Wednesday, August 31, 2005

ATFAT

First, G-d created the Tsunami to punish the nations of the world for supporting disengagement (if you believe rabbis Amar and Eliyahu). Now, according to R. Lazer Brody -- brought to you via orthomom, whose piece you should read on this -- he's brought Hurricane Katrina for the exact same reason:
Katrina is hitting just as the bulldozers are completing the destruction of Gush Katif. The Talmud teaches that Hashem administers the world according to the "ATFAT" principle, in other words, "a turn for a turn". My heart tells me that there's a link between the forced expulsion of 8500 people from their blood, sweat, and tear-soaked homes in Israeli Gaza and between the nearly 850,000 people who are forced to flee from their homes in Louisiana. Sharon, at the prodding of the American government, has destroyed hallowed centers of prayer, Torah learning, and settlement in the Land of Israel. Hashem isn't wasting much time in showing His wrath. In fact, Katrina has chosen Ms. Rice's home state as a target; I humbly believe that the unfortunate people of Louisiana can blame Mr. Bush and Ms. Rice for their misfortune. This is a classic ATFAT situation: He who creates exiles in the Holy Land, will have a hundred-fold exiles in his own land.
I've already discussed several times on this blog how, imho, reading G-d's intentions into acts of nature is theological folly, terrible arrogance and extremely dangerous, so I'm not going to go into it again. However, just to play this game for a moment, if R. Brody truly believes that Hashem administers the world according to a simple ATFAT principle that human beings can decipher, and that bad things happening to good people -- particularly people being expelled from their homes, etc -- are a sign of G-d's wrath and that we can draw a direct line between specific cause and effect, he may wish to take his piece to its logical conclusion and start considering what, then, the settler movement or its leaders have done to deserve disengagement.

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