Is God Angry With Us?

Q. Is there any reason for God to be angry with us? Does the Almighty not have anger, or is it not necessary for him to be angry with us? For example, disasters that happen to humans are considered to be caused by God because of our wrong behavior.

A. Thanks for your question. You are correct that God does not literally have anger; when we say that He does, it's a metaphor so that people will understand. It's like we say "the sun rose," even though we know it did no such thing; we just say that because it's much easier than saying, "The earth rotated in such a way that the sun became visible." Similarly, saying "God became angry" is simpler than explaining, "God treated this person in the way that a human would when a human is angered."

In any event, God does indeed punish us when we do things that "anger" Him (metaphorically speaking), but we don't have the ability to look at events and say what was going on in God's "mind." I remember after the Florida hurricane a few years ago, some fellow from Texas was waxing superior about how they "deserved" it because wrath of God, etc. Not long after, the same guy was crying for help because of the hurricane in Texas. Similarly, people blamed Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans being a "sinful" place (though the French Quarter was largely unaffected).

People are great at pointing out the "wrath of God" when disasters happen to others; they're not so good about it when something bad happens to them. But doing it to others is "blaming the victim," and it's not cool.

Sometimes the weather is just the weather. Maimonides tells us that the wind can sink a ship and it's not because God "made" it happen. Rather, Divine providence only extends to who may have survived the accident and who may have been lost. (See more here.)

While we shouldn't point fingers at others when they suffer a hurricane or any other misfortune, it's wholly appropriate to look at things in our own lives – both large and small – and see what messages of self-improvement we can discern. If you're speeding along and your car gets stopped by three red lights in a row, maybe you should take the hint and slow down. Similarly, if someone endures a disaster, they should examine how they can improve their deeds. But no one can say that some person's misdeeds "caused" the disaster. That's not given us to know.

Rabbi Jack's book Ask Rabbi Jack is available from Kodesh Press and on Amazon.com.