If God Is Good, Why Is The World So Bad? »

Benjamin Blech is an internationally recognized educator, religious leader, and lecturer. He is the author of seven highly acclaimed best-sellers, including three in the popular Idiot's Guide series. One of his books, Understanding Judaism: The Basics of Deed and Creed, was chosen by the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations as the single best book on Judaism today. In a national survey by Jewsweek, Benjamin Blech ranked sixteen in a listing of the fifty most influential Jews in America. A recipient of the American Educator of the Year Award, he is an associate professor of Talmud at Yeshiva University since 1966. A tenth-generation rabbi, he has formed thousands of student-teacher relationships through his warm and caring style. He lectures around the world in places as far away as Australia, South Africa, Singapore and Israel. He has appeared on national television, including Oprah, and has written for Newsweek, The New York Times and Newsday.

In These Troubled Times, People Are Asking Very Difficult Questions About God and Their Faith . . .

• Why does God allow sickness, torture and evil to exist?


• If I suffer, does that mean I deserve it?


• Why do innocent people, especially children, die tragically?


• Does God ever intervene during times of trouble?


• Who really runs the world—God or man?


• Do my prayers do any good?

As author Benjamin Blech admits, the answers are not simple. There is no one-size-fits-all explanation. Indeed, not only are there many answers, but in different situations several explanations may apply. This fascinating analysis of Jewish wisdom on the subject of suffering is the fruit of thousands of years of debate, examination and struggle. Jewish wisdom teaches there are rich and inspiring answers to the ultimate question: If God is good, why is the world so bad?

“Benjamin Blech puts God back where He belongs—in the driver’s seat of human events. This raises all sorts of fascinating questions that Rabbi Blech answers with clarity and wisdom. Drawing on centuries of Jewish learning,
Rabbi Blech has given us a book that both comforts and inspires.”

—Ari L. Goldman, author, The Search for God at Harvard
and Living a Year of Kaddish

“Rabbi Benjamin Blech deserves recognition as a 21st century sage—warm-hearted,
wise, witty, insightful and, ultimately, inspirational. His wonderful new book is enhanced by his rich and phenomenally varied background as well as a prose style that is lucid, forceful and captivating. In short, every reader—Jew or Gentile, believer or skeptic—will feel enriched by a work that enhances our understanding and engagement with some of life’s most persistent and important questions.”

—Michael Medved, radio talk show host and author, Hollywood vs. America

“Rabbi Blech presents a revolutionary new book that will literally change the way we deal with life’s most difficult obstacles. In it, he provides groundbreaking answers to man’s most perplexing problems. This is a must-read for anyone who has ever contemplated the complex issues of life and death.”

—Jewsweek Magazine

“Ours is a generation in which many of us have to cope with traumas of both a personal and global nature. Rabbi Benjamin Blech’s latest book is an important read for those who seek insight and understanding.”

—Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis, author, The Committed Life and The Committed Marriage

Publishers Weekly

As the title suggests, Blech picks up where Harold Kushner's classic When Bad Things Happen to Good People leaves off, and offers a Jewish corrective to Kushner's view. (For more on Kushner's latest work, see below.) If we believe that we are not at fault for what happens to us, Blech argues, "the feeling that the world is spinning out of control leaves one more frightened than ever." It is this "gloomy anarchistic view" that Blech counters in his "quest for serenity in the face of adversity." Biblical heroes who faced suffering and divine tests-Job, Abraham, Moses among them-serve as models for Blech's questions and answers, which are further enriched by Talmudic and midrashic teachings. Divided into three parts (Why Bad Things Happen to Good People; Why We Die; Why We Suffer), the book addresses prickly and poignant questions like life after death; the death of children; blame and guilt; aging, pain and illness; and faith after the Holocaust. An Orthodox rabbi and the child of Holocaust survivors, Blech offers several perspectives in the hope that each reader will find his or her truth in at least one; all are grounded in his belief that faith holds the answer. We will never be able to fully explain why the righteous suffer and the wicked prosper, he posits; maybe we need the suffering to allow us to mature, change and gain understanding. The bottom line, he stresses, is that "having questions doesn't make you a non-believer. Doubting isn't the same as denying." (Sept.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.