there was an earthquake in crete on friday and one of the countries affected by the aftershocks was israel. i haven't yet heard any inane "reasons" why this has happened. i always find it quite amusing when many rabbis try to define why these things have occurred. since they are far from neviim i take what they say with a grain of salt.okay with a gallon of salt. is i think of their "reasons" for these disasters more like they are using gematria. sometimes gematrias are correct but other times you can make the letters stand for words that you want them to mean.or maybe they are not understanding the big picture when they are making these gematrias.
i have no clue why the earthquake from greece had aftershocks in israel. i do think that one issue jewish people need to work on is ahavas yisroel. this is one thing i never hear any rabbi ranting about unless it is tisha b'av. usually they prefer to blame everything on lack of physical tsnius. the second bais hamikdash was destroyed due to sinas chinam. in israel and everywhere there is a lot of sinas chinam among different jewish sects. the frum vs . the non-frum , the charedi vs. the modern orthodox. , the misnagid vs. the chassid. its so much easier to point a finger at others. we are in still in galus. how far have we really come from the days before the chorban.? ahavas yisroel does not just refer to loving a reform jew solely to mekarev them.
i certainly don't know the definitive reason why any of these disasters have befallen any country. i don't think its even the point. i think that disasters occur more as think questions that don't necessarily have a definitive answer. perhaps they happen so we realize how fragile life is so that we try to appreciate the time that we do have on this earth. i don't think that they happen so that any clergyman can be pompous and point fingers.
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> perhaps they happen so we realize how fragile life is so that we try to appreciate the time that we do have on this earth.
That sounds very familiar to the chazal that says that natural disasters (All bad things? I forget the exact wording.) happen to remind the Jews to do teshuva. Sad as it is, punishment (or the prospect of punishment) has been the one and only thing that has never failed to awaken the Jewish people to repent.
It sounds pretty narcissistic of chazal to say anything, but it's a lot easier to disagree with contemporary rabbi's than these people. It's possible to argue that "V'halachta b'drachav"- Follow in His path- which is understood to mean follow what the rabbi's say- applies to you only in the sense that you have to follow what your rabbi says as opposed to anyone else's (This is my interpretation as I've never seen that written anywhere. It makes sense to me because with a dozen opinions available on any point in halacha, you can't possibly satisfy all views). But I don't think such a distinction could be made in regards to the rabbis of the Talmud. If someone doesn't believe what it says there, he's called a heretic (Rambam: 13 Ani Ma'amins).
So what rabbis say nowadays, I agree with you if it's not someone I know and respect (I may know the person, but if I think he's a fanatic or whatever I find it difficult to give credence to anything he says, let alone something of a magnitude like this) that it's easy to ridicule and call inane. However, when chazal says that natural disasters mean "G-d's talking to the Jews- Do teshuva," well, I have no trouble believing that.
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