Why Ask Why?
The pursuit of a metaphysic of suffering – grappling with theodicy – is a unique area of study due to the inherent impossibility of the task. As R. Yanai stated unequivocally in Maseches Avos (4:15), we can never know why the wicked experience tranquility nor why the righteous suffer. Even so, a list of Jewish thinkers too long to enumerate did indeed engage with the question. Knowing full well that the mystery was insoluble, the great philosophical minds struggled mightily with the question.
This is a curious phenomenon. Why engage with a problem which has no resolution? For what purpose should one trek through an obviously endless intellectual maze? What does one stand to gain from searching for the bedrock of a bottomless pit? Ramban notes that there were those who leveled this criticism and argued that it was more sensible to disengage with the study of theodicy.
ואם תשאל עלינו כיון שיש ענין נעלם במשפט, ונצטרך להאמין בצדקו מצד שופט האמת יתברך ויתעלה, למה תטריח אותנו ותצוה עלינו ללמוד הטענות שפירשנו והסוד שרמזנו, ולא נשליך הכל על הסמך שנעשה בסוף שאין לפניו לא עולה ולא שכחה אלא שכל דבריו במשפט...
And if you will ask on us, since this matter is beyond comprehension within [the system of] justice, and we will perforce [resort] to believing in His righteousness as the True Judge, may He be blessed and exalted; why should you bother us and demand that we study the queries which we have explained and the secrets to which we have alluded? [Why] shouldn’t we [simply] rely completely on the final assumption that there is no perversion [emanating] from Him, nor is there forgetfulness, rather, all His ways are just...((Shaar HaGemul, #124))
Though we will return to Ramban’s answer to this question, let us first divert our attention to Rambam, in an attempt to glean a perspective on the purpose of studying theodicy.
