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Short Summary
Main recommendation: Rabbi Daniel Rowe argues that Jewish faith should not be used to feel at ease about suffering; instead, people should stay acutely aware of pain in the world and act to heal it. He frames this world as deliberately uncomfortable, a place meant to drive people toward repairing humanity and moving it toward the perfected state of the Garden of Eden.
Key Points
- Human beings have always died in large numbers from illness, including from flu and similar diseases, so the current virus adds no new suffering in his view.
- He rejects the idea that theology should comfort people in a crisis, saying "we're not meant to be at ease" and "we're not meant to be tolerant of the pain in the world."
- God is described as allowing painful things to happen, with humanity's broken state as the cause, while humans are not blamed for it.
- He cites the Torah's account of Jacob (Yaakov) trying to rest in old age, with God saying this is not a time for resting.
- Faith is presented as trusting that God directs the world, so humans need only fulfill their own role to the best of their ability.
Details Worth Noting
- Concrete instructions: Act on suffering in two ways. First, give charity to heal poverty, give education to heal ignorance, or give health care to heal illness where you can. Second, pursue spiritual and loving healing of humanity, working to bring the world to its perfected state.
- Concrete instructions: Do not let faith turn into comfort that removes pain or responsibility. Keep feeling pain at others' suffering and keep working to make the world better.
- The speaker says that small actions that seem not to change the world still have "infinite significance," and that the world is tilting and changing because of them.
- He acknowledges fears that humanity could end, and presents faith as a framework of meaning behind events people cannot see.
- He says people are placed in the world for a short time to bring healing, so the purpose is active repair rather than personal comfort.
Bottom Line
Rowe's view is that religious faith should sharpen moral discomfort and motivate action, not provide reassurance, so responding to suffering is the expected response.
