Dr. Eugene Borowitz, z”l was our dignified, well-regarded and well-loved professor of Theology. He was known for his rigor, his writing, and his formidable presence. He had a towering authority and didn’t put up with any fluff. He was in his seventies when I was in his classroom and I remembered how he pushed us, how he always sat in the same seat in the sanctuary, and how the room changed whenever he walked in.
One day, one of the rabbinic students was railing against the world’s injustices and the tragedies, illnesses and natural disasters that regularly occur. The student was grandstanding, as we all tended to do, and we were easily swept up in his anger against the pathetic God who would allow these things to happen.
When he finished, Dr. Borowitz stood up and quietly looked at him. He asked, “Are you saying, then, are you prepared to say that there is no divine justice? No evidence of God at all in the world?”
And just like that, in the blink of an eye, we went from victims of a vindictive, careless God to people who remembered that it is our work to seek righteousness wherever we could find it.
Noa Kushner is the Founding Rabbi of The Kitchen and author of the forthcoming book, The Map. www.thekitchensf.org
