. No person can know G-d's reasons for
human illnesses or calamities. That G-d's ways are often
inscrutable is a basic and accepted component of our belief
system and that of the world’s great religions. Jewish prophets
from Moses on found that G-d's ways were mysterious. Why “Tzadik
v'ra lo” - bad things happen to good people - is a question
about which libraries of books have been written, but the bottom
line is that human humility demands that we admit our ignorance
and bow to His will.
We continue to pray that G-d who is the “rofeh cholim” – Healer
of the ill – bless Mr. Sharon who, whether one agrees or
disagrees with his specific policy positions, is a person who
dedicated his life to Jewish people and the Jewish state, with
healing and recovery and bless his family and all of Israel with
comfort and peace.
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