Did God cause Israeli fire?
The north of Israel continues to burn. A forest fire which has already claimed 41 lives, including Haifa Police Chief Ahuva Tomer who was buried today, is, according to Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, a punishment from God. Rabbi Yosef, one of the world’s most influential rabbis, quoting a passage from the Babylonian Talmud, explained that God is punishing the Jewish people for not properly observing the Sabbath. And as grotesque as that sounds to me, I think that his comments deserve our attention. (Israeli firefighters battle against a forest blaze on December 3, 2010 in Tirat Hacarmel, Israel.) It’s not that I think his words reflect the real reason behind the fire. And it’s not that I don’t find such appeals to a divine calculus to which we are all privy distasteful, to say the least. In fact, I do. But I also appreciate that there are two lessons to be learned from such utterances – one which is especially important for people of faith, and one which is important for both believers and non-be
