Answers WithHeld

A podcast where we confront big questions with bold thinking and honest searching. Each week, Rabbi Shai Held sits down with a leading thinker or teacher to explore one powerful Jewish idea. This podcast doesn’t have all the answers, but it can uncover new insights and model what it means to take Torah and Jewish thought seriously.

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Answers WithHeld

Why Do Bad Things Happen?

April 15, 2024 • Hadar Institute

R. Aviva Richman joins R. Shai Held to discuss one of the most difficult moral and religious questions - why do bad things happen? Where is God when they do? Personal childhood memories of confronting this question lead them to explore how being present might mediate God's presence, to appreciate petitionary prayer in nuanced and sophisticated ways, and to wonder about God's role of holding loss in times of tragedy.