Can We Still Say God Is Perfect? | 10@9 | 2026.09.17

Good morning. Today is Thursday, September 17, 2026. Hatzur Tamin Paulow, God, the Rock referring to God. His works are perfect. Kichal Duraqad Mishpat. All of his ways are just. Kail Emunah ve'in Avel. God is a faithful God who does no wrong. Tzadik Viyasharhu. God is upright and just. These words in this week's Torah portion, Hasinu, are the beginning of Moshe's message to the Jewish people and they are very difficult words. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks writes, this is perhaps the most difficult idea in the whole of Judaism. To reconcile these verses, Hatzur Tamin Paulow, that God's actions are perfect, to reconcile that with our experience. Because the objections are obvious, the contradictions to that that appear to us that we experience are obvious. And these objections and contradictions appear in just about every generation since they were spoken over 3000 years ago. And it's not just skeptics and doubters and deniers who question God's justice. Our greatest heroes, those who demonstrated the greatest faith in God, asked the same question, Abraham, witnessing God's plan for the cities of Sedom and the surrounding areas, issues this indictment. Hashufei kol Haaretzli Yaasem Ishbat, you're the judge of the entire world, God. You're not going to deal with them justly and kill the righteous along with the wicked. Moshe challenges God when God is about to wipe out the Jewish people after the sin, the terrible sin of the golden calf. Moshe challenges God. Yermio Anavi, the prophet Jeremiah, asked the same question, why are the wicked so prosperous? Why do the righteous suffer so much? And Rabbi Dr. Abraham Torsky points out that for Moshe to say these words, remember Moshe speaking on the last day of his life, just a couple of days earlier Moshe had expressed one last time, Veschanan el Hashem, he prayed to God to be allowed to set foot into the land of Israel. The one wish that he had, the one request he had to be able to enter Israel and because of whatever the sin was that God decided he couldn't enter. Veschanan el Hashem, our sages tell us it wasn't just one prayer. It was over 500 prayers Moshe kept repeating to Moshe, please let me in. God couldn't find it within somewhere within God's mercy to allow Moshe this seemingly small thing, which was everything Moshe wanted or maybe even at the very least to give Moshe a lesser punishment, but still allowing to come in. And then Moshe says these words, had suetam impolo. Everything that God does is just. Did Moshe understand why God was so excuse me for using the word stubborn, but so unwilling to show a little bit of mercy in the face of Moshe's repeated prayers and all of whatever merits Moshe had from his life Moshe? Obviously Moshe didn't understand. If Moshe would have understood, he wouldn't have kept praying for God to change his mind. Moshe did not understand why God could not allow him in. And yet Moshe says these words, had suetam impolo. He accepted God's decision even though it didn't make sense to him. What Moshe is teaching us again, one of the most difficult ideas in all of Judaism. Moshe is teaching us that we do not approve of God's judgment, but we must still accept it. And have the faith, the certainty that somehow, in spite of our experience, in spite of what is in front of our eyes, somehow it is perfect and fair and just. One of the most difficult concepts in all of Judaism. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks comments on the bracha that we make when something God forbid terrible happens. We make the bracha dayan ha-mesh. Blessed are you God, King of the Universe? Dayan ha-mesh. Usually we translate that as you are the true judge. Rabbi Sacks says there's a deeper way to translate that. Dayan ha-mesh, you are the judge of truth. In other words, God, only God can determine how the truth will ultimately be revealed if it will be revealed. And very, very often that truth will be at best confusing to us, elusive to us. We won't see it. But Moshe said these words. Atsuratam impala. Many of us have been watching the TV show Fouda on Netflix. I've been watching it since the beginning. I think it's a fascinating TV show. I think it's well done. And I think it gives a window into the mindset of the entire issue in Israel of counterterrorism, of protecting against terrorism. That's what it's about. And that there's a lot of moral fog surrounding that. I think the show is open about that. That we have to do things that are morally questionable and that even our successes usually lead to further attacks. I know some people don't watch it. I know some people don't want to watch it. I find it entertaining. But I also find it very illuminating. Just a few days ago, the fifth season, the new season came out. I started watching it. It's good. It's good TV. The plot line, the characters, the moral quandaries, the different views of reality, the different shades of gray. Okay. Last night, my wife and I watched episodes seven and eight. Now, if you have not yet heard about this, let me just say that the season has a storyline. So it's a storyline. You could like it. You could not like it. You could think it's as good as before. It's not as good as before. That's not. But the storyline is with the backdrop of what actually happened on October 7th, 2023. And episodes seven and eight are the only ones that actually recreate part of what happened on that day. So in other words, what I mean to say is, even if you don't watch the series, you could watch episode seven and eight. So you won't get every reference and every detail and shade of the character and before and after, but you could watch episode seven and eight. And many people say that it is so far the best recreation of the events of October 7th that has thus far been creative. And I will say to you, you should watch it. And I will warn you that it is very difficult. I think it's well done. It is not gratuitous. If anything, it is understated, but it has the dramatic impact of being able to drive home some of what actually happened on that day in a way that I don't think has been so accessible to many of us. The cruelty of Hamas, the hypocrisy, the inhumanity, the ways and level of suffering, and to be able then to understand a little bit what it means when we say that people who are directly involved, how affected they are today, it gives me insight much, much deeper than I ever had. And I will confess to you, I had great difficulty watching those two episodes last night. I was shattered. Watching them. I don't feel like I'm the same person that I was. And I will confess to you that today, this morning, I have great difficulty sharing this divartor with you. Quoting these words, God is perfect. His actions are perfect. Sadiq Viyashar, who God is righteous, just. I have great difficulty with those words. In my lifetime, the Jewish people has never been tested with these words as we are from the events of October 7th. Hatshura, tamim, paolo, God is perfect. His actions are right and just. Even as now, we still only know a part of it. But the more we discover, the more depraved we see that it was. And again, I'll admit, I'm shaken. I'm not myself today. Watching those two episodes changed me. And I believe we must, as difficult as it is we must. So how am I going to come to shul this Shabbos? And hear these words read, Hatshura, tamim, paolo, kichol, deroch, hab, mishpat. I will confess that I will have great difficulty. But this is true. In the words of Rabbi Sax, Difficult though Jewish faith is, It was this faith that led Jews time and again to emerge from tragedy, shaken, scarred, limping like Jacob after his encounter with the angel, yet resolved to begin again, to rededicate ourselves to our mission and our faith. We have experienced this before, not me in my lifetime. But we as the Jewish people, we have experienced this before. And we have emerged. I don't know how, but we have emerged. And we have rededicated ourselves to our mission and to our faith. And that is without question, the greatest miracle of Israel and the Jewish people. And that's the miracle we're seeing unfold today. Somehow, I don't know how, somehow, we will hear these words, this Shabbos, Hatshura, tamim, paolo, and as contradictory to our experience as it is, we will know those words are true. My friends, I wish you a good day. And I look forward to seeing you soon in person.